Day 6 - Thursday 17 December
Malealea
Today we went to the village of Maleala to see how co-ops work in villages. We saw some people who had made handicraft instruments. While we where waiting for the minibus we saw some traditional dances for one of the co-op groups raising money for people who are HIV/AIDS. We joined in and learnt one of the dances it was mainly footwork we worked on - we couldn’t sing the song because of the language - it was funny.
We saw a lot of dogs at the village also, I had a heart-attack today when a pig moved under some metal sheets and quoinked at me. We have also seen sheep, lambs, donkeys, horses and puppies. We walked about 2.5 miles-3miles to a museum about how there forefathers and ancestors lived. Gandy was walking round with a shield and spear like a warrior - I couldn’t stop laughing because everyone wanted a picture of him all dressed up.
We all had pictures taken today by the co-op people who were amazed by us. Some-people didn’t know why we where wearing sun cream, because they don’t have to worry about it because there skin is used to the sun.
The forefathers of the village had gone to war against the English. We learnt how they held the shield and spears. I also, learnt off Gandy one of the war tactics they used called the buffalo head. This is where they would have two squares for the head in the centre and on the sides they would have two parts of the horns so it had a full horn but split in two. The horns would then hide in grass or ditches and then when the enemies approached the head with the horns would appear after throwing their cleverly made spears which are made out of lead and light wood so it they will come back down and not blow away in the wind.
Jasmine
------------------------------------
Hey, it’s Rachael again ☺
Today we went to the Lesotho village of Malealea, and leant how they set their co-operative up in 1998-2000, in the hope of abolishing poverty. We went into the craft shop and, because I forgot my hat, I bought a big handmade straw one ☺
It was really hot today, I wore about 5 layers of sun-tan lotion, much to everyone’s amusement - but I’m not burnt!
