My first Moshoeshoe's Day

I know you have all been on the edge of your seat to find out how Matholeng did in the district-wide cultural dancing competition in Qachas Nek, so it is with hat in hand that I inform you that said dancing competition did not, in fact, occur.

It was a rainy, cold day, and by the time we got to the site of the competition, Qachas Nek Airport (probably not even half as big as Newark Liberty), the situation outside was very disagreeable for humans. The spectators formed a square on the tarmac and we spent some time trying to jab the points of our umbrellas into each other's eyes. One school's team danced (and well, to their credit), but after this performance, a man came out and informed everyone that the event would have to be cancelled. I was disappointed that I would not get to see my students perform, but also a little relieved to be out of the freezing rain.

We went to a nearby school and waited for a few hours while food was prepared, and then enjoyed a delicious meal. Because many of our students rarely have the opportunity to go to toropong (what you would call Qachas Nek camptown were you in the know), our teachers decided that we should walk around a little and visit the Snake Park.

This is the only Snake Park in Lesotho, and most Basotho are very skeptical of the idea. In one write-up in a local magazine, an anonymous woman said about the Snake Park's founder, "I'm not even sure he's a human being." Many people around here are not fond of snakes, and are disinclined to spend their leisure time and money looking at them. So it was a great adventure to visit the park with about 50 schoolchildren, and our guide had a great time taking out the snakes and showing them to the kids. Taking the snakes out of their homes was quite easy, because the locks were not being used as such, and the doors were kept secure with the combination of a stick jammed in front and a brick.

Well we certainly don't have to worry about this Python, which as an adult will reach 27 feet in length, going anywhere!

 So all told, it was a nice day. As a postscript, let's look at King Moshoeshoe I, founder of the Basotho nation.

King Moshoeshoe I

I'm not going to give you a whole biography, but I can tell you a few things that I've picked up from our Social Studies textbooks and osmosis. According to a guide at the mountain fortress (Thaba-Bosiu, as you avid readers will recall), Moshoeshoe had "only" 148 wives, which were married strategically with an eye toward consolidating different factions under the Basotho umbrella. Moshoeshoe I was a peace-loving ruler, who, when told that enemies had eaten his grandfather (remember, sir or madam, that this is the period of the Lifaqane wars, when many resorted to cannibalism), he refused to retaliate and kill them, as this would be "desecrating the grave of his grandfather."