In My Backyard

Yesterday night, I was awoken at 3AM to the sound of many animals fighting. I bolted up in bed. Maybe its just my Mommy dog fighting with our other dog. No. I heard the puppies. They were being killed. I heard their screams. I heard Mommy Dog being bitten. I heard Kali yelp. WHAT THE HELL WAS OUT THERE!?!?! I rapidly went through the different scenarios if i went outside. would I be mauled to death? did these animals have rabies. were they even animals.

A few months ago the majority of our animals had been poisoned. our cat. and most of our dogs. Mommy Doggy had survived the poisoning and had had more puppies a few weeks back. they were just opening their eyes and stumbling around. we had just named them.

One after one I heard the puppies being dragged out of the barn and killed. I was too afraid to save them. i was too afraid to leave my house. the only thing i could do was shine a flashlight out my window. i didnt see anything.

i somehow fell back asleep. in the morning i awoke to the mourning ululations (high pitched wails) and remembered what had happened. i didnt want to go look. they yelled my name. i went outside. "theyre all dead" Mabela said. "all of them". "I know, I heard it last night". Everyone was crying and talking about it. it was a hard conversation. the saddest thing was that mommy doggy wouldnt let us bury them. she kept trying to nurse them. she kept licking them. i told them to let her get tired of them. maybe she would realize they were dead. 4 hours later we buried them behind the trash pile very unceremoniously. mommy doggy literally went insane. she jumped around. tore around the property looking for them. she did this for the rest of the day. no amount of food could sway her determination. thankfully she stopped later that night.

we did a lot of crying this weekend. i had most of my sisters in my house crying in my arms. they like crying with me for some reasons. my oldest sister Mpoi is my favorite. because she loves animals just as much as me. she still blames herself for not being brave enough to leave her house. me too. now we are worried mommy doggy might get rabies.

after i had helped with the cleaning up of dog blood and i had counseled Mpoi as best i could. i decided i needed to get the hell out of there. so i decided to take a long walk. i walked down our field towards our gate. out the gate and down the dirt path. past the sunflower fields (i wish i could take a picture of it), taking the dirt road towards the mountain. i pass the maize and mkopu fields. i see molipi birds and dung beetles. its an hour walk to the waterfall with the quartz crystals that i keep a huge collection of. and i keep on walking up the mountain.

about 2 hours up, i am stopped by some herd boys who had been following me. herd boys are boys that dont go to school but tend to their cows and sheep instead. they dont speak english and most girls are afraid of them because some of them do rape younger girls. but i am not scared of them. i am too big and loud and aggressive compared to basotho girls. i actually enjoy herd boys company. if they have a horse i try to get a ride. sometimes they have homemade guitars. these herd boys seemed like they were warning me of something. they kept yelling and telling me to go back down the mountain.

i guessed it was an initiation school. they kept saying basotho nation, boys not girls, and do not go over and over again. they even said in english "people beat you". so i kept asking "initiation school?? initiation school???" but they did not understand me. i have no idea how to say "initiation school in sesotho. but i decided that they probably knew more than me, so i gave up on reaching the top and started back down. they herd boys seemed relieved. when i turned to look back they were gone.

an initiation school is the traditional male rite of passage. for six weeks small boys go up to the top of a mountain and live in a makeshift village with some men who teach them how to be men. they get circumcised and then they come back down. some of these boys die. and if a female or uncircumcised male were to accidentally venture onto this place they would be beaten. so its best to avoid the tops of mountains. and its true that i did hear the boys singing one night when it was still and i could hear for miles. i guessed it was a initiation ceremony up on one of the mountains.

i am kinda upset that i can never reach the top of my mountain and look around. i love climbing them and i hate having to worry if i will accidentally walk in onto one of these things. i also wish peace corps would have given us the name of the initiation school in sesotho.

other than that my weekend was okay. i had a nightmare last night. ive had some anxiety lately. because of the dog thing. also my teaching is getting progressively more frustrating. they just hired 6 volunteer basotho teachers who are definitely not qualified. and the teaching schedule is just a huge mess. i really hate it. no one informs anyone of any changes. friday i went to go unlock the assembly hall for my drama club meeting and when i came back with my supplies another volunteer teacher was using it to do a traditional dance lesson. and he doesnt speak english. i yelled at him anyway. and then i cancelled my drama club meeting.

i dont think i ever told you some important things. like they changed my name 3 months ago when i started living at this village. its Neo Lehloenya. Neo means gift. and Mahloenyeng is land of the Lehleonyas. so i like own this village.

also the king lives near me. he lives in Matsieng which is the larger village that my village falls under. he lives right up the road from Ed and Carol. he drives back and forth from Maseru everyday and you can always see him because he is in a sudan surrounded by security jeeps with blinking blue lights. our kombi pulled over to let him pass on the way over here.

i was going to tell you other things but i forgot. i very lonely lately. and all of my electronics are dying. my ipod died this week. hopefully i can get it fixed. thats all for now.