Hello again!! Man, today was I tired. After yesterday鈥檚 14-mile hike, I was beat. Even though it was yesterday I want to talk about the hike as I was the only one who decided to go. The views were absolutely stunning, and I met so many fun locals along the way. But 35,000 steps later I was ready to sit on my butt for hours and go to bed nice and early. Even though I did that I was still beat when I woke up today. Sadly, I needed to be ready to go as we were going to the habitat site again. We started plastering the walls and digging a nice big hole for the family to dump their dirty water in. With only 2 giant boulders in the way we improvised and came up with a plan and almost got it done. (I got to pet the fluffiest cow!!) We headed home for lunch and had 2 guest speakers come! The first one talked about herbal medicine and how it is used in Lesotho. We learned it is used a bunch because it is not regulated and is way more accessible than modern medicines. The second speaker talked about nursing in Lesotho and all the challenges they come across focusing mainly on the psychiatric specialty. Man did we hear a crazy story! We finished out the day with a local rapper coming and singing us 3 songs. I was so shocked and happy at the same time because he just had so much fun preforming! With another day in the books, I can鈥檛 wait to see what is to come!
-Emily Zmuda
Hey Mom, Nova, and family!
Believe it or not I am actually sore from horseback riding yesterday. We took a scenic 5.35-mile horseback ride, and it was beautiful let me tell you. We went to church on Sunday morning and boy oh boy it was the most beautiful thing ever. Today we got up and once again had an amazing breakfast. We then went to the habitat worksite. I always look forward to going to the work site because we get to work with Max and Teesa, two local builders I got to work with last year. Let me tell you Max and Teesa are so funny, and I learn so much working with them. Today we spilt off into two groups. One group started to work in the house and plaster/build the interior wall. The other group was outside building a water pit to dump dirty water into it after washing laundry. This is no easy task considering that most of Lesotho鈥檚 soil has a lot of rocks. Our first location we tried to dig was unfortunately not successful due to the huge boulder, so we changed places. The second place that we tried to dig wasn鈥檛 much easier. There were two huge boulders that we just ended up digging around. Dr. Rosenberg and I took turns pickaxing (well more Dr. Rosenberg, but I tried). We then got it deep enough and just worked around the two boulders. We then had to fill the pit with rocks. We all helped gather rocks to throw in the hole including the grandmother which was sweet. She finally was able to find something that she could do and was excited to jump in and help. Of course, then I was able to hold the kitty that I named Tom. Next, we switched to inside the house and I was plastering and smoothing out the wall. I fear to say that I don鈥檛 have a future in building myself a home, but I tried. Teesa and I did have a great time though working on the wall together. We then left the worksite and went back for lunch. Of course, my favorite part of lunch was the dessert, it was a rich chocolate cake and ice cream. After lunch we had 3 guest speakers. The first guest speaker talked about traditional/herbal medicine which was very interesting. I didn鈥檛 know that aspirin and digoxin was derived from plants. I would love so much to learn more about traditional medicine. The next speaker was from the NUL (National University of Lesotho). She spoke to us about nursing in Lesotho. I learned that to obtain your BSN it would take you 5 years. We talked a lot about the mental health hospital. In the whole country there is only 1 mental health hospital that serves the entire country which includes 10 districts within Lesotho. After learning about the mental health hospital in Lesotho it made me realize how fortunate we are in America with the health care we receive for mental health issues. It was very interesting to learn more about nursing and the nursing education in Lesotho. After our two speakers we then had a local man who raps come. He rapped for us and talked about his experience in his career. Then we had 米兰体育---shocker I was a huge fan of dessert again. And don鈥檛 worry Mom I have a second mom here with me now. Her name is Lindsay, and she is awesome. Her and I slightly do fight like sisters, and we both love dessert. I will be so sad when she leaves Wednesday, but unfortunately, she has to get home to her two children. I will be visiting her though during school because she lives so close to Witt! I am super excited to go hiking to see dinosaur footprints tomorrow. Charlie has heard all about the dinosaur footprints and how excited I am to see them. I can鈥檛 wait to tell you more about my adventures. I can鈥檛 wait to see you all so so soon. I love you to Pluto and back!
-Mackenzie