Clubs, Clubbing, Cold, and Chronic Injuries

It's time for another one of these things. Lets get right into it, you know the drill.

This last month marks the beginning of my activities and work in the community, via the formation of youth clubs: one for younger kids based out of the nearby primary school, and one for teens/youth that meets at my site.

The focus of these clubs is similar, both centering around health and the promotion of positive living, but their execution differs. With the kids club the meetings are unstructured, and have an adventuring/exercise vibe, meeting biweekly. For our first meeting last week we met after school and climbed a nearby mountain. The kids had a great time, and started singing Basotho songs at the top before we returned. In total 53 kids came!

With the monthly teen/youth club, the meetings are more focused on teen health issues (HIV, safe sex, mental health) as well as answering any questions that may come up, related or not. At our first meeting in March I fielded various questions on hygiene, cancer, and HIV, which will help in creating future meeting topics. Last weekend we had our April meeting, where we had a guest Peace Corps volunteer, Marlon, come and speak about mental health.

At this meeting a local community member also spoke of the importance of staying in school, encouraging the youth to continue their studies. Since primary school is free for all Basotho, the attendance rates are high, but drop significantly for Grades 7-11 since the high schools charge fees which can be challenging to afford. However, the Lesotho government offers a full scholarship for these grades, which isn't difficult to get if you submit the proper documents. This came up and was discussed by the community member as well, since some teens expressed concerns about affording high school.

After this past weekend's meeting I received note that there was interest in starting a health club for adults in the community with relevant topics (mental health, alcoholism, HIV, TB). We have scheduled the first meeting for June 6th. So it seems I'll have three clubs going in the near future. Truely clubmaxxing.

I also took my first international vacation while in the Peace Corps over Easter weekend. Me and a few volunteers went to Durban, a coastal city in South Africa. It was awesome!

To start, just getting there was a journey. We first all met in Mokhotlong, the largest town in the highlands of Lesotho, before travelling through the famous Sani Pass by taxi. This route is just insane; the road is unpaved and drops 2000 feet in 1 mile. It switchbacks down the Drakensberg escarpment and offers stunning views as you descend from over 10,000 feet of elevation.

We got to Durban on Thursday and were there until Easter Monday. Lots of frolicking in the Indian Ocean, good food, and sightseeing (Victoria Street Market and the Indian Festival stand out). One of the afternoons I rented a boogie board and got to ride some of the most beautiful, glassy waves I have ever seen.

We also went to a club on Saturday to celebrate two of the volunteers' birthdays and were out until 5:00 am dancing to amapiano (South African house), Gqom (South African dance genre, absolutely HEAT), techno, and surprisingly 90s hip hop; hearing Hypnotize by Biggie at 3:00AM was particularly memorable. One thing I appreciated was that everyone there was dancing, singing, and fully enjoying the music (something you often don't find in America, where in my experience people are more insecure about dancing in public, especially guys!). The coolest moments were when everyone was singing some local track I had never heard; something about that is powerful, like watching your friend's favorite movie for the first time with them there.

We were all tired Sunday from clubbing, and decided to see Project Hail Mary at a movie theater. Lesotho doesn't have a single movie theater in the country, so this was my first time in one since September 2025.

Getting back home was equally long and tiresome. Durban to the border of Lesotho took us ten hours via bus, and then another four for me (plus an additional hour walk) to get back to my site. Which sounds brutal but is honestly just the norm for me now; travel times are long in Lesotho, where a "quick trip" is one that can be done in less than six hours. The same holds true with getting groceries; where a 20 minute drive to the grocery store in America would be considered long, my runs take two hours each way! I think I will have infinite patience for the rest of my life by the time my service ends.

As America warms into summer, it's starting to get colder here in Lesotho. I am preparing mentally for my first winter in these mountains. Right now, daily highs are in the mid-50s with lows in the mid-30s, and it'll only get colder through July. Plus, there are no training wheels in Lesotho to make winters easy, like central heat. It'll just be me, some layers, and a sleeping bag! But no heating bill to worry about. Plus we have tentative group plans to go skiing in July at Afriski; the only ski resort in Africa, right here in the highlands of Lesotho.

My running and exercising is still going, but not "going strong", right now. My posterior tibialis injury has returned from the grave (two years after the initial injury). In hindsight, I was running WAY to much on trails at altitude for my tendons to handle. Luckily its not serious; I can still walk to work and get food (and still run, just less), but I am rescheduling plans to do the 50 and 100 mile ultra marathons, which will hopefully be safely achievable later in service, just not this July. Injuries suck but its part of the sport, and...

"The ones who push the limits discover sometimes the limits push back" – Chasing Mavericks, 2012.

But hey, I'm still here, still running, still living in Lesotho, and still doing the most amazing job I've ever had.

Stay well,
Connor