Peace Corps: Touching Down to Permanent Site

Khotso!
Peace! (Sesotho greeting, similar to a hello)

As of December 3rd, I am now officially a Peace Corps Volunteer! On that day I swore in, and completed pre-service training, alongside the 14 other volunteers in my cohort. I was also fortunate enough to give a Sesotho speech during that ceremony. The King of Lesotho attended our graduation, and warmly welcomed us to the Mountain Kingdom. Now, I find myself at my permanent site, FINALLY beginning my two years of service.

In the Peace Corps world, this stage of my service is called Phase Three. Phase One was staging in the United States, and Phase Two was the in-country training I just completed. And now I am in the third phase, which encapsulates the first three months at my permanent site, and will end around March 2026.

My goals during Phase Three are community integration and information gathering. Phase Three requires me to write a detailed report on my community. The aim of this report is to provide me with a better sense of direction for service, and an understanding of my community; what the strengths are, where the needs lie, and potentially what projects I can do to best help. Then, I will present my findings to PC staff and volunteers in March, when we all meet again to conclude Phase Three (and begin Phase Four...).

So now I begin the three month journey of settling into my community and slowly chipping away at my report.

My current routine looks something like this: I get up around 5:00 am, which is rather late by Basotho standards (sunlight + farm animals ensures a dawn awakening). I then I do strength training (with dumbbells I bought in Maseru), followed by a run. On my run (which starts around 6:00 am) I see many people already out, walking to work or plowing the fields. I believe the farmers start early to avoid the heat of midday. After running I wash up and make breakfast: 4-5 eggs, bowl of oats, peanut butter, and some stone fruits (my host family has peach and cherry trees, ripe right now).

Then I walk to the clinic, where I am working Monday through Friday, from 8:00 am until around 1:00-3:00 pm. I am mainly doing work in the pharmacy (organization, assisting with medicine ordering) right now, but hope to start other health projects in the future (youth club?), especially after Phase Three.

At home after clinic work, I stretch and the usually engage in a rest-promoting activity. Maybe watch one of the 250+ movies I copied from an older volunteer's hard drive, read a book, call family/friends/fellow volunteers, or play with the kids in my village. And I still need to get back into writing music and playing guitar. My clinic working hours are very relaxed (by American standards), so I'm glad to have many interests/hobbies to absorb free time after work and on weekends.

Coming straight from training to living at my permanent site is certainly an adjustment. I just spent three months seeing my fellow volunteers everyday for 10 hours, and we became very close friends. Now, I'm 3+ hours from the nearest one, which inflates to around half a day's worth of travel time once you add in waiting for taxis to arrive/depart.

The isolation is real, normal, and just plain alright by me. Plus it's somewhat temporary, as once my Sesotho improves and I know more people in my community, isolation will reduce.

And there is plenty to savor here. The mountains, breathtaking; The sunsets, dramatic; And the people, beyond welcoming. I think that Lesotho is one of the most beautiful countries per-capita. Everywhere you look is postcardable. And that, in addition to the aforementioned, certain helps stave off any feelings of loneliness that is common for volunteers right now.

And now lets pivot!

Getting groceries from town to site is an interesting feat. Lets just say, up front, that it's a good thing they put a volunteer here who likes the mountains, and exercising amongst them, because getting food looks something like this: Walk 3.5 miles to the paved road (600 feet of vertical gain, because you have to go over a mountain). Take a 30 min taxi to Roma (my camp town). Get food (canned fish, dried beans, nuts, tomatoes, onions, fruit, etc) and load it all into my 40L backpack. Take a "4+1" (small car) back instead of a taxi (you pay slightly more, but they leave much more often). Then, the fun part: walk 3.5 miles and 600 feet of vert with ~40 lbs of food on your back. The whole thing took me around 5 hours last Saturday, so not too bad. Happily, I can get enough food in my pack to only have to make this trek biweekly.

There is also a small shop near my house, but they only stock essentials and at an elevated price. However, they are now my source of eggs (sold per tray of 30). I quickly learned that carrying eggs over mountainous terrain without breaking them is not an enjoyable way to spend Saturday morning. So, now I pay the extra 20 rand (~$1 USD) to get them 50 feet from my house instead of 18,000.

To conclude, it hard to grasp that its currently the "holiday season" in America right now, because it's summer! Currently mid-70s every day and always sunny (unless the sky is booming thunder or hailing, which tends to happen on occasion). Plus a lack of regular internet/TV use means I'm missing all the holiday advertising to jog my memory that its December (a welcomed change). But I will miss seeing my family and friends for Christmas, of course. It's all give and take.

And, looking ahead, the Fourth of July will certainly be interesting; While you all in America a swimming and BBQing, I'll be bundled up and perhaps walking over snow to work.

Don't forget to ask any questions you may have. It gives me great joy to answer them.

Sala hantle!
Stay well!

Connor