HUMANITY

The other night I was chatting with my Ntate (father), we were sitting next to the fire that my host family uses to cook their enormous cauldrons of papa (maize meal). It was dark and chilly and the full moon lit the courtyard well. We discussed planting times and a little bit about what life is like in America. He asked me "How big is America, from here to TY?" He equated America to about 30 km. I raised my eyebrows and kindly explained that America was about 300 times the size of Lesotho. He clicked his tongue and shook his head "so far ausi (sister), so far." So true N'tate, so true. The diversity one finds in America is truly striking. It is one of the only countries I can think of where you're not yelled at if you're different, let me explain. In Samoa, kids yelled "palangi" at the white girl, in Costa Rica it's gringa and in New Zealand you're still pahkia. Here the stares are endless and "lehooa" is the phrase of choice. There are moments of frustration however there are other moments which make up for it. Again, I was chatting with my N'tate, he was repairing his saddle and speaking to me in English which is a rarity, I passed his language test so he informed that he would sometimes use english. I laughed because for weeks he pretended that he could not understand me just so I would take more initiative to learn the language. His tactics were successful. He looked up from his repairs and said "you know, we are all the same." "Eeeahyah, N'tate" (yep) I replied. "Molimo (God), he has made us all the same." He looked me straight in the eye. Humanity coursed through both of us at that moment and all the miscommunications and language frustrations became worth it in a second of universal understanding.