In Bordeaux, missing Mohale's Hoek

It has been a while since our last post, and after thinking about what to post we have come to the conclusion that there's just too much to write about, so here is a brief recap.  We left South Africa almost two weeks ago, had a stop over in London and then made our way to Bordeaux, France.  Our two months in South Africa were beyond our expectations and our three weeks in Lesotho were life changing, and we hope to be involved in lives of the people we met for a long time to come.  It was hard to leave, I was in tears the night before, dreading our goodbyes and feeling like we had not done enough.  It was an honor to work with Sr. Juliana, the orphans and all those that we met along the way.  We have a greater appreciation for all that we have, and we are more aware of the need to give to others who are less fortunate.  Below are a few pictures of Lesotho, we miss it there tremendously........

Orphans at St. Camillus working on an art project

A few of Sr. Juliana's orphans who came looking for food which Aylie happily gave to them

Lerato Pre-School girls perform a traditional dance for us (Lerato = love)

Lerato Pre-School boys singing for us

Lerato Pre-School

Mimi, the bone collector

Mookho, our orphan neighbour and friend, shows off a new dress from Aylie

Making a site survey with Makhetha, an engineer, for the new St. Camillus Centre

Sr. Juliana with an orphan's, newborn

Sister J. and Aylie at Tsehlanyane National Park

Visiting pigs at another convent

Our neighbour children oversee a trash fire

Aylie's deals with the consequences of the above

Andrew and the boys snack on Aylie's gourmet sandwiches

Aylie helps Itumeleng move her things back into the house where here child was born

Aylie talks to the pig behind Itumeleng's house

Basia's tailgate cafe

Andrew and the boys after soccer

Drawing with children at Lerato Pre-School

Soccer with children at Lerato Pre-School

Lerato Pre-School

One of the bishop's pigs

Motlatsi and Andrew load the truck with chicken feed (20 x 100 lb. bags!)

Aylie teaches the bishop's chef how to cook the local mushrooms!

Andrew gives Tseliso a lesson in goalkeeping

Andrew (the ref) makes the teams for a St. Patrick's Primary School scrimmage

Aylie and "Be-Wise" after the game

St. Patrick's Primary School Library

St. Patrick's Primary School - 6th grade equivalent

We both wanted to take here home from Lerato Pre-School...

Preparing dinner with Mookho - we miss her!!!

Aylie's favorite rondavel

Pre-school children in a remote village in the hills outside Mohale's Hoek

Aylie makes a friend

Aylie loving Lesotho - we can't wait to go back...

The Road to Lesotho

It took us 6 hours to drive to Lesotho from Bloemfontein, SA, where we arrived in Mohale's Hoek without knowing the exact location of Holy Cross Convent, our destination. Luckily, we pulled into the government building parking lot, where we were able to find a nice young lady to help us out. The government is so poor, they don't even have phone lines to use, so we had to buy minutes for the young lady's cell phone so she could make a call to the convent (our phone gets no service in Lesotho, we found out). Sister Isidora and Sister Julianna arrived a short while later and showed us the way.

Here are some photos from the road, with more to follow from Mohale's Hoek soon.