Hello from Lesotho. We are enjoying lots of sunny days finally but the sun is sinking ever lower on the northern horizon. We had a dusting of snow on the surrounding mountains this week. Nights are cold ... but days pleasant so far ... a Lesotho Indian Summer?

I thought I'd share a few thoughts this letter about South Africa's impact on our tiny mountain kingdom. Lesotho remains, at the village level, the traditional Africa most people imagine. Many Basotho still live in stone rondevals. They keep their cattle, sheep and angora goats in rock "kraals" at night. They grow on their terraced mountain plots corn, millet and some wheat to round out their subsistence farming lives. This picture is skewed however by the presence of South Africa, which completely surrounds Lesotho.

The RSA is a first-world country for many of its four million white inhabitants and now for an emerging middle class of blacks, coloreds and Indians. There are gorgeous highways, shopping malls, multiplex theaters and, of course, beautifully maintained national parks. We have seen the movie American Beauty and have stayed in very comfortable B&B's on vacation. Unfortunately, some of the worst squalor this side of Calcutta exists for millions of blacks who reside in townships outside of the big cities. Down below us in the province of Kwa-zulu Natal's rural areas, life for the whites seems a throw back to the America of the fifties and sixties. Very lovely small towns serve farming communities. The homes and neighborhoods are beautifully landscaped, kids play on mountain bikes, traffic is light. The supermarkets are stocked with frozen pizza and orange juice, even granola. The blacks who do not live on white owned farms for the most part reside in regimented row housing of simple concrete block construction. They travel on buses and taxis or walk, though some own their own vehicles. Most people we see have running water from common outdoor taps, some have electricity. Almost all are dressed better than you might expect (those donated clothes from America turn up here!) On the surface there's a seeming acceptance of this equation,. but it breeds the sort of instability now wrecking havoc in Zimbabwe. Many South African whites live extremely affluent lives and don't seem particularly interested in redistributing the wealth pie. The black majority have no experience governing forty million people and face a huge challenge with little support from the white community. There is considerable random violence against whites, with robbery as the usual motive. There's lots of black on black violence, too. With no democratic past, there's a lot of nation building to do.

We watch this drama from our mountain perch (and listen to the excellent South African public radio) and feel blessed by the relative simplicity and safety of our Qacha's Nek lives. Our little camp town at 6,200 ft receives regular shipments of quality fruits and vegetables from South Africa (apples, oranges, mangoes, pineapples, bananas, even avocados show up in our markets) Our school has satellite TV with three South African stations as their only programming. If equipment breaks, it's easily repaired in - South Africa The influence is hard to ignore, for better or worse.

In closing, I'd like to share good news Our Farmer Training Center has received a $10,000 grant from the Irish Embassy to help our 20 graduating students start smallbusinesses of their own. We are busily teaching small business along with our other courses in poultry production, sewing, gardening/landscaping, cooking/catering and cabinetmaking/carpentry. Now our excited students will have the tools to begin their own ventures when they graduate in September. They will succeed!

All best wishes to all,
Eric & Lynn (PCV's, Lesotho)