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October 2001
Dear Friends,
Greetings to you from Lesotho, Africa’s Mountain Kingdom,
a.k.a. the "Roof of Africa" (called that because the
country’s lowest elevation is higher than that of any other
country in the world).
We arrived safely here in Maseru, Lesotho’s capital city,
at the end of September, following several hours of flying (San
Jose to Atlanta to Johannesburg) and driving (Johannesburg to
Maseru). We’ve quickly come to appreciate the richness and
diversity of the land, cultures, and people we’ve encountered
so far in southern Africa.
Since this is our first newsletter, we thought we should start
at the beginning with the details as to why we are here. Bob is
working as a facilitator in a pilot program of the Presbyterian
Hunger Program called "Joining Hands Against Hunger."
Unlike more traditional hunger alleviation efforts, JHAH seeks
to create community hunger action networks that will look at and
address root causes of hunger and poverty, including such issues
as the impact of economic globalization on local and national
economies and engaging governments and corporations in taking
into consideration how their policies and actions impact the poor.
Another aim of Joining Hands Against Hunger, and one that generates
a great deal of interest among the South African network, is to
help educate members of U.S. churches as to the realities of life
in developing nations as we all attempt to be better global Christians.
Bob’s work will cover both Lesotho, where there is no network
yet, and South Africa, where there are two existing provincial
networks and two more soon to be formed. Meetings in October in
Pietermaritzburg (near Durban, in the KwaZulu-Natal Province)
and in Worcester (near Cape Town) have helped bring him up to
speed on what’s already going on in South Africa.
Samantha anticipates working at the library of the Koapeng Theological
Seminary in Morija, a town about 45 minutes south of Maseru. The
seminary is run by the Lesotho Evangelical Church, and prepares
African students for full-time ministry. She has not begun work
there as of the time of writing this letter, but is looking forward
to sharing more about the work there in our next newsletter.
For these first four weeks in Lesotho, we’ve been staying
in the guest cottage of David and Roxi Owen, an American missionary
family here with Global Ministries (Disciples of Christ Church).
They’ve been in Lesotho for eleven years, and have been instrumental
in helping us navigate the hurdles and unfamiliarity of our host
country. We anticipate moving into a townhouse within the next
week.
So far, much of our energy has been focused on simply getting
situated and settled into our new environment. This has included
finding, purchasing and registering a used car, locating housing,
getting our residence permits for Lesotho and border passes for
South Africa, and dealing with banking in what is a very cash-based
economy. We’re getting used to the fact that everything just
takes longer here.
The history of the Kingdom of Lesotho (known as Basotholand prior
to independence from Britain in 1966) consists mainly of trying
not to be subsumed by South Africa. The people of Lesotho (known
as Basotho) have been able to maintain political independence,
but are dominated economically by South Africa. Much of the Free
State in South Africa was once part of Basotholand. What is now
the country of Lesotho is a very mountainous region with great
beauty (but limited natural resources).
Lesotho really is a kingdom, with a king and queen. The king’s
wife had a baby girl a couple weeks ago, prompting the local men
to drench the king with cold water, a tradition for new fathers
symbolizing that a daughter is someone to fetch water for him.
If they’d had a boy, the king might have been struck with
sticks (a boy means a father has someone who will defend him).
We saw King Letsie III give a speech the day before Princess
Senate (pronounced se-NAH-tee) was born. He was at a cultural
festival in the town of Morija. The festival included traditional
music and dancing, as well as arts and crafts and food from all
regions of Lesotho. It also featured a parade of Basotho men on
horseback, the traditional transportation mode for Lesotho’s
rugged interior. The festival was a nice introduction to Basotho
culture.
In closing, we’re very thankful for all the help and support
we received from friends and family in Canada (where we were stranded
on September 11th), the U.S. (where, amazingly, we got moved out
of our apartment and to our plane on time), and here in Maseru.
Our preparations and transition to Lesotho would not have been
possible without your prayers and support.
We ask your continued prayer support for safety in travel (and
that our little car won’t be swallowed-up by the enormous
potholes of Lesotho roads); for funding for a project vehicle
for Bob; and for language learning and cultural adjustment.
We look forward to sharing more of our life and ministry with
you through future newsletters. Please keep in touch, and have
a very blessed Christmas and holiday season.
Bob & Samantha Franklin
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