I just love these kids!

I have to start by saying that Lesotho is full of wonderful, beautiful, bright, generous children. I wanted to bring them all back with us! I think our son would have been happy with that idea, too! So many children, most of them quite a bit older than he is, would come almost every day to see their new little American friend. As interested as they were in his (too many) books and toys, they all seemed to be willing to share their own belongings, or food, with him. They were very patient when he grabbed things from them or pushed them (he is such a tyrant! :( ), they cheered for him when he counted, sang, spoke any Sesotho, or said his ABCs, and they didn't even seem to mind that he had to have his Mommy with him at all times (his insistence, not mine, actually).

But I have to tell you about two of my favorite kids that we got to know:


Bokang (from Maseru) and My Little Guy

This Bokang is not to be confused with our nephew, Bokang, although it was a bit puzzling to our kiddo. For the first few days in Mantsonyane, he seemed to think that all the boys were named Bokang, since he'd already met two! My husband has been good friends with his whole family for several years so we went to see them on our way up to my in-laws' as well as before we went back home. Bokang is only 7 years old, in grade two, and smart as a whip. Much to his family's surprise, he spoke English very freely and easily with us. They knew he'd been learning English at school, but they mostly speak Sesotho at home, so they were excited to see how much he knows already. I told my husband that I don't think I speak any of the foreign languages I've studied as well as Bokang speaks English already. It's very humbling.

Bokang was so good with our son. He shared his cars, colored with him, talked to him, played with him, looked out for him. Our son was SO excited to see him when we went back to Maseru that he broke into a huge grin. When we went to Church, Bokang made sure Kiddo didn't wander off (or step in any bird poop outside!) He invited his friends over to meet us, and they shared their snacks with Kiddo-- or rather, they ended up giving their snacks to him since he is such a huge eater!

But Bokang also is quite a pistol. My son has an obsession with opening and closing any door he sees, and, much to our chagrin, he slammed doors all over Lesotho. I was terrified he was going to break them, but the kind people we visited mostly thought it was funny. Of course, he had done this at Bokang's house, and also at the Church. After trying for the umpteenth time to get the kid to stop slamming some glass doors at the Church, I sort of gave up.

Then Bokang turned to me and said, "Do you see what he did?"

"What?"

Bokang somberly pointed at the glass doors. "See, he broke it."

"What? Are you sure?" My heart started pounding as I looked to see that one of the doors did indeed have a huge crack running about 3-4 feet down the glass. How in the world were we going to pay for that? Would the members of the branch ever forgive us? Would they always remember Kiddo as the boy who broke their door because of his neglectful mother? I was totally panicking as I tried to get my husband's attention.

Our friend Terry overheard the whole thing, and after letting me fret for a minute or so, he chuckled and said, "Don't let him fool you. The door's been like that for years."

Bokang just smiled at his cleverness.


Bokang's friends came over to meet his little American friend.


Then there's Chabalala. He's four, lives behind my in-laws, and is so cute I can't stand it.


Chabalala ponders the meaning of life.

Evidently, he loves coming to visit his neighbors every day, and when school is out (which it was while we were there), he usually gets up at about 6 a.m., gets dressed and comes on over to see his "big-kid" friends, our nephews and niece. He also enjoys my mother-in-law and sister-in-law's amazing cooking and often announces his arrival by telling them that he's hungry. The sweet women that they are, they always give him a little something.

Chabalala was especially excited to come over while we were there. He loved to ride with my husband in our rental car whenever he went somewhere, and was amazed by our son. Because Kiddo has memorized so many things he hears, and because he talked so much, Chabalala thought he was some sort of baby genius. He said to his friends, "I am four and he is a baby, but he already speaks English!" Of course, we had to explain that Kiddo is not fluent in Sesotho like he is.

One day Chabalala brought over a pair of his boots for our son, because he wanted to give him a present. But they were too big. If you ask me, just seeing that little face nearly every day was present enough! I think he was as sad as we were when we had to leave.


Well, we tried to get a picture of them together, anyway!