In Lesotho, kids do a lot of the same activities that they do in the United States. Since many families here can't afford to buy new toys for their kids, my students and other children have to make their toys out of things they can find. My girls make jump ropes (they call them "skipping ropes") out of plastic shopping bags. Sometimes they make balls out of plastic and tape if they can't find one around, but a lot of kids do have soccer balls. Soccer is definitely the most popular sport for kids to play here. They also play a game similar to checkers called marabaraba (muh-rah-bah-rah-bah), with one team playing with pieces of glass they found and the other with small rocks.
My school's chess club meets during lunch. Each day, all the kids that love to play chess gather in a classroom or outside and play with the school's two chess boards. Many also play hopscotch at lunch, drawing squares on the concrete outside with chalk from the classrooms.
Even though kids in Lesotho may not always have the same resources as American kids, they still love to play and have fun. There are always kids kicking a soccer ball outside my house on the weekends, and at lunch all of my students can be found jumping rope or playing chess or marabaraba.
