When I first applied, I didn’t know where the Peace Corps was going to send me. When it told me I would be teaching in Lesotho, I thought, “Cool! Wait--where is that?” After a quick Google search, I learned that it’s a very small country completely landlocked inside of South Africa. Can you find it on a map? It’s only about the size of Maryland!
In September 2023, I said goodbye to my friends and family and moved to Lesotho with only two suitcases. I spent the next three months training, living with a host family, cooking and eating traditional food and learning the local language called Sesotho (seh-soo-two). After I successfully completed my training, I was officially sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer in December 2023, and then I moved to the village where I’d work and live for the next two years. I started my job teaching at a local primary (or elementary) school in January 2024, and I love it! I teach English, math, and life skills to a class of 70 fourth graders just like you! My students are smart, funny, and love to play games like soccer, netball and hopscotch. It definitely gets a little intense sometimes, but my co-teacher helps me out a lot.
In my village, called Mount Moorosi, I live with a host family, who helps answer all of my questions about life in Lesotho (and practice my Sesotho, of course!). I have my own house, but I have a host mom, dad and five siblings, who all live on the family compound, too. Even though there is no running water and only some homes have electricity, there is always something fun going on around here!
Although life in Africa looks very different from what I’m used to, I’m still the same person I was in America.
