A little story !

Peace Corps volunteers have three main goals that guide our service and often act as a measure of our success as volunteers. The first two goals are quite technical, with clearer ways to measure success and, therefore, failure, in my opinion. The third goal, however, is the most free-spirited in its application.

The third goal is cultural exchange. It emphasizes that as much as we learn about the culture here in Lesotho and assimilate, we also share who we are and teach what we can (when welcomed, of course).

I think a side purpose of this goal is to ensure that, during these two years away from everything we know, we do not lose ourselves and return home untethered.

So far, I have introduced many things. A few worth mentioning are watching Christmas movies year-round, Just Dance, YouTube binge-watching, cartwheels, and eating seafood (other than hake).

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So with that, I want to tell you a short and incredibly funny interaction I had with my students the other day.

I have been told by many of my male students that “meat is meat” here. Which means, some animals get eaten here that I personally would not consume. Not all Basotho people abide by that same principle, so please do not take this as confirmation of any preconceived stereotypes about Africa. As I previously stated: meat is meat.

A volunteer who was offered baboon meat took a picture of it, and of the deceased animal, before trying it. He said it tasted like goat. I showed the picture to my co-teacher and the children, and many of them reacted with, “Oh my gosh, a monkey! Noooo, it’s like a person!” A couple of my students said they had eaten it before. Immediately, some of the other students started picking at them, and I recognized a perfect moment for some third-goal initiation.

I told them, “You know, I eat things that people think are weird too. The important thing to remember is that something only seems weird because it is unfamiliar to us. We never judge people for their differences, because we all live such different lives.”

Then..

I showed them a picture of crawfish, shrimp and crabs.

Lesotho is a landlocked nation, so the kind of seafood I know is not common here.

I showed them the picture and said, “I eat these, and they are so good.”

The class literally screamed.

They said, “Madam, you’re eating monsters! That is not good, Madam!”

Some just gazed at me in horror and disgust. 🤣

The whole interaction was so amusing to me, because eating those things is considered normal where I am from. How odd for it to be called strange. Which is exactly how they must feel, when I say no thank you when offered meat I don’t know or eat.

Then we talked about where I come from and how seafood is a huge industry there. Third goal achieved.

And even more so, I now have five students who say they are going to catch crabs for me. I am a little scared about how they plan to make that happen, and I also do not know what to do with a live crab, I suppose I can always keep it as a pet.