Living Off of the Land

I live off of the land, like the Basotho people.

   The Basotho are mountain people who’ve always lived off of the land and Mother Nature. There’s no simple way to explain their lives, and the life I live with them as a Peace Corps Volunteer. The land and weather have a huge impact here.

For example:

-The sun: I use the sun to juice up my solar chargers so I can charge my phone and Ipod. If it rains, I’m simply out of luck.

-The rain: I pay a lady in village to do my laundry by hand (Sorry, I’m just too lazy to do it.) If it rains, she’s shit out of luck, well, actually, I am. 

-The wind: The wind is my “dryer” as it dries my clothes as they hang on my clothing line.

-The ground: I eat fresh spinach, tomatoes, and potatoes from my host mother’s bountiful garden.

-The mountains: The Basotho live on, in, at, by, next to, through, beyond and amongst mountains. They don’t call this country the “Mountain Kingdom in the Sky” for nothing! My village is located on a mountain that I must climb to access it. And you wonder why I’ve lost so much damn weight?

-The rainbow: This is spiritual medicine because rainbows make me smile. Corny, I know. But when you live as raw of an existence as I do, you’ll find happiness in anything.

   As you can see, life here is totally dependent on the land and weather. This is one reason why I take my service day by day, one moment at a time.

   I never know what Mother Nature will bring my way!