Celebrating King Moshoeshoe

Sunday was a day of much celebration throughout Lesotho as locals took some time to remember their first king! Wherever we went, we saw Masotho dressed in their traditional shashoeshoe material in honor of their king. We at Beautiful Gate were blessed by a fun cultural experience yesterday! There is a group, called Care To Care, of young Masotho who are discovering some of their talents and they asked if they could come to Beautiful Gate and throw a party for our children. They had singing and dancing they wanted to do, and they even rented a bouncy house for our kids to play in. Well, their ideas were great, but the weather did not cooperate so there was no bouncy house due to thunderstorms. However, we took our party into an empty building and were able to celebrate anyway.

There were a few speeches, which were difficult for a bunch of kids to sit through, and then they had their choir sing and some boys did some traditional dances as well as a few hip hop dances. It was very entertaining, especially the traditional dances! The men were kicking and raising their sticks, and one was playing an accordion. But the funnest part was this little boy who lead their dance in front by doing some really cool shoulder jerking and arm movements while stomping. He was talented and I need to have someone teach that one to Elijah :)






The party ended by them sharing some traditional food that they had prepared for our orphans. It was something like boiled pinto beans and sorghum (a type of grain). The BG kids gobbled it down happily and my kids ate it a little less happily (Mercy swapped her full bowl with one of the kid's empty bowls so made a friend that way without hurting any one's feelings). They added some aromat seasoning to the adult's food bowls and I thought it tasted really nice (don't faint Sammy and Julie). I loved sharing in the culture with the staff and kids and I was very humbled by this group of young people wanting to come and bless our staff and kids. How many of them are probably growing up with no parents and yet they still think of the little children and it gives me hope for the future of Lesotho's young generation.