Lesotho!

Since we’ve been married, we have had some crazy adventures together. A few weeks ago we were given a weekend away at a friend’s holiday home. Murphy’s Law struck and due to twists and turns in our journey, it took 7 hours to travel 2 hours away. But, our Lesotho trip trumps them all. When we’ve told our story from this weekend, everyone’s been saying it sounds like a bad movie.

Over this past weekend, we decided to take a trip down to Lesotho because I needed to extend my visa, and attend our friend’s wedding. Friends of ours very graciously loaned us their car since ours would never make the trip. If you don’t know where Lesotho is it is a land-locked country inside South Africa, about a 4-hour drive from Johannesburg, and what an interesting place it is!

We left Friday afternoon as soon as work ended. We figured we’d get there about 9:30 or 10. We were wrong. We missed our exit off the freeway, but decided to just go another way which would only add a bit more time to our trip. We finally found our way and arrived at the Lesotho border…it closed at 10 and it was now 11:30. 

 We saw a sign for a guest house so decided to check it out. The thing about Africa is that everything closes very early. Hotel lobbies don’t

The bride and her father with a lovely backdrop

 stay open after about 8 and people know they must arrive before then. The place was dark, but we tried looking around for a phone number or something. Suddenly a huge dog started barking and chasing us. I (Leah) screamed like I’ve never screamed before and we flew into the car like superman.  We found another man trying to enter who advised us that we had to use another border if we wanted to enter, so we drove to the other side and entered there. The unfortunate thing is, we went through all the procedures and they checked our passports, but we drove right past the station where they give us the entry stamp. The final officer checked our passports and we were through. Now there was a long drive through the country to the other side to get to our Bed and Breakfast. We eventually got to our room at 3am after having to pay someone on the street to use their cell phone.



Piet dancing with the mamas

When we tried to leave on Sunday morning, we ran into problems we did not foresee. We tried using the first border (the one that had been closed), but they wouldn’t let us through because we did not have entry stamps and claimed we had been there illegally. Piet continuously apologized and tried to convince them to let us go. They said they would let us through if we pay R4000 ($570), which we definitely didn’t have. They sent us to the other border which we entered through and see if they can help us. We prayed the entire way. In Lesotho, we couldn’t call, but we could receive calls, and luckily, one of our pastors here at Africa Ablaze called to check on us. We told him what was happening and within a few minutes, there was an emergency prayer chain going for us. When we arrived at the other border, there was nothing left we could do except explain the situation and pray for grace. I am so thankful for a husband that can speak Sotho. He spoke with the ladies working at the window and they agreed to let us out with only a R100 fine ($14) for negligence on our part. We got through the border and rejoiced for the grace we were shown.



Sotho people in the village



It was a very crazy weekend, but we still enjoyed ourselves and got to see many old friends. Lesotho itself as I mentioned is a very interesting place. It is high in the mountains, so it is very cold all the time. The people walk around everyone they go with blankets around their shoulders. And there are no shacks made from tin anywhere in the country. The people are very resourceful and build themselves stone houses no matter how poor they are. It reminded me a bit of Kwazulu-Natal (in South Africa), but still it was nothing like anywhere I had ever been before. And even though the country is only 4 hours away from Johannesburg, it is significantly safer. What a cool experience to see another part of the continent we love.

We praise God for our safety and for bringing us back to our home.



Love is an adventure!

The Bakers