An interesting correspondence

Noah sent and received this email from a friend. It addresses some of the questions that have arisen during our visits. We thought it might be interesting for those of you at home too:
Hi Mark and Shari. I e-mailed my friend who is a (newly hired) professor of African Studies and who has spent considerable time living in and writing about Lesotho. I thought perhaps you could print out a copy of his responses to share with the group. Thanks, Noah
What is the impact of China on Lesotho? China: It already plays a very large role in Lesotho. They just built (or are still building?) a new Parliament building in Maseru, built the state library/archives on Kingsway and run all the textile mills that are in Maseru and Maputsoe (in the north, by Leribe). Will the mills stay past the expiration of preferential access to the American markets? Hard to say. There are a few South African businessmen moving in to take over an odd small factory or two to take advantage of cheaper labor and fewer strong unions in Lesotho versus SA, but I'm not sure that is sustainable either. There are also lots of Chinese traders out in rural Lesotho running stores. The best store near St. Rods, for instance, is known locally as "China shop" because it is run by Chinese owners who live next to it. Basotho don't particularly have high opinions of the Chinese, but they aren't going anywhere. Like in much of Africa, they are there to make money, and don't put a lot into the local communities (but then again, neither did the British during colonial times). There are lots of high-level contacts between the governments, but I would not be so quick to condemn the Chinese in Lesotho as new colonialists, or anything. Before "China shop" was "China shop," it was a locally-owned and run shop that sold mostly beer and soap. We had to shop elsewhere in 2002 when I was at St. Rods, so they do bring a wider variety of consumer goods to rural Lesotho, which certainly helps improve quality of life. It is a bit like Walmart in rural America--from the cities it looks bad, but according to my mother who grew up in rural Georgia in the 1960s, the access to so many new, cheap products allowed poor people to improve their quality of life. So, complicated question, no easy answer.
Can Lesotho long remain a viable nation-state? Lesotho as a nation-state: long-term I think some sort of federal solution will come to pass between SA and Lesotho. Mostly for South African security reasons (not really defense, but because Jo'burg relies so heavily on water imported from Lesotho). I just don't see the SA government being able to risk having such a poor, somewhat unstable government in charge of such a crucial resource. I would love to say that concerns for the extreme poverty and inequality is driving this, but it isn't. SA doesn't really care about the poverty in Lesotho (and, probably rightfully since you have now seen the townships and shantytowns of SA that they are more directly responsible for), but there is a strong push from inside Lesotho by its own citizens (educated and uneducated...most of the university grads would prefer better paying jobs in SA, and unskilled labor would have some opportunity across the border) for some sort of arrangement whereby people could have dual residency or just work rights across the border. Some sort of accord was signed in 2007, but has never been implemented. Perhaps it will happen, but the political class in Lesotho makes our Congress look positively saintly.
What can be done to destigmatize HIV? HIV: Another complicated question. On the surface, there is a lot of knowledge about HIV/AIDS out there. You saw the billboards, the campaigns, the t-shirts that everyone has. There is still, however, a lot of stigmatization of people with the disease and, frankly, denial about the problem in terms of people's social circles. What I mean is that everyone can mouth the slogans and say what a problem it is, how you get the disease, how you protect yourself from it, etc (ie the campaigns are "successful" when measured by simplistic metrics that can been seen). However, people routinely do not get tested out of a fear of ostracization, or just straight denial--can't happen to me, or I wonder why my very healthy 25-year old nephew just died. The issue is that AIDS is not a visible disease in any way, really. It is hard to put a face on it. The BBC series of interviews with people from teh clinic at St. Rods really helped me understand the reactions to it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7697831.stm

Location:Harrismith