Lesotho- a cursed paradise with a ray of hope

The trip from Johannesburg to Lesotho was in a very small aircraft with only ten rows. We were going for a training on 'vulnerability and capacity assessment'. As the plane started descending I was lost in the beauty of the place- beautiful mountains and rivers- was it a paradise?
From Airport to Hotel Mount Maluti, it took us around 90 minutes to reach the town centre of Mohale's Hoek where this hotel is located. I was thoroughly impressed- everything seemed so perfect. Our visits to the villages in Maseru unvieled the horrifying truths hidden behind the scenic beauty. The paradise was cursed with poverty, crime and something they did not want to talk about- HIV and AIDS. One village of population 300 had 35 orphan headed houses. The death rates were alarming and I along with other assessment team members were trying to find ways and means of reaching to the root cause of deaths. We tried a number of Participatory appraisal tools and one tool- historical visualisation and projection served the purpose. The visualisation chart showed a trend of increasing HIV but when I asked about future projections, the answer was that ten years from now there would be NO HIV. I was completely shaken by the explanation for such projection- 'no one would be alive, so no HIV in this village'.
It echoed in my ears for a long time. I knew the situation was grim, but was there no hope...?
We finished our exercise with them and the moment they got up, they celebrated having completed one exercise by singing and dancing on their local folk songs. I was also taught the dance steps and made to join. Their confidence, cheerfulness and smile reinforced the hope and a determination to improve the situation.

I returned to India but a project was started based on findings of the assessment and I am sure I will visit them some day and thank them for proving that as long as there is life, there is a hope.

dont want to live, or maybe you do

So many times, so many instances- one feels that all is lost. And it is painful indeed, to know that the hard earned fame after years of efforts is suddenly all gone. It could have been the designs of someone's evil intentions, or it could have been our own fault, or it could be some other reason but the sense of loss is bad,... too bad !!

We see darkness everywhere, there is nowhere to go, no reason to live.

We can curse the fate and drown in the ocean of tears, or we can pause and smile. Difficult to believe, but when I tested I found it true.  I found that in the most painful moments also, if we try we can smile.. We can even laugh and when we actually laugh the pain begins to fade. People may think we have gone insane, laughing in pain, but the truth is that we grow strong. 
 So we see, that we are the master of our state of mind. Let us learn the art of mastering our mind and not let our mind master us.

Let us choose to be happy and appreciate the pain. Not everybody gets to experience the pain, so we are the chosen ones, to know the truths of life and to grow. One who hasnt seen darkness can never appreciate the brightness. Change is the only constant on this earth. Good times have to be followed by a time not so favourable (at least thats how they seem, to our limited understanding), so once we are going through the 'not so favourable times' there is one reason to be happy- sooner or later the happy times will come :)
I choose to be happy and live... and I am sure, you would also choose the same. There is nothing more to lose, so why not give it a try.