By Kabelo Mollo
I am off once again to the land of stars and stripes, this time with the aim of building some affinity to the land of the free, and home of the brave.
My previous trip in December was to be a part of the US/Africa leaders’ summit. There wasn’t much for me to enjoy save perhaps for Day 2 which kicked off the business summit. We as a two-man Lesotho contingent were very much on the periphery of the goings on, but this “Leaders of tomorrow reporting tour” I’m embarking on ought to be different. I suspect I will be able to participate better and also report in greater detail on what’s happening.
Last time I was like a deer caught in the headlights. We missed our flight and our luggage landed a day later than us. It was a freezing winter in Washington DC and worse was still to come. We hadn’t thought to acquire adapters that would allow us to use our electronic equipment in the US so we had no way to charge any of the implements that would facilitate work.
To top it all off the Wi-Fi in the convention centre was set to only accept iPhones on the first day. When I say we literally sat and twiddled our thumbs that day, I am not exaggerating. I don’t remember ever feeling so useless or helpless. All the while wearing yesterday’s clothes.
I already have a better feeling about this trip as the organisation has been top tier. We’ve had a detailed briefing and orientation session and have seen much of the intended itinerary. Once again, the good people at the US embassy in Maseru have been as patient and as helpful as possible. Bureaucracy can be a difficult thing to navigate but my contact person has handled it deftly as ever.
I have a long flight to Newark, New Jersey this evening and then continue to Washington Dulles in the morning. The temperatures look toasty and humidity is supposed to be all the way up. Just as well I prefer the summer and look forward to balmy afternoons with a chilled beverage and good networking with the cohort of journalists also on this trip. We have met virtually and I suspect our group is a vibrant, cosmopolitan lot. I look forward to engaging them on continental matters and getting a sense of where synergies exist in media and other areas.
This is an interesting time to be in and around DC, what with the Israeli leadership having just been at Congress. I’ll spare you my views on Israel save to say I grew up in Apartheid South Africa, and even from my privileged purview, it wasn’t pretty. That notwithstanding, I hope I’ll happen upon Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez and Ilhan Omar. I hold these two politicians in the highest regard!
Let me conclude this piece here, and wish those of you staying in the freezing weather all the very best!
