by Kate Lambert | Dec 7, 2018 | General |
Imagine this: 50 preschoolers running around, blowing bubbles, covered in sticky glue, eating snacks – and the giggles – oh the giggles! Chaos or pure joy?
Our Basotho staff see it as a privilege to educate the next generation of the cutest Basotho.
Help Lesotho’s Preschool Literary Program enhances the early literacy experiences for children from underprivileged preschools who might otherwise enter elementary school unprepared and unmotivated to learn.
Preschools with the most need are selected from the areas surrounding Help Lesotho’s two centres in Hlotse and Pitseng.
Throughout the duration of the program, each preschool is visited bi-weekly by Help Lesotho staff who facilitate literacy activities, such as story time and alphabet songs with the tiny students. After school hours, the preschool teachers attend teacher training workshops.
Currently, three classes of preschoolers, totalling 150, and their teachers from Hlotse, Lesotho are enrolled in Help Lesotho’s Preschool Literacy Program.
Teacher Training
The Preschool Teacher Training Workshops increase preschool teachers’ confidence and skills on teaching early literacy. Among the topics covered with preschool teachers are: The Importance of a Teacher; Early Literacy; Creative Learning Activities and Different Learning Styles for Students.
These sessions are eye opening for the teachers. They report that the workshops raised their self-esteem, because they realized their efforts are crucial to the cognitive development of their students. They valued learning about that importance of teaching and disciplining students with love instead of anger is necessary to support the healthy development of children. The preschool teachers leave the workshops feeling inspired and ready to change the lives of their students.
Help Lesotho Preschool Literacy Program supervisor, Thato Letsela, says, “The program assists teachers with the skills necessary to educate preschoolers. Many of the teachers have limited education, so this program is vital to their experience.”
The preschool teachers are given resources to assist their classrooms, such as story books, teaching aids and crayons. They were taught about using lesson plans and teaching modules. The teachers say they use their Help Lesotho resources with pride.
Preschool Day
The Preschool Program culminates with a special Preschool Day visit to Help Lesotho’s Centres.
The preschoolers are warmly welcomed by Help Lesotho staff with lively songs and games, then they make each student a hat with their name written across the front (writing their own name is a skill the preschool teachers are encouraged to practice with their pupils prior to the visit).
While at the centre, the children participate in a variety of interesting and fun literacy-based games and activities.
These little ones sing songs, play games, make crafts, learn about themselves, including simple life skills such as where they live, the five senses, body parts, and are introduced to books (because most preschoolers have never held a book before).
By fostering a love of reading in a non-reading culture, the program will have a lasting impact on these youngsters through exposure to books, improving their literacy skills and will set them up for success in elementary school.
The preschoolers are encouraged to continue visiting the Centre with their parents and siblings, which increases Help Lesotho’s reach in the community to teach life-saving HIV prevention, life skills and promote gender equity.
Preschool Program visit days put a smile on everyone’s faces at Help Lesotho’s Centres because they know this program is inspiring the next generation of Basotho leaders.
![A Speech Against Child Marriage]()
by Kate Lambert | Oct 11, 2018 | General |
In 2017, one of Help Lesotho’s alumni delivered a compelling speech in honour of the International Day of the Girl. Felleng’s words are a powerful reminder about the need to end child marriage if Lesotho’s girls will have a chance at a brighter future.
As young girls and women, we face many different challenges. We are vulnerable in all aspects and are treated as worthless. Today is the International Day of the Girl. This day exists because the world needs to pay attention to the injustices that prevent girls from reaching their potential. While today we shout from the top of our lungs against child and forced marriage, we hope to be heard and not just heard but we hope to see action taken against child marriage. So many girls do not get to have their voices heard. They suffer in silence as victims in their families and relationships. Today I am speaking for the girls who do not get to be here today because they are being held like hostages as wives.
Our culture allows – and even encourages – child and forced marriage. This practice has deep traditional connections BUT things can change! We are girls of new generation. The practice of early and forced marriage was created by people, and they can undo it.
Why should we be given away to old men, with no respect for our bodies, our lives, and our futures?
Parents seem to think that daughters will bring their families shame, particularly if one was to fall pregnant before marriage. But is the worry of this shame worth destroying a daughter’s life?
Because most of us come from very poor families, our parents see us as a source of their wealth. The temptation of the lobola is difficult to resist, even though it only yields a temporary gain for most families. When will it be time to prioritize the wellbeing of girl children, instead of trading them for such small benefits.
Each girl who is forced to marry is a victim. As victims our lives are miserable, we cry day in day out. We are being abused physically, emotionally and mentally. We are young. Not only young in age, but some of us are tiny, our bodies are too immature to carry another human being when we become pregnant against our wishes.
Human beings are intelligent. We know the difference between right and wrong. We have the power to make changes and improvements. The evidence is clear that child marriage is harmful, not only to girls, but to entire communities.
- How much longer shall we young girls be tortured for doing no wrong but just for being girls?
- Where are the laws to protect us?
- Why are they only written in documents and not implemented?
- Why are we never involved in decisions that affect us most?
There should be nothing for us without us, and may you who hear us help us, may our grievances be heard and touch the souls of those with power and authority to help us. I call on each person in Lesotho to fight against child marriage.
Let us empower girls to live as children, not as wives.
by Kate Lambert | May 14, 2018 | News About Help Lesotho |
In early March 2016, 18-year-old Puleng became a victim of human trafficking.
Like many girls in poverty-stricken Lesotho, Puleng was struggling. She was 16 when she gave birth to her son, working hard to eke out a living for herself and her older brother. Puleng was earning less than USD $5 washing clothes – it simply was not enough. So when her neighbor, a woman whom she trusted, told her of the opportunity to earn more money as a domestic worker in South Africa, Puleng jumped at the chance.
Once in South Africa, Puleng’s good fortune turned into a nightmare. Her neighbour brought her to the home of an older man and told Puleng she was now married to him. Puleng in shock, replied, “I am not married. I came here for work not marriage.”
Human Trafficking in Lesotho
Trafficking into South Africa is particularly easy. Some of the borders are open for 24 hours or late into the night, and border control is very slack. Lesotho provides the quickest route into South Africa for traffickers because once one has crossed the border, the nearest South African town is no more than a few kilometers away.
Most trafficked people in Lesotho are male and female street children, sex workers and ordinary women and girls living a normal life in their homes, like Puleng.
In Lesotho, the unemployment rate for women is particularly high – up to 70%. The closure of textile factories has left a lot of female workers without any work. This economic reality makes them particularly vulnerable to traffickers.
As a result, for women needing to support their families, South Africa is the place to go to find a job. When vulnerable Basotho women hear false promises of a better future in South Africa, it exposes them to human trafficking situations.
Puleng’s Nightmare
Despite her protests, the 65-year-old man raped Puleng and held her hostage for three days. Puleng was far from home and didn’t know anyone, but she didn’t give up. When she saw an opportunity to escape her captors, she ran to find the local councillor.
The councillor demanded the traffickers pay for Puleng’s transportation back to Lesotho. They protested, but eventually agreed to return Puleng back home.
Once in Lesotho, Puleng went to the local police and charged the traffickers. The case is ongoing.
Lesotho’s Vulnerable Orphans
Puleng and her brother are double-orphans, she says, “If I had parents, I wouldn’t face these kinds of challenges.”
Over 300,000 children in Lesotho are orphaned and are doomed to face similar fates. Without strong family support systems, children are susceptible to traffickers.
Thankfully, Puleng tested negative for HIV and is now safely back home with her brother and child.
A Brighter Future Ahead
Help Lesotho’s Young Mother Program recruited Puleng for training. She says that the self-esteem training changed her life because it allows her to feel more confident and face her struggles head on. In addition, she is so grateful for the community of friends she has built through her young mother support group.
Puleng plans to give back to her community by sharing her story with other young men and women, advising them to know all the facts before taking a job abroad and avoid traffickers.
![A Speech Against Child Marriage]()
by Kate Lambert | Apr 6, 2018 | General |
Grandmothers are the key support structure for children in Lesotho and are essential to their survival. Many of them have lost their own children and family members to HIV/AIDS, leaving them confused, lonely and grief-stricken.
Despite their own poverty, illnesses and hopelessness, grandmothers have opened their homes and hearts to Lesotho’s orphaned children, filling the role of parents and guardians. They have the burden and the unique opportunity to support their grandchildren to become educated young leaders.
One such grandmother (‘nkhono’), Nkhono ‘Mafese’s life has been a series of tragedies. She became a widower after 20 years of marriage when her husband contracted Tuberculosis from working in South African mines and died suddenly. She was left to raise 6 children on her own.
Nkhono ‘Mafese had to face a parent’s worst nightmare many times over when four of her six children passed away. She is now left with two daughters, one who lives with her due to illness. The 71-year-old grandmother also has seven grandchildren, two of whom live with her: 11-year-old Itumeleng, and 7-year-old Pulane. Pulane has several disabilities, but ‘Mafese does not have enough money to bring her to the doctor.
Unfortunately, Nkhono ‘Mafese is HIV-positive. She is taking antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, but she experiences negative side effects from the medication which makes her very ill (dizzy spells, back pain, and foot pain). These effects stem from her poor nutrition: she struggles to afford the necessary amount of nutritious food needed to properly digest ARVs.
Nkhono ‘Mafese’s days are typical of a grandmother in Lesotho. She wakes up at 5:00am to get her two grandchildren ready for school. She normally has her breakfast at 10:00am which generally consists of Pap (maize and water paste) and Moroho (green vegetables). That is the only meal she will have that day. After breakfast, ‘Mafese goes to collect firewood or works in her garden. She collects water from the well which is a one hour walk from her hut. Her day ends at 7:00 pm when she climbs into her old bed with her youngest grandchild.
Nkhono ‘Mafese has many worries. She gets depressed thinking about herself and one of her daughters living with HIV. Without adequate food, the ARVs are just making them sicker. She is also very worried about her granddaughter’s disabilities and wonders what will happen to the child when she grows up.
Despite all her challenges, ‘Mafese still finds joy in her life. It makes her happy to see her grandchildren growing up, and she feels very blessed to have been selected to be part of Help Lesotho’s Grandmother Support Program.
Since becoming part of the program, Nkhono ‘Mafese is now able to provide food for her family with the keyhole garden she planted.
In Lesotho, where almost 25% of people have HIV/AIDS, it is especially important that grandmothers are able to grow vegetables to keep themselves and their orphaned grandchildren healthy (especially if they are HIV+ and require nutritious food to help digest their ARV medication). Because seeds and garden tools are very expensive, keyhole gardens are a sustainable, inexpensive solution to feeding these rural families.
Keyhole gardens allow frail and/or disabled grandmothers to easily access their crops. The garden is sustainable and self-fertilizing – it uses garden waste as fuel to grow vegetables.
Help Lesotho has helped thousands of grannies build keyhole gardens and plant vegetables such as squash, pumpkin, moroho (spinach), beets, carrots and swiss chard to feed their families nutritious meals, not just maize and water. Grannies often have a surplus produce which the can sell to their neighbours to generate income for their families.
If you’d like to read more about how to construct a keyhole garden click here.
This World Health Day, consider sponsoring a grandmother in Lesotho, so she can get the nutrition she needs for her and her family, and so much more!
Grandmothers in Help Lesotho’s Grandmother Support Program attend monthly trainings on topics including: children’s rights, communication, conflict resolution, sexual violence against children, drugs and alcohol abuse, elderly rights, Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT), grief and loss, and anger management. Each grandmother belongs to a support group in their respective village, where they meet once a week to discuss their struggles, challenges, successes and plan income generating projects.
The grandmothers also receive repairs for damaged huts; food parcels with essential cooking supplies; support to build a key-hole garden and plant seeds; blankets and shoes and assistance with income generating project.
by Kate Lambert | Apr 6, 2018 | General |
In Lesotho, approximately 1 in 5 girls are married before their 18th birthday.
Pontso* is one of those statistics.
At 17-years-old, the double-orphan had never attended high school because her grandparents couldn’t afford to pay her school fees. After her grandmother passed away, Pontso’s grandfather neglected to care for even her most basic needs, so she took a job as a nanny to make ends meet.
Caring for children on an isolated mountainside in the rural region of Thaba Tseka with no family left to protect her, Pontso was completely alone in the world.
One day, the neighbour’s son took advantage of Pontso’s vulnerability and raped her. He assumed he was immune to punishment, being a relative of the village chief, and a man in Lesotho.
When Pontso discovered she was pregnant as a result of the rape, she reported it to the village chief, adding that she planned to go to the police. The community quickly made plans to protect the man from incarceration by forcing Pontso to marry him, so the rape would be considered legal.
According to the Marriage Act of 1974, in Lesotho the minimum age of marriage is 21 years old. However, the law allows for girls to marry at 16 and for boys to marry at 18 with the written permission from a minister.
With no support system or societal influence, Pontso was disempowered and unable to stand up against the entire community on her own and was ultimately deprived of her freedom and fundamental human rights to health, education and safety.
It is not only women who are affected when girls become brides, but entire societies. Communities that diminish the value and participation of girls and women limit their own possibilities for growth, stability and change.
After her marriage, the physical abuse did not end. Pontso’s husband began to beat her. She had given up all hope and was deeply depressed. Her husband eventually left, unable to deal with their unhappy marriage and abandoned his wife and young child. Now, Pontso struggles to put food on the table and works odd jobs to survive, but is happy to be free from her forced marriage.
Pontso felt deep loneliness until she was recruited for Help Lesotho’s Young Mother Program, where she learned to share her problems with her peers at her weekly support groups and received healing through the emotional and psychosocial support.
Today, Pontso advocates for other young mothers to take care of themselves and attend clinic visits. This young mother’s resilience inspires others in her group to keep smiling, take care of their children and have hope for a better future.
Pontso’s story highlights the importance of educating boys to create a critical mass of young men who are committed to gender equity and protecting girls and women from violence.
*Name has been changed.
