As the founder and executive director of the NGO Help Lesotho, Peg Herbert has learned to expect the unexpected. Whether she is overseeing the construction of a set of stairs in an African village that has never seen a two-storey building (the notion of gradual slope needed some work!), delivering a workshop for orphaned teenage mothers who grew up without mother-models of their own, or envisioning the future of the Ottawa-based organization, she knows how to be flexible and be ready for anything.
In mid-December 2015, Herbert awoke to some unexpected news. Help Lesotho — the organization that started out in her basement and has since grown to a $1.6-million annual budget — was named as a top-25 charity in Canada by the Financial Post.