2022 Projects
Community Development Projects
This year FOL was able to award grants to multiple community organizations in Lesotho that focus on community development and empowerment at the grassroots level.
Kick4Life is a multi-award-winning charity and social enterprise within the Sport for Development sector. Based at the Lesotho Football for Hope Centre – a hub of social and economic development in the heart of Maseru, the organisation aims to transform the lives of orphans and vulnerable children through sport. Kick4Life has extensive experience in developing and delivering interventions across an integrated approach to participant well-being.
FOL funding enabled Kick4Life to replace indoor chairs for the No.7 Restaurant – one of the programs’ social enterprises. The primary objective of the Kick4Life Social Enterprises, which includes the No.7 Restaurant, is to generate revenue to support Kick4Life programmatic work. The funding request to FOL was to help rebuild sustainability efforts to be self-sufficient.
To ensure this investment is optimized and sustained for the duration of its economic life, the Kick4Life Social Enterprises will set aside funds for annual maintenance of equipment.
Restoration of the pergola and restaurant chairs
100% of profits from the restaurant are reinvested in Kick4Life Programs.
The Molete Reading Club is sponsored by the Molete Foundation. The project is designed to instill in children a culture of reading by bringing children from different schools together to discuss what is taught or read outside classroom in order to socialize positively in a team spirit. The reading club helps children to improve standards of English listening, speaking and self-actualization. The reading club gives the children an opportunity to discover books of their interest. Through reading the children will think critically, be accountable and responsible citizens. Staff reads with children from Primary and High School, grades 4 - 9, in the Foso area of Khubetsoana, Mabote.
The Reading Club uses the classrooms at Mejametalana Primary School. The classrooms only have desks which are not enough nor suitable for reading. FOL helped purchase chairs and tables. When the Foundation has land they will request FOL to help in building a community library.
Maluti Adventist Hospital located in Mapoteng, Lesotho, is one of two district hospitals in Berea, serving a population of 100,000 people. Maluti Adventist Hospital has hosted a number of Peace Corps Volunteers over the years. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, funding was provided to the hospital to create a six-patient intensive care unit. The hospital did not previously have an ICU, so patients requiring ICU care had to be transferred to Maseru, a one-and-a-half-hour drive. When the ICU was created, funds were not provided to upgrade the existing hospital beds in the ICU wing. The beds are very basic, lacking electric controls for raising and lowering the bed and positioning the patient based on clinical needs. Lesotho has one of the lowest ratios of nurses to population in the world, so easing their workload is vital.
The goal was to purchase five (5) of the five-function electric beds needed for the ICU at Maluti Adventist Hospital. FOL donated funds for one of these beds.
Barbara Meyer (RPCV Ched 11-13) conducted a crowd funding campaign and raised $10,000 to fund another four multi-function beds and reached her original goal to provide five beds needed by the hospital. The funds have been sent to the hospital and the beds are on order.
Tuition Assistance Program (TAP)
Sixty scholarships to help High School students in Lesotho through the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) were awarded in the past year. Funding TAP was a challenge since there were no Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Lesotho since 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. FOL was very fortunate to be able to partner with the Rotary Clubs of Maloti, Matsopa, and Maseru to reach out to principals across Lesotho and help identify students for the scholarships. TAP funds were also sent to Monica Letsoha at the Molete Foundation for additional scholarships. The success of the TAP program has largely been due to the generous contributions from the Taipei American School each year as well as from members and friends. Since its inception in 1992, FOL has sent over $200,000 to Lesotho to support TAP. TAP has been FOL’s longest standing and most successful program and is now entering its fourth decade.
Sechaba Community Initiatives Organization
Efforts to diversify produce in Lesotho have begun with initiatives in high-value fruit farming. Funding for the Sechaba Community project supported the construction of a tree nursery with poles and shade nets to raise peaches, apples, and apricots. The project team will be supervised by agricultural experts of tree production from the Ministry of Forestry. The organisation will create income through the fruits produced by those trees which will be sold to local businesses and reduce imports from South Africa. As trees produce fruits every year, the organisation will receive income every year. Profits will be used to invest in other income generating projects.
Handpump Borehole Drilling Project
The Ha Malofo community in Botha Buthe does not have access to clean water and requested assistance with a borehole project. The community suffers from lack of clean water and has been drinking river water together with the animals. A committee of respected community members was formed to oversee the project. FOL funded the project quote of $3,500 from the Head Cornerstone Construction Company for a digital survey and report, borehole drilling, steel casing supply and installation, handpump supply and installation, and transport of machinery to the project site.
The borehole project will have an immediate impact on over 400 people in Ha Malofo.
Help Save Lives: Mankoe Foundation
Help Save Lives is based in Pela-Tsoeu in Leribe. FOL funds were used to plant vegetables and legumes to help feed underprivileged children. The Makoe Foundation is a prior recipient of food donations from the Lesotho Nutrition Initiative. The community will buy maize, beans, cabbage and spinach seeds, fertilizers, and potatoes for a garden to become more self-sufficient and build their capacity to address issues of food insecurity in Pela-Tsoeu. The community will later submit a proposal for raising broilers and pigs to sell in order to sustain their efforts in food production and for programs to pay for student fees, books, uniforms, and other essentials.
Children Basic Education: Ha Ramoloi Community Based Organization
FOL funding was used to purchase materials needed to complete a classroom and construct a low cost kitchen shelter for children’s meals with corrugated iron in the area of the Thuathe in Berea District. The classroom will accommodate 40 children aged 1 to 6 years old. The project will benefit villages in Tsitsa, Ha Ramoloi, Ha Makujoe, Ha Mohotloane, Ha Motloang, Ha Tumo, and Ha Malei.
The classroom will also be used for outreaches/health posts for clinical services for villagers. The organization built the walls and was left without roofing, plastering, toilet and other attachments. Most children do not attend school, which is the foundation to primary level, due to limited and distanced schools in Lesotho. The kitchen shelter will be used to prepare a fresh breakfast and lunch for the children.
HOLO Motivational and Educational Club (MEC Club)
Heal Our Land Organisation (HOLO) is a registered Non-Government Organisation working to promote and protect education, human dignity, gender equality and public health through training, advocacy and social mobilization and empowerment strategies, and improve the culture in Lesotho as a whole. HOLO is located in Matsieng in the neighborhood of Morija. The area around Matsieng has been affected by gang fighting.
FOL funds were used to help complete a classroom building used to host a Motivational and Educational Club to help young people (boys and girls who have dropped out of school, orphans, shepherds, people living with HIV) who have social issues like anger, aggression, depression, theft, with Mental Wellbeing Sessions. HOLO is working closely with parents and local schools to receive referrals of students with social issues. HOLO has groups of 40 students coming to sessions on Saturdays and was in great need to have a facility to accommodate these classes.
Wittenberg University Summer Service Trip
FOL funded $3,000 to the Wittenberg University Summer Service Trip in 2022. Funds were used to build a house with Habit for Humanity for a family in need. Paint, shelving, and other building supplies were used to build a community center and library for local students in Ramabanta. Repairs to the playground were also made. These projects were done in conjunction with the Lesotho Youth Workcamps. Students and team members spent a week working with community members to build a new one-room cinderblock building which would serve as the new kindergarten in Setibing.
The building was also brightly painted. The second project was to fulfill a request to renovate a dilapidated building to be used by local weavers and pony trekking. Students repaired and plastered the inside walls, helped install windows and doors and brightly painted the outside with messages to let travelers know what items could be purchased at the location. This was done to help support local entrepreneurs. Three classrooms were painted at the Setibing Primary School.
