(Letsoho La Mohau ho Balisana)
P.
O. BOX 036 • MASERU WEST 105 • LESOTHO
• CELL PHONE: (09266) 63038393
Contents:
- Thousands of Basotho children
are exploited as herdboys and domestic workers without
money.
- Full time herdboys work up to 13 hours a day everyday or more.
- Corporal punishment (whipping), which is still allowed in Lesotho,
is in actual fact is torture.
- Stock-theft has reached an appalling rate so these children are
brutally killed now and then.
- The future of these youngsters is totally destroyed.
Back to top
- Hand of grace project was formed in 1995 solely for herdboys and
shepherds by concerned parents of Lesotho.
- The project is mainly looking at rural poverty where-by it
develops the shepherds. The purpose is to eradicate the child abuse
economically by the masters.
- Young children of between the ages of 9-25, who should be
school-going children, are spending lonely days and nights in the
mountains, barefooted and with one old blanket, with the purpose of making
life for their families and themselves.
- The fundamental reason for the formation of Hand of Grace is to
organise literacy programmes for these boys to be able to read and write
properly. Also, we wish to protect the Human Rights of these children and
promote AIDS awareness.
- This project believes in economic participation for all citizens
which could be achieved through the proper ability of reading and writing
for all.
The organisation founders realised the difficulties
that herdboys under abnormal and disastrous situation in rural areas in Lesotho
are experiencing, this is due to the fact that the founders are also from the
rural areas.
ILLITERACY
The organisation realised
that illiteracy was one factor that contributes to poverty and child abuse. The
organisation therefore has engaged 62 volunteers (working hand in hand with the
Lesotho Distance Teaching Centre) to teach herdboys how to read and write and
also in AIDS awareness. We have opened a learning centre where the herdboys and
volunteers come in the evenings. This has been a tremendous success and has
been going on for five years now. Two have been sent to schools in Durban.
UNEMPLOYMENT
The
unemployment rate in Lesotho is very high. Our research has revealed that urbanisation is due to unemployment. The
people are mostly unemployed - they
are semi or unskilled. The first casualties are herd-boys. Most of them
are from the remote parts of the country as a result of illiteracy. They crowd here
in the hope of getting employed in the South African mines.
Most
of them are married and they are under pressure to support their families; they
get married while they are still looking after cattle. They were paid by cattle
which they used to pay lobola, so they are left empty handed. The South African
mines have recently been retrenching people, and the Basotho are being more
affected than other countries. To overcome this difficulty the organisation is
intending to open a free technical training centre in Thaba-Tseka with the hope
that the skills acquired will reduce the unemployment rate, which is
endangering their marriages. The beneficiaries will be mostly herd-boys. Once a man is unable to financially provide
for his family, a woman finds other ways of finding financial support for her
family. The girls are also seen in great numbers around Maseru hotels, selling
their bodies in order to find financial support to their families. That is one
factor that contributes to the spread of AIDS and HIV. Crime is also high due
to unemployment.
It is on these findings that the organisation
was founded and with the realisation of its objectives a way forward will be
seen; unemployment will be reduced. There will be AIDS awareness, and the
endangering of family structures will be reduced. The herd-boys will be more
secure.
Back to top
PROGRAMME COMPONENT: Literacy programme for
herdboys
COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS: Illiterate herd boys who spend most of their
time looking after sheep and cattle.
RURAL POVERTY ALLEVIATION in the mountain areas of Lesotho.
TARGET AUDIENCE: Disadvantaged and youth in
the rural areas of Lesotho.
BEHAVIOUR:
Change step for target audience. They will be provided with knowledge
and helped with skills training.
COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES: To help herdboys
with knowing how to read and write. To
equip and empower herdboys through skills training.
COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES:
(1)
To hold
education workshops and Seminars on how to read and write.
(2)
Skill training
courses
Back to top
Click
on the 'thumbnail" photos below to see a larger picture.
Back to top
Page last reviewed: 14 November 2003
