Looking for a Project??

(This entry is for anyone who might know of a school or service club wanting to partner with a school in another country (like Lesotho) and fund raise on behalf of the partner school here in Lesotho.)

Encounters, are they ever random? As I was heading down from my most recent day of solitude on the mountain I noticed what appeared to be a school group had climbed the mountain. As I neared the bottom I came across three Basotho women. Being the friendly folks that Basotho are, they greeted me. They were teachers with the school group and we chatted for a while. Then, as I am white, the seemingly inevitable request, what could I could do for them financially? I took a chance and asked them what they needed. The response was not what I expected, it was for their school, not for themselves. The school they teach at is a rural school. The school does not have a p perimeter fence, nothing to keep the cows and other livestock away and from damaging the school property. They wondered whether I could contact my friends back at home and see if someone might assist.

I was now faced with another inevitable question. The need in this country, as in so many non-western countries, can overwhelm a person. Which contacts and encounters are ones that God is asking me to follow up? Was this one of them? How would I know? I didn’t promise anything, but I did take some contact information. Once home, I wrote them a letter asking for more information. Yesterday I received their reply. In my letter to them I indicated I would just share their situation, so here it is.

The School: Lesiamo Primary School
Lesiamo Primary School is located in a rural area of the District of Leribe in the north of Lesotho. It would be likely a 3-4 hour drive away depending on the quality of the roads. As a primary school it offers grades one to seven. The enrollment is about 275 pupils and there are 10 teachers.

The school is not an English ‘immersion’ school but English is taught as a subject.

The Problem: The school property has no perimeter fence.
The school maintains a large vegetable garden, about 125 M x 200 M. The garden provides a source of income for the school as the vegetables are sold in the local community. The proceeds are used to purchase learning materials for the children.

The school is some distance from the village. The herd boys allow their livestock to enter the garden and damage it. In addition, the herd boys often break into the school in search of money, damaging windows and doors as well as tables and desks.

The Proposed Solution: A perimeter security fence.
The cost of a perimeter fence to protect the school, play area, and garden is prohibitive for the school. The cost of materials alone will be just under $4000Can.

So, if you know of a school, or service club, or maybe a combination of both looking for a project, I am prepared to do a bit of contact/connection work from this side. I could do things such as visiting the school to confirm the situation; obtain additional information as needed; and helping with transmitting information back and forth. As a school project it might facilitate some cultural exchange between children whose first language is English with students learning English.

Amidst the needs such as the grandparent headed households I mentioned in my last entry, it feels foolish to offer such a project as this. But, … maybe it wasn’t just a random encounter.

~ Benno ~