News from Lesotho and the Yes we care! e.V.-Child-Sponsorship-Program
The situation in Lesotho regarding the corona virus pandemic cannot be assessed due to the lack of tests, these cannot be carried out in Lesotho but only in neighbouring South Africa. As a result, only one confirmed case of infection is known since 13th May 2020. From South Africa we know that despite draconian measures - the usefulness of which in combating the spread of this dangerous viral disease is very questionable - the number of infections is rising rapidly. It can therefore be assumed that the situation in Lesotho is not that different and that the virus is spreading undocumented and untreated.
What is also increasing significantly is the malnutrition of the population, which was simply sentenced to starvation due to the now 6-week lockdown. The 117 sponsored students in our Yes we care! e.V.-Child-Sponsorship-Program, all of whom come from particularly needy social backgrounds and are often not adequately supplied with food even during normal school holidays, were and are particularly hard hit.
As we had expected, our carers, Makabelo and Mpho, increasingly receive calls for help from sponsored students. The students ask if the money they had been given for the transport back to school from their villages could be spent on food instead. They and their family members were very hungry! Of course, they were given permission to do so. Unfortunately, until Monday, 11th May 2020, Makabelo and Mpho couldn't do anything else for the children, because they too have to obey the strict rules of the "lockdown".
Since 11.05.2020 it is now allowed to move outside your own house from 6 am to 7 pm. Thanks to donations, including from sponsors, Yes we care! e.V. transferred € 5,000.00 to Lesotho for hunger relief. Makabelo and Mpho had decided in advance which foods were most urgently needed and went to the shops early in the morning and bought them in large quantities.
Makabelo and Mpho also planned which of the sponsored students live near enough to the school so that they can collect this food aid directly from the school. All these children were informed that on Tuesday, 12th May 2020, they could come and pick up their food parcels in the schoolyard.
The joy and gratitude of the students was indescribable!
Some children carted the sacks with corn flour, samp (mashed corn), oil, matches, sugar, eggs, soybeans and dried beans home in wheelbarrows.
Makabelo and Mpho then started driving food parcels to sponsored students in the surrounding villages who live too far away to pick them up themselves. This poses a not inconsiderable risk to their own safety: driving a carload of food through areas where hunger can lead people to desperate acts is self-evident.
Some children couldn't believe their luck. You can see their hunger. For us, these are the first photos of our sponsored students in front of their homes, small huts in the mountains of Lesotho.
Some sponsored children receive their food parcels on the side of the road because their huts cannot be reached by car.
Makabelo and Mpho have been traveling to more and more distant areas since Wednesday, 13th May 2020, and will continue to do so until they have taken care of all our sponsored students.
It is currently unclear when Pitseng High School will reopen. Until the school opens - when the children can be fed from the school kitchen again - we will do our best to provide all sponsored children with the best possible care. Tertiary educational institutions are able to reopen since Monday, 11th May 2020. However, this has not been not accepted for fear of the virus spreading. The National University of Lesotho in the capital Maseru remains closed and continues to offer only digital classes.
In the meantime, Sr. Germina, who is the headmistress of the girls' boarding at Pitseng High School since January and has received 20,000.00 euros from Yes we care! e.V. sponsors for the improvement of the study situation at the girls' boarding shortly before the lockdown, immediately took the initiative after the curfew was relaxed and started with the renovations of the study room. She is full of energy and we hope that the conversion can be completed very quickly and possibly before the many girls will return to the boarding facility.
The political situation in Lesotho is unstable. The Parliament is able to meet again since Monday, 11th May 2020. The ruling party fell apart during the first session because Prime Minister Thabane who was charged with assisting in the murder of his former wife (he has remarried since then) does not want to resign immediately. He is now expected to leave office on 22nd May 2020 and it remains to be seen how the political situation will develop. This unstable situation is anything but helpful in times of crisis like the current one and additionally prevents or complicates an appropriate response to the crisis.
We cannot repeat it often enough:
Thank you very much to everyone who helps Yes we care! e.V.
supporting needy children in Lesotho!