This festive season, The Hub is reaching out to friends and supporters worldwide with an urgent appeal: help us to give the gift of education by providing high school fees and support in 2024 for 30+ of our Skills & Soup participants.
Our fundraising goal is 10,000 USD. Every donation, no matter the size, will contribute to breaking down barriers and opening doors for these bright and ambitious students!
From our Skills & Soup cohort, we have identified 30+ young people who are academically gifted, but who come from severely disadvantaged economic backgrounds. As with many young people in Lesotho, these 30 young people come from families who cannot afford to send them to high school.
In Morija, attending high school costs approximately LSL 2,000 (USD 100) per year, but this is unattainable for many families who are already struggling to make ends meet and to put food on the table. Additional costs include exam fees, uniforms, books, dictionaries, calculators, and even boarding fees for some—costs which many families simply cannot cover.
According to 2021 MICS-EAGLE Lesotho Education Fact Sheets, about 80% of children in Lesotho complete primary education. However, the completion rate declines steeply for lower and upper secondary education, with only 33% completing lower secondary and only 14% completing upper secondary due to these unattainable costs. 61% of children from the wealthiest families complete high school, compared to 4% from poor families.
As The Hub, we are determined to help reverse these statistics by ensuring that the young people we work with have the educational opportunities they deserve to pursue their dreams for a brighter and better future for themselves and their families.
Every donation to this campaign will go directly into a high school fees fund that will be managed by our trusted team to cover the costs of fees, exams, books, uniforms, school supplies such as a calculator, and any other additional costs that may arise for 30+ of our Skills & Soup participants. The Hub has been paying high school fees for a number of our participants since 2021, and we already have strong relationships with local high schools, as well as an established system to manage these bursaries for deserving high school students.
Our system takes the responsibility for high school fees out of the hands of families, as we pay fees and associated costs directly to high schools in the community. We also communicate regularly with schools to maintain an understanding of students’ needs and progress. This greatly relieves the pressure on families and allows our high school students to focus on what matters most: their studies.
By supporting this cause, you are investing in the future of these young students and empowering them to reach their full potential.
The Hub 