Villagers demand clean water

Originally posted in Lesotho Times

By Ntsebeng Motsoeli

MASERU — After an exhausting day in one of the textile factories in Ha-Thetsane, 47-year-old old Molise Malebo wearily trudges home late Tuesday afternoon.

Walking alongside him are hundreds of other workers who are too poor to afford the five maloti fare to catch a taxi home in Mankoaneng and Liphakoeng, two working class villages, not far from the sprawling Thetsane industrial zone.

Malebo and his colleagues are carrying buckets of water.

He says the unavailability of water in his village has been a pain in the neck for villagers for four decades.

Now many resort to carrying buckets of water on their way home from work.

As far as he can remember, villagers in Mankoaneng and Liphakoeng have always grappled with a shortage of clean drinking water.

The problem has however worsened in recent years as job seekers flocked to Mankoaneng and Liphakoeng to get closer to the Thetsane industrial area.

“We have been living in this misery for over 40 years. Things got worse when more people settled here to look for jobs in the factories,” says Malebo.

He says in the 1970s they thought things were going to get better after the government installed water taps in the villages.

But the arrangement did not last long as the authorities inexplicably shut down the system.

“We then had to draw water from spring wells along the hill. The wells are a health scare. They are uncovered. With lack of sanitation in our villages, the wells may be contaminated with waste matter,” he says.

To deal with the crisis the Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASCO) earlier this year supplied two 10 000 litre-tanks for the two villages to collect water.

Villagers pay M2 to get 20 litres of water. An average family of five may need at least M20 daily to have about 120 litres of water for drinking, cooking and doing other household duties.

This means one family would have to pay not less than M600 a month on water.

With most textile industry workers earning monthly wages ranging between M833 and M980 water has proved to be unaffordable for many.

Many people, Malebo says, cannot afford to buy water for household chores.

“There are still many people who rely on water from the wells because they do not have money to buy water,” he says.

Malebo, who is the chairman of the water committee in the village that is mandated with persuading government to pump water to the villages, says many meetings with those in authority have not been fruitful.

He says that promises have been made that clean water would be pumped to their villages but nothing has happened.

“Last year in November we asked Ntate Thahane (Water Affairs Minister) to come and visit us to see the situation we are in. He did not even want to go to see the wells. He said he was sorry that we did not have clean water. He promised to look into the matter. But we have not heard from him since he left,” he says.

This week villagers poured their hearts during a discussion held following the screening of a feature film, The Darkest Hour, which seeks to raise awareness about how lack of clean water affects the lives of Lesotho’s poor.

The film was produced by Siyakhona Media Studio, a project under Kick4Life.

Aupa Motjope says while the well-off suburb of Thetsane was built long after them, they have access to clean water while they do not.

“Our village has been there for a long time. Our parents were also struggling to get clean water. Today so many years later our children are still struggling to get water. Our government seems not to be bothered a bit by this situation,” Motjope says.

Molleloa Tsanyane rents a flat in Mankoaneng. She says she does not remember when her blankets and laundry got a decent wash.

“Water is too expensive. I cannot afford enough to do my laundry well. Other than that we collect it from very far where we carry it on our heads,” Tsanyane says.

‘Mamoroke Moroke hopes that she did not waste time putting her signature on a documents designed by Siyakhona Media Studio to pressure the government to supply water to people.

“We have been in and out of government offices to find someone who can help us get water. Nothing has been done. We hope that signing this document will just emphasise to the government how serious this matter is,” Moroke says.

Kick4Life and Transformation Resource Centre are collecting 10 000 signatures on a petition demanding access to clean, drinking water.

The petition will later be presented to the government on behalf of those affected.

Justice Maqelepo of Siyakona Media Studio says their argument is that Lesotho has plenty of clean water that it exports to South Africa.

“There is no use to brag about the water that we have while so many of our poor people do not have access to clean water. We are pushing for inclusion of water in the constitution. The constitution should make it an offence when people do not have access to clean and stable water supply,” Maqelepo says.

Water and sanitation are featured under the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) seven that seeks to ensure environment sustainability.

Slow progress has been observed on the goal that is supposed to be met in two years.

Efforts to get comment from the Water Affairs ministry were not successful.

Basotho Voices: Human Security

Basotho Voices: Human Security, gives the floor to a diverse range of citizens from Lesotho. Basotho express their views on issues related to Human Security, a concept which entails the right of people to live in freedom and dignity, free from poverty and despair.

All individuals are entitled to freedom from fear and freedom from want, with an equal opportunity to enjoy all their rights and fully develop their human potential.

This film has been produced by FAO and Sesotho Media & Development, a local NGO specialized in the use of films supporting social development.

The film features insightful interviews with Basotho citizens from different corners of the country, from rural and urban areas, male and females, elder, adults, youngsters and children – a true mosaic of Basotho society.

This production is part of a UN Lesotho project in support of communities affected by climate change induced shocks funded by the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security (UNTFHS).

Change will not kill you, but fear will.

By: Lineo Segoete

On one of my many trips to Morija, I stared out the window and marvelled at the landscape then a thought came to mind as I mused over why Lesotho is developing at such a slow pace. I concluded that it was because of fear. People are so consumed in fear that they would much rather coil up in their comfort zones and eliminate any possibilities of change. We wear our fear like Quasimodo’s hunchback and take it everywhere we go.

Some of us are so fearful that we let slip opportunities that could change our lifestyles for the better, we look at progress as a monster that will morph us into shadows of ourselves. We perceive change as something that will remove us from familiar surroundings to something we consider foreign. This is not typical of everyone, some of us do embrace change, but only in the way it suits us. We step on toes and play dirty so that we come out on top regardless of the means. Such people meet success and do change for the worst, transforming into strangers to those who assumed they knew them, a quality that also stems from fear.

Instead of recognising strengths in each other which we could join to collectively effect change, we shun and seek only to misuse, treating others rather as threats or nuisances. Unfortunately people who control resources or carry the competencies necessary to lead tend to be intimidated by those working under them and thus leech off their glory without any acknowledgement let alone respect. Due to this, working relationships that carry potential become obsolete and break. Individuals who recognise their value seek greener pastures and kill whatever hope there was for mutual gain.

Then there are the personal demons, the fear we ourselves breed within our beings. Those horrid voices that always tell us that we are incapable, inadequate, fulfilled, settled and that we have reached our limit because we cannot raise the bar any further up than we have it. This kind of fear is the most toxic because it has people counting on hand outs, pity, bitterness and envy. The worst part is we harbour this trait unaware most times and walk around submerged in a negative aura that even has us believing there is something wrong with everyone else but us.

If we would learn to know ourselves well enough to engage in balanced self-confrontation and kindness and admit our fears to ourselves, consequently we will know how to face and overcome them. We will allow ourselves to garner the strength necessary to do the opposite of what our self-defeatism dictates and we will open ourselves up to appreciating others’ value and teamwork. We will also stop looking down on each other, but most especially on ourselves. Circumstances are one thing, but truth is the core obstacle of development, is fear and the subsequent resistance to change.

Africa’s Green Generation

Africa’s Green Generation (AGG) is a community based, environmentally friendly and sustainable NGO that seeks to address social and environmental issues in our country. AGG  is founded in Lesotho with its main office in Maseru.  We are currently operating in the Moshoeshoe II community and our ultimate aim is that our efforts can be a best practice that can be replicated throughout the country and the African continent at large.

AGG activities are Healthier, Greener and Cleaner!

Healthier:

Healthy MIND

  • Educational workshops (health education, healthy eating, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, responsible drinking, substance abuse, woman’s/human’s right).
  • Arts & Craft workshops (creation of educational materials (posters, pamphlets etc.) and recycled art.
  • Educational games (chess, monopoly, etc)
  • Educational drama by Moshoeshoe II Children
  • Social activities ( field trips to botanical gardens, museum ,other tourist attractions)

Healthy BODY

  • Sports : Community soccer team ( Coach Mpholo)
  • Exercise : Aerobics

Greener:

  • Plant Hedge trees around the Moshoeshoe II Primary school fence
  • Plant vegetable patches at Moshoeshoe II Primary school and Playing Learning Together Day care centre ( Tyre gardens can be used for the Day care Centre)
  • Encourage planting of small patch gardens or keyhole gardens in all Moshoeshoe II community households, especially elderly households.
  • Beautification of the Anglican Church at Moshoeshoe II ( e.g., plant flowers)
  • Event Greening at events, (e.g. AGG event greening at Uprise Fundraising Concert held at Morija Museum.)

Cleaner:

  • Community clean ups
  • Raising awareness about Proper waste Management in the community-REDUCE.REUSE.RECYCLE
  • Advocate for colour coded recycling bins ( can/bottles, paper/cardboard and glass)

Learn more about AGG on their new website: http://africasgreengeneration.wordpress.com

AGC-logo

All Shades of God

By: Lineo Segoete

Morena Moshoeshoe said; ha fela u amohela Sesotho u Mosotho (so long as you adopt Sesotho-ways and customs- you are Mosotho).

In this country no one is really a foreigner; everyone is welcomed with the same courtesy as a visiting cousin. Here, majority of white men and women of various national backgrounds make it a point to learn and speak Sesotho, if not by their own will, the locals always instigate the exercise. From a superficial perspective it’s only natural that they would have an interest in Sesotho merely for the sake of learning a new language however, this is not the case.

One cannot really know a people lest one speak to those people in their language, also one cannot feel truly a part of a place lest one know how the place operates. The difference between Lesotho and many other parts of the world is that racism is a categorically alien concept here. Even if one arrives here predisposed to racist tendencies one must either shield them very well or discard them because not only will the attitude offend natives, it will also reveal just how petty and narrow-minded such an individual is. Most importantly, there is no room for such here.

The saying goes that we teach people how we want them to treat us: this is not always the case because no one deliberately sets out to be discriminated against based on their race. Fair enough a new place can be intimidating, especially when one is not familiar with the language let alone the people; this in turn may make one reserved and reclusive, which is evident in some of the Chinese folk living among us.  Nevertheless, we cannot familiarise ourselves with each other unless we engage and exchange stories and thoughts. One of the outstanding characteristics of Basotho is that they are always keen not only to hear about visitors’ worlds but to share about theirs.

My wish is that other nations would be as laid back as Basotho and expats in Lesotho in terms of integration and empathy toward one another. I have been around different races- particularly Caucasians- pretty much all my life, and did not know that differences in the colour of our skins mattered until I left the country for the first time. Imagine my shock! It pains me that in some parts of the world (as close as South Africa), people still die by virtue of their skin and yet we all feel the same things, bare the same features, breath the same oxygen, bleed, cry and all struggle to live. There is only one race in the world; the HUMAN race.