The Hub

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

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.

In Kenya, where one-in-four women has been raped, self-defense training makes a difference

Originally posted by The Smithsonian.

One in four adolescent girls living in the congested slums of Nairobi, Kenya, falls victim to rape each year. An organization called No Means No Worldwide is trying to improve that disturbing statistic. According to one study the non-profit conducted, a short course in both verbal and physical self-defense can significantly improve the girls’ odds of escaping their would-be rapists, Stanford School of Medicine reports.

Sexual assault usually is not openly discussed in Kenya, but in this trial more than 400 high school girls, aged 14 to 21, discussed the topic. In addition to learning self defense techniques, they also received information about what to do and how to get help if they ever suffered sexual assault.

In the 10 months after receiving self-defense training, more than half of these girls reported using what they had learned to fend off would-be attackers. The proportion of them who were raped fell from 24.6 percent in the year before training to 9.2 percent in the 10-month period after.

Another 120 girls served as a control group. During the trial, they took a life skills class that is administered by the Kenyan government. The proportion of these girls who went on to suffer rape remained about the same, or around 25 percent.

Next, No Means No Worldwide plans to move into trials with boys to see whether teaching them not to attack women has any effect on curbing sexual violence.

While the problem of rape in Kenya may seem remote to Western readers, a recent survey found that nearly 1 in 5 women in the U.S. say they have been raped or suffered an attempted rape at some point in their life.

Small march is a big step for LGBTI in Lesotho

By: Leila Hall

Originally posted on OSISA website.

A small group of young Basotho are singing and chanting as they make their way down Kingsway – the main street that runs through the centre of Maseru, Lesotho’s capital city. At first glance, this is not an unusual sight. They sing familiar, well-known songs – the kind that you would hear at any soccer match – supe, supe pe pe, zabalabalaba. They break and move and stop and dance, then keep moving forward with an easy, effortless rhythm.

But as the procession draws nearer, it quickly becomes clear to passers-by that there is something different about this group. Something about the colour and the movement of the procession catches the onlookers’ eyes. Yellow balloons. Pink sunglasses. A pair of red devil horns. Bursts of brightly coloured clothing. In the midst of the singing, stomping and clapping, two people carry between them a large, rainbow flag.

The banner at the front of the procession proclaims loudly and clearly what this is all about – ‘International Anti-Homophobia and Transphobia Day’. It is Saturday the 18th of May 2013 and today, this small, colourful group is making history – this is Lesotho’s first-ever gay pride march.

The event has been organised by MATRIX Support Group – a Lesotho-based NGO working to advocate for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) individuals in the country. The organisation, which only received legal recognition in 2010, is – like this year’s parade – the first of its kind in Lesotho.

The march ends at the local Ster Kinekor Cinema, where a film screening has been organised. Rainbow banners line the walls. Chatter and laughter fill the room. A man in a small summer dress, flower hat and white boots confidently walks into the cinema and finds a seat near the front.

32-year-old, Lineo ‘Sheriff’ Mothopeng – a self-identified transman and member of the MATRIX organising committee – walks onto the stage and asks for a volunteer lead the group in prayer. Everybody stands up. The men take their hats off. Arms are folded, and the cinema fills with slow, steady hymn singing: a customary way to begin any meeting or gathering in the country.

Then Sheriff speaks into the mic. “People say God hates gays, but at least I know they can pray.”

Sheriff is followed by Tampose ‘Tee Pee’ Mothopeng another member of the organising committee who says, “Yesterday, I was sitting somewhere with one of our lesbians. She was telling me that in the past few months, she was beaten up by some guy. Her face was so damaged that she said you couldn’t identify her at all. We want to take that devil out, out of this country! We are taking it OUT!”

Tee Pee’s voice rises to a yell. He is met with shouts and murmurs of approval from the audience. “Discrimination, we are taking it out! Violence, we are taking it out! But it’s not me who’s going to stand up for that. It’s us, people. We need to join hands to stand up for our rights.”

In Lesotho, female same-sex sexual activity is not criminalised, but male same-sex sodomy is illegal as a common law offence. The country’s law offers no protection to individuals against discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. However, as Sheriff explains, the sodomy law is a ‘silent’ law. “It has been around since 1976, but I’ve never heard of anybody being convicted,” he says. “At the same time, it is a silent weapon: people hide behind the sodomy law and use this as an excuse not to implement programmes.”

Lesotho has the world’s third-highest HIV prevalence rate and, as is the case in many countries, men who have sex with men (MSM) have been identified as a particularly vulnerable group. However, the criminalisation of male same-sex sexual relations, together with widespread homophobic attitudes, make it difficult for MSM to openly access the education, health care services and HIV prevention products that they need.

“MSM are not included in HIV programs in this country,” says Sheriff. “There are many cases where they are included in writing – such as in our National AIDS Strategy – but there is no implementation. We do not have gay-friendly health services. As a result of cultural beliefs and the taboo around homosexuality, people do not disclose their sexual practices, and so health-care workers are not able to respond to the challenges that MSM face.”

This year, MATRIX will be working with Population Services International (PSI) Lesotho on the country’s first HIV prevention programme to specifically target MSM. The project will include the distribution of high-quality condoms and condom-compatible lubricants. “The serious challenge is that we don’t know how many MSM there are in the country,” Sheriff explains. “Many people are still in the closet so it is hard to implement programmes, because we don’t know how many are out there.”

Being unable to be open about one’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity continues to be a challenge faced by many LGBTI people in Lesotho. In rural communities in particular, traditional gender roles are firmly entrenched and those who do not conform are often subjected to discrimination and abuse from community members. 24-year-old Rethabile Mosoka explains that it isn’t easy to be a lesbian in Lesotho. “People don’t want girls to act like boys and boys to act like girls,” she says. “People in the community look at us and say: ‘You girls, you don’t sweep, you go out and smoke and act like boys’. Men especially don’t like it.”

Meanwhile, Ariel ‘Angel’ Thoko, who identifies as a transwoman, recalls the challenges she faced growing up. “I’ve always known that I’m a girl, but at some point this was very difficult for my uncle to accept,” she says. “He would force me to go look after cattle, to go ploughing, and to talk in a deep voice: all these things that men do.”

Lesotho is a predominantly Christian country, and religious viewpoints underpin the intolerant and homophobic attitudes that many people still hold.

“The biggest challenge comes from religious perspectives,” says Sheriff. “People talk about what the Bible says, and most of the complaints we get from religious leaders are founded on not understanding. It is a challenge that we are yet to respond to. We are planning a project with Inclusive and Affirming Ministries (IAM) in which we hope to create dialogue between religious leaders and LGBTI community members.”

However, despite all these challenges, Sheriff is confident that attitudes in the country are slowly changing for the better.

“I was worried that we wouldn’t get a permit from the police to hold the march, but it took less than ten minutes,” Sheriff says. “Everybody was curious but supportive. Most of the time people’s views are based on a lack of knowledge. But MATRIX has already done a lot. When we used to screen films in communities people would say ‘What are you talking about? This is satanic’. But now, I feel that people’s response is more positive. People are willing to learn more, to read more, and to engage in dialogue.”

And – who knows – maybe even join Lesotho’s gay pride marches in the years to come.