Supporting Lesotho
Image courtesy of the Andrew Blais Orphanage.
Andrew Blais Orphanage at Motsekuoa
Funded and planned by Springfield Rotary collaboratively with The Maluti Rotary Club and The Trading Post of Roma. 52-56 children live at the orphanage operated by the Handmaids of Christ. Springfield Rotary has remained involved to work towards 100% self-sustainability of the orphanage. Other projects have included a shade garden, chicken coop, playground, library, fencing, and a borehole.
The Springfield Rotary Club is also currently supporting Sister Gisele’s two orphanages and home for the elderly in Mazenod. Capital projects have included solar, water, and heating systems, installing a heating stove, and planting fruit trees.
Leratong Community Center
We provide and manage the funds for the operation of the Leratong Community Center in Roma. The center was originally established and built by students of Wittenberg University at the request of locals and in collaboration with the Trading Post, but the financial stability of the center had become compromised. Springfield Rotary stepped in two years ago and the Center has been able to grow significantly since then.
Other Projects
Number 7 Restaurant at Kick4Life was funded and overseen by a collaboration of the Maseru Rotary Club and Springfield Rotary Club. The restaurant operation has proven to be an excellent job training facility for restaurant workers of all capacities.
A shipping container full of donated warm clothing, bedding and books was sent to Maseru from Springfield, Ohio and distributed in cooperation with The King’s Trust to villages in the mountains. Books established three different libraries in schools and a community center.
A “chicken and pigs” feeding program was established at Maseru High School to fund, train and feed orphans and vulnerable children of the school. Over 200 chickens (layers) and eight pigs initially were donated as well as feed required for the livestock to establish a program to feed the 350 children involved. Teachers reported across the school that once the children began being fed daily, learning increased and fights/disagreements decreased significantly. Sadly, this program ended after about three years.
Funds were raised to purchase a prosthetic leg for a Maseru High School student who had lost his leg in an accident.
Currently working with the Archdiocese to provide a container of donated hospital equipment to clinics around Lesotho, as well as bringing in a team of physicians in 2018 to work in and around the Mohale’s Hoek region for two weeks.
Sponsored/cosponsored two Basotho young women to attend university in Springfield, Ohio USA. One is in her fourth year at Wittenberg University and the other is in the middle of her studies to become a registered nurse from Clark State University.
Worked in with the Wittenberg University organization, Lesotho Nutrition Initiative, to provide food packets to over 3,000 children. The food packets have over twenty of the essential vitamins and nutrients to promote healthy growth and prevent stunting. Organizations we are working with in Lesotho include Touching Tiny Lives, Leratong Community Center, Andrew Blais Orphanage, St. Camillus Orphanage in Mohales Hoek, Sister Gisele’s facilities in Mazenod, Kick4Life, a soup kitchen established by The Ramabanta Trading Post.
Established a program called “Orphan Head of Household” to provide basic necessities (papa, maize, toilet paper, candle, matches, etc.) for households where the parents have passed away and an older sibling is responsible for raising younger brothers and sisters. This program is funded entirely by donations solicited through Springfield Rotary and administered through volunteers at Leratong Community Center.
Springfield Rotary is in the process of establishing the construction and establishing a Trade School at Motsekuoa. We believe we have adequate funds raised and desire to work in partnership with the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Education (through TVD) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Public Works as well as the Motsekuoa Village Council and Chief. The school, we hope, will be open not only to the orphans and vulnerable children of the area, but to all young people seeking to develop a trade.
Springfield Rotary, in collaboration with Clark State University in Springfield is hoping to develop an agricultural trade opportunity to look at and establish precision agriculture programs, as well as provide teaching and training opportunities for all involved. The program is in its infancy, but there is great potential.