Do the Basotho children speak English?
Yes, many do. The language of the Basotho is Sesotho. English is the language of education in Lesotho, so the more education someone has, the more likely they are to speak English. They rarely have the opportunity to write or speak to English-speaking people.
Why do some kids live in a boarding school?
Many parents must go elsewhere to work and often there is no one to look after the children. Sometimes there is only one parent. Orphans are sometimes sent there by a relative. There are many small primary schools scattered among the mountains. However, there are not many high schools and students often have to go a long way from their village to board at a high school. The conditions are not much better than home but at least they can get an education.
How do they live without water?
There is water but not very much. This is the 5th year of drought and water is becoming scarcer. All people in these villages must be very careful to use only the amount of water they need. We all hope for rain (pula in Sesotho) for the whole country.
Do they swim in lakes?
Very few countries have as many lakes as Canada. Lesotho used to have lovely waterfalls people could swim in. Now that there has been so little rain, the falls are only a trickle and there is nowhere to play in the water. Children probably do not know how to swim. There are many rivers but they have almost no water in them now.
What do they have to play with?
They have very little to play with. Most schools have a soccer ball but that does not go very far with hundreds of children. Children make soccer balls from plastic grocery bags and cover them with another bag. They make skipping ropes out of string. Neither last very long. Some children make wheels out of pop cans and put a string on them to make a sort of cart. They play with garbage a lot and small stones.
Is Lesotho a nice country?
Lesotho is a very beautiful country. In the winter (our summer), it is quite brown but in the spring and summer there are many alpine flowers and grasses. Sheep and goats roam the mountainsides. The mountains are smoother than ours, and very old. There are few trees in Lesotho. People have cut them down over the years for firewood. The sun shines almost all the time. The summers are hot – like ours.
Are the people nice there?
The people are beautiful, with wonderful smiles and good hearts. They laugh a lot and sing when they are working or just happy. They are very friendly and greet everyone they see. They are kind to strangers and will give you freely what little they have.
Is there snow in the winter?
Yes, there is snow on the mountains, although not very much by our standards and it does not last long. The higher you go the more snow you will see. In the lowlands there is little or no snow.
How do they keep warm?
The Basotho traditionally wrap themselves in brightly coloured blankets. Many do not have coats and so wear patterned Basotho blankets over their bodies. Women wear the blankets around their waists to cover their skirts and keep their legs warm. Many people have a lot of holes in their blankets.
What are their houses like?
Most people live in Basotho huts called rondevels. They are round and have a shelf around the edge for pots and dishes. The sleeping mats go out during the night and are rolled up during the day. There is often a small fire for cooking in the middle of the hut. Some people have beds. Some live in rectangular concrete homes. A curtain divides the house in two. One side is a bedroom; the other side is the kitchen. Most people in the countryside do not have electricity.
What do they eat?
Almost every school and every family has a vegetable garden. In good times with lots of rain, they can feed themselves with their harvest. However, with the drought, the soil is like dust and things do not grow well. They eat steamed bread, potatoes, rice, porridge, and a dish called ‘papa’ which is kind of like mashed potatoes but made of corn meal. The average person has porridge in the morning with a piece of steamed bread. At lunch and supper, there is usually papa and steamed cabbage. Sometimes there is a soup drizzled on the papa to give it flavour. The cabbage is cut up in small pieces and cooked. Sometimes there is mashed pumpkin (delicious) and apples. Children eat ‘fat cakes’ which are flour fried in fat…like a donut without a glaze. Like here, what they eat depends largely on how poor they are. If they can afford it, there is meat. Many children in Lesotho do not have much protein or meat. Some have one piece of protein (meat) in a school term. The diet is largely fat and starch.
Recipe |
Recipe for
papa, the staple
food in Lesotho:
Boil water; add corn meal and keep
stirring until it gets hard--but not too hard!
Cook for about 5
minutes, stir again and leave for another 5-10 minutes. Your papa will be ready for serving! This is what most people live on with
a few vegetables and, from time to time, some protein. |
Do the Basotho have a religion?
Yes, 80% of the Basotho are Christian. Most of those are Roman Catholic but there are strong Lesotho Episcopal and Anglican churches. People talk of God often in the community and every school day begins with prayers. There are very few people of other religions because there are very few people from outside Lesotho. The country is too poor for people to want to go there from other countries.
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