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Lesotho

ActionAid has been working in Lesotho since 2004 and operating a child sponsorship programme since 2006. We now run child sponsorship projects in Thaba Tseka and Ramoetsana. We work with communities to improve access to food, fair trade, healthcare and quality basic education, especially for those living with HIV and AIDS. We also work with women to further their legal and political rights.


Child sponsorship in Lesotho

Sponsor a child in Lesotho, AfricaSebabatso (8 years old, pictured right) likes to draw houses when she writes to her sponsor because "I want to have a very beautiful house when I grow up". Money raised from child sponsorship in Lesotho is helping communities to provide secure housing and stable incomes for children like Sebabatso.

We work with farmers to teach techniques that enrich the soil, prevent erosion, conserve water and increase the harvest. We also work with communities to sink wells hundreds of metres deep and install pipes to carry a clean water supply into their towns and villages.


Health and hunger in Lesotho

ActionAid works with support groups for people living with HIV/AIDS. As well as offering advice, these groups provide practical daily care for people affected by HIV/AIDS. This includes cleaning their houses, providing them with medication, cooking and helping them to sell firewood and chicken eggs.

We give training to improve the running and management of these groups. As a result, groups are now better organised and more confident. We also run workshops to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, and are introducing schemes to help people living with HIV/AIDS back into work. We work with communities to offer flexible school opening times so that children can help out at home as well as get an education.


How you can help

When you sponsor a child in Lesotho, you'll be providing the resources for real, long-term change. You'll get two letters a year from the child you sponsor, and updates from the country programme to tell you how the money you are spending is changing the community your child lives in.

photo : ©Lebohang Chefa/ActionAid

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Fact file

  • Population: 2 million
  • Avergae life expectancy: 51
  • ActionAid began work: 2004
  • Anything else? In 2010 protesters presented a petition with 30,000 signatures to parliament demanding their country be integrated into South Africa.

Lesotho, one of the highest countries in the world, is entirely landlocked by South Africa. The land, owned by the nation and held in trust by the king, has no fences.

Sixty per cent of people live below the poverty line and there are 400,000 AIDS orphans. The textile industry and income from mining has collapsed in the global recession. Valleys have been flooded to provide South Africa with fresh water, but a third of Lesotho’s wells are dry.

ActionAid has hundreds of children awaiting sponsorship in Lesotho. If you would like to help please sponsor a child today.

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