Child sponsorship changes lives. You can help the people of Ramoetsana, Lesotho build a better future.

Location
Ramoetsana is in the foothills of the mountains that cover large parts of Lesotho. In the rugged terrain, temperatures can fall to -10 in the winter and rise to 30 degrees in the summer. Mountainous and without proper roads, Ramoetsana can feel like a remote place. People have to cope with extremes of weather – strong winds, heavy snows and, increasingly, periods of drought. Most people have an inadequate diet – a problem which is increasing with changes in the weather patterns.

Life in Ramoetsana
People in Ramoetsana are poor – and most families survive by subsistence farming, growing crops like maize, wheat and beans, and rearing sheep and goats. But with rainfall becoming more erratic, soil erosion is a growing and serious problem across the small areas of land that are suitable for farming. Crop yields are decreasing, leaving many people hungry for months at a time.

Access to education
Education is the vital step towards escaping poverty forever. But with few schools in the region, many classes are chronically overcrowded – a problem made worse by a desperate shortage of teachers.

ActionAid's work in Ramoetsana
Thanks to your support we are tackling these issues and are working with communities to help establish more schools, train more teachers and to reduce the high drop-out rate of pupils.

Read the updates below to find out how the community in Ramoetsana is benefitting from child sponsorship:

• June 2011