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Lesotho News
Prince Seeiso attends Letsema reception in Maseru
On Thursday 7th August, the Letsema Network was celebrated with a reception at the Lehakoe Executive Club in Maseru, in an effort to raise its profile and spread awareness.
Letsema, initiated by the Department of Social Welfare and funded by UNICEF and Sentebale, is a network of organisations working with orphans and vulnerable children in Lesotho. The network promotes cooperation, communication, and collaboration within the OVC sector through a website, monthly Letsema meetings, and a quarterly newsletter.
Directors of OVC organisations and other key stakeholders gathered at the reception to learn more about the network and the opportunities it offers for collaboration. The evening reception offered an opportunity for the more than 50 organisations in attendance to meet each other and start a dialogue on joint planning to benefit OVCs in the future. Local press representatives were also invited.
Honoured speakers included UNICEF Representative, Ms. Aichatou Diawara-Flambert, Sentebale Director, Mr. Harper Brown, Director of Social Welfare, Ms. Limakatso Chisepo, and esteemed guest and Sentebale Patron, Prince Morena Seeiso Bereng Seeiso.
Ms. Diawara-Flambert shared the history of Letsema, starting in 2005 when the Department of Social Welfare and UNICEF created a hard-copy directory of OVC providers. Then, realising the list required updating, the directory evolved into a Letsema website, newsletter and forum, which now includes more than 120 organisations.
Harper Brown elaborated on the unique features of the website, which include multiple search options, OVC-related news stories, and an innovative interactive map of Lesotho, showing specific organisations, projects and services. The map already includes 104 organisations and 184 project sites. This will be a valuable visual tool for understanding the breadth and nature of Lesothos response to OVCs.
The Director of Social Welfare, Ms. Limakatso Chisepo discussed how the Letsema network is essential to the fulfillment of the National OVC Strategy Plan 2006-11, which requests groups to co-ordinate on all issues concerning children in the country. Ms. Chisepo explained that Letsema serves as a central information point for all OVC stakeholders, and especially to the Government of Lesotho, which will be using this site as a reference point. She reminded the group that Letsema is also a monthly meeting forum, during which key issues, such as the need for national standards of OVC care, are discussed.
Finally, Sentebale Patron, Prince Seeiso Bereng Seeiso spoke on his support of the Letsema Network. He highlighted the scale of the disaster facing children in Lesothoand the increased need for a collaborative response from the Government, donors, NGOs, CBOs and all other stakeholders. He inspired attendees to take action and use Letsema as a tool for change.
Overall, the reception was a success. Prince Seeiso left organisations with a mandate to act towards sustainable change to serve and protect the rights of the most vulnerable children in Lesotho. The Department of Social Welfare urged organisations to come together, share best practice and develop new, collaborative approaches to the crisis we are facing. Sentebale will continue to develop and update the Letsema website with hope that organisations will continue to contribute information and increase their involvement in the network to make it as useful as possible.
Organisation News
England Head Coach Fabio Capello visits Kick 4 Life in Maseru
On April 16th, 2008 England Head Coach Fabio Capello attended an event staged by Kick 4 Life (K4L) in Maseru.
Along with former England goalkeeper Ray Clemence, Capello attended the next stage of K4L's award winning Test Your Team campaign. The initiative links football tournaments for youth with on-site HIV education and testing between matches.
At the event more than 500 youth took part in K4L's HIV educational activities, which teach youth about HIV transmission, pathology, stigma and testing in an interactive and engaging way.
Throughout the day the football and HIV educational activities successfully created an atmosphere of positive peer pressure, encouraging the youth to test en masse. Nearly 300 people were tested for HIV at the event. Those who tested positive were immediately referred to the Baylor Paediatric Clinic for further evaluation, care and treatment.
Pete Fleming, co-founder of Kick 4 Life said "The campaign links the universal power of football with HIV testing and education. In Lesotho there is a huge stigma attached to getting tested and the disease in general. Knowing your HIV status in this country is not only a springboard for staying negative but it is also a gateway for accessing free anti-retroviral services”.
In Lesotho, less than 10% of males and only 11% of females actually know their HIV status and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare estimates that close to 18,000 children are HIV positive. Currently there are fewer than 2,000 HIV positive children enrolled in anti-retroviral treatment and strong efforts are being made to reach a target of 3,500 children by the end of 2008.
Fabio Capello toured the site, observed two of the interactive HIV educational activities and gave coaching tips to one of the teams who had qualified for the final of the football tournament. The England Head Coach also observed an HIV test conducted by Population Services International (PSI), a moment he would later describe as one of the most moving experiences of his life.
Capello said: “What Kick 4 Life are doing here is fantastic and we need to encourage and support this type of programme….I suppose you could say this was a very good experience for our soul because it makes you understand the hardships in the world….I feel enriched because I have seen things that make me think and whenever you think, you get richer."
