By Mosa Matela
HigherLife Foundation Lesotho – in Partnership with Econet Telecom Lesotho – this week hosted the handover of one of their projects at Reitumetse Project Children’s Home which has newly renovated facilities for the underprivileged children.
Reitumetse Project Childrens’s Home is an orphanage based in Mazenod. It is a catholic orphanage ran by the Sisters of The Holy Names of Jesus and Mary and has been working tirelessly for 40 years in an attempt to fulfil its long term mission; providing and caring for the orphaned and underprivileged.
Sister Sylvia, one of the caregivers at this orphanage, addressed the public on the issues and challenges they faced whilst trying to provide for the children. “I would be informed that the home had run out of mealie meal and would either lose hope or feel like running away. Managing the home was becoming a hassle,” Sister said.
She then went on to express how Higherlife Foundation Lesotho (HFL) was the orphanage’s saving grace. HFL is an extension of HigherLife Foundation which was founded in Zimbabwe by Strive and Tsitsi Masiyiwa.
Tsitsi Masiyiwa was here to introduce the Moshoeshoe 1 scholarship by HigherLife Foundation, which is a scholarship that focuses on STEM subjects and allows the academically gifted but socially disadvantaged children to further their studies at some of the best institutions around the globe.
“As she was here for the inspection, she asked me to give her a tour of the home. I walked her to the dormitories and she was in disbelief of what she was seeing,” “I had not seen any fault in the facilities as they are all I’ve know and all we could provide, but she insisted that they were not efficient and needed to be renovated,” Sister said.
From there, the planning and execution of newly renovated facilities commenced. Econet donated about M320 thousand to this project. Not only did this money go towards renovating the facilities, it also went towards fixing the home’s tractor so they could continue farming and sell produce to the public in order to attain funds.
On behalf of the CEO, the general manager of ETL – Mapusetso Ntshekhe – enlightened the guests on the partnership between HFL and ETL and what they have managed to achieve thus far. They have managed to support over 1500 students and have delivered sanitary products to over 24 000 girls across Lesotho.
“We support these kids from the beginning to the end and ensure that we help them in such a manner that they will grow into lovely individuals that will make a great impact,” Ntshekhe said. She also mentioned that every costumer that uses ETL services directly contributes to these projects and to making a change.
The donation by ETL and work done by HFL allows for the children to reside in facilities that are in good condition and motivates the to grow into amazing individual that will bring the change that the country needs.
Applications for the Moshoeshoe 1 scholarship are open and will close on the 31st of March, therefore HFL and ETL encourage the general pubic to help children get the education and opportunities they deserve.
