Help Educate 40 Bright Girls in Lesotho

Christmas message from Educare Fund It gives me great pleasure to have this opportunity to communicate with you again on behalf of Educare Fund. I would like to extend our gratitude to all our donors for all your support during what has turned out to be a very successful fundraising year for Educare Fund. Thanks to your kind support we are looking forward to an increase in the number of girls who will receive support from Educare Fund in 2014. In January the total number of girls will increase to 45. As already indicated, with your help, we will start to pay for book hire for years 8 to 10 as well as help pay for books for students in years 11 and 12 who do not have access to book hire. The latter will get their books paid for with the proviso that the books are left at the school when the girls finish. This way the books can, as far as possible, be used by other students in subsequent years. All the students on our list will receive assistance with funds toward stationery purchase. We hope that this will further reduce the financial burden that poorer families have to bear in to their kids through to the end of high school. My current visit to Lesotho has enabled me to get feedback from local individuals with a connection to Educare Fund. The conversations I have had further emphasise the importance of continuing the work of educational support for the girls in Lesotho. Mampe was supported by Educare Fund in 1998 and 1999. She had 5 siblings, 4 of whom were at high school at that time. One parent was working while the other was not in paid employment. An older sibling had completed high school (paid for by the family). She had gone on to university level education with the help of a government loan and was now starting a postgraduate programme. For her to secure further government funding, she and the family had to first pay off the loan for her undergraduate studies. The result was that paying school fees for the other children including Mampe became a big struggle. Mampe was laid off school several times because of non-payment of fees (this is a common occurrence for children from poorer families). With support from Educare Fund Mampe finished high school and went on to university. She now works in a government department and is able to support other people in both her own and her husband’s family. 10 or more people currently benefit from her success. Mampe is a strong supporter of girl education and volunteers time to help Ithuteng Basetsana Educare Association, a local charity working with Educare Fund. She feels that good education enables girls from poor families to avoid such things as being married off at an early age. Local custom requires the payment of a bride price (Lobola), which means for some poor families, girl children may be seen as a possible source of income. Better education, in Mampe’s view also empowers the girls to become independent strong adults with the ability to make appropriate decisions about their own lives and those of their offspring. She believes that without support from Educare Fund she would most likely have been pushed into an early marriage and would probably be in a low paid job with no chance of supporting anyone else. I also had a conversation with one of the schools’ principals who knows firsthand what difficulties poorer families run into in their struggle to secure a good education for their kids. Although his is a low fee school (+/- £65 per year), some parents still find it difficult to raise the money for the fees. It is part of his job to lay off school those children with fees outstanding. In his own words, he does this when absolutely unavoidable and always with a heavy heart. Wherever possible he tries to find funding for these kids and feels that the support that Educare Fund provides makes a huge difference to the children, freeing them from worry about being laid off school. This was confirmed by one of the school’s ex-students who obtained a very good first class pass at GCSE level and is now applying to do an international baccalaureate with a view to continuing on to degree level. The principal also said that working with Educare Fund has inspired him to explore ways in which he could help support these young people. The consensus is that the support for the young women makes a huge difference to them and is very highly appreciated by the girls, the schools and the families. In my view this is the green light for all of us involved in this project to carry on. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for supporting Educare Fund in this project and to wish you all the very best for this festive season. I sincerely hope that you will continue to help educate the girls in Lesotho.

Hi Everyone

Things have been quiet for a while on this page! First of all, let me say thank you again to all of you for helping Educare Fund reach the dizzy heights of success during the Global Giving fundraising challenge in June this year. I must confess I was really amazed by your generosity and how many people entered into the spirit of the process; not only donating, but also encouraging others to do the same.

Some of you may already be aware that Educare Fund did indeed hit the Global Giving target for raising the minimum amount of £2000 during the month of June this year. We did not reach the required minimum of 50 individual donors but because the donations were pretty generous, we still managed the money target. As a result, the charity gained a permanent spot on the Global Giving fundraising platform. In fact the page is still open and the amount raised has been going up gradually toward the revised target of £3953. This amount could pay all the fees for 40 girls for one year at the level of support currently offered to each girl.

So what is Educare fund going to do with the money that has been raised?  

During one of my regular visits to Lesotho, I met with the committee of Ithuteng Basetsana Educare Association (IBEA), our sister organisation In Lesotho. This local charity oversees our work in Lesotho, liaising with the schools’ principals to identify the girls who fit the criteria for educational support and to ensure that the money sent by Educare Fund reaches the right people. Our discussions focussed on the activities that were identified on the Global Giving campaign page. Among these, it was felt that the best use of the funds raised would be to help provide books for the girls as, apart from school fees, this is one other need which presents a challenge for the families. Book hire is available for students in years 8, 9 and 10 while years 11 and 12 have to purchase books. The money available will enable the provision of books for all the girls, with the added benefit that the books which have been purchased will remain available for the younger girls when they reach years 11 and 12. A contribution toward stationery will also be made. With the rest of the money raised, it was agreed that we can increase the number of girls supported by Educare Fund by 5, making a total of 45. The money will cover the school fees for the newly added 5 girls for the five year period starting 2014, ensuring that they will have enough funding to see them through to completion of high schooling.

I visited two schools in Maseru. The schools that Educare Fund works with are dotted around the country with at least one school in each district, but due to limited travel time, I was only able to visit a couple in Maseru where I was based. The word on the ground is that the payment of school fees is still the greatest challenge for poor families who do not qualify for government funding. According to the teachers I spoke to, once the girls have the school fees paid, they are happier and more relaxed, so they can concentrate on their studies without the constant fear of being laid off school for non-payment of fees.

If a family struggles to find the money for school fees, it is understandable that finding the money for other expenses such as books is yet another challenge. Thus, paying for book hire and purchase will definitely make a huge difference to the girls’ families.

In addition to basic school fees, there are many other needs that the schools and the pupils have in order for these kids to have a chance of a decent education. The teachers I spoke to were of the opinion that help paying the school fees is definitely a good start.

Your help and support with the Global Giving challenge has achieved such a huge amount and will make a difference not only to the girls and their families, but to their communities.

The Global Giving fundraising challenge introduced some of you to Educare Fund for the first time. We sincerely hope that you will consider continuing to support us in our quest to reach as many young women in Lesotho to enable them to complete high school education and go on to attain higher education. We believe that this is the way for them to change more lives and lift their communities out of poverty.

Thank you again for joining hands with Educare Fund to support the young women of Lesotho to help themselves, their families and their communities. We now consider you members of this brilliant partnership. We hope that from time to time you will collaborate with us to continue to help these girls change their own lives and those of the people around them.