The G.R.O. Lesotho team has had a hectic past few weeks and getting a chance to sit down with Programs Manager ‘Me Rethabile Skundla has not been an easy task. With overseeing a change in office scenery to include a number of new offices and a work space for the G.R.O. Artisans along with participation in Lesotho’s World Population Day you can imagine on top of program oversight you can imagine how busy she has been. Here is another great G.R.O. Q&A with ‘Me Rethabile as she tells us a little about World Population Day.

1) G.R.O. Lesotho was recently invited to World Population Day - Can you please explain what the event was and how G.R.O. became involved?The World Population Day is held in August of every year and the Main Organisers and Sponsors are the Lesotho Ministry of Finance and Development planning. This year the WPD was held in Leribe and the Ministry asked G.R.O Foundation and other local initiatives, like Help Lesotho and World Vision, to assist with the organisation of the event.

2) Who attended the event from G.R.O. Lesotho?Most of the G.R.O. Lesotho team was in attendance as ‘Me Motseoa- Artisans Collective Coordinator, ‘Ntate Katiso - LEAP Coordinator, ‘Me Majoyce - Artisans Collective Project Leader, and myself were all there to support the event.

3) Why is it important to have events such as Population Day? Could you explain why is it important that G.R.O. Lesotho is involved in local and national events such as this one?Events such as the WPD are very important because this is when people come together and talk about issues that affect them. I can talk about the theme for the WPD event which was ‘Avoid Teenage Pregnancy, get educated and have planned families‘ this message was directed at the youth of Ha Khabo where it came to the realisation of the Government authorities that teenage pregnancy is increasing at a high rate. To address the issue G.R.O Lesotho developed the placards with different messages relating to the theme of the day and they were displayed during the Event.The G.R.O Lesotho’s involvement in this event is very important because our mission is to address poverty issues that affect people at the community level. As part of the schedule for that day, the three main NGO’s which included G.R.O Lesotho, was to have stalls where they will be informing people about their organisation. Although this particular item, did not materialise we had people asking privately what we do and they were very much excited that such programs exists in their districts.?

‘Me Rethabile Skundla is the G.R.O. Foundation Lesotho Programs Manager and she was reached in Hlotse, Leribe, Lesotho.