With the busy schedule that ‘Me Rethabile Skundla, the G.R.O. Lesotho Programs Manager, keeps we are always grateful when she takes time out of the day to sit down for a Q&A chat. Today, it is especially cold so we are huddled near the gas heater for a Lesotho version of the fireside chat.

Already a month has passed since the LEAP Career Fair - What are some of the things you have been working on since that time?

I think mostly I have been working on the EU LGNSP grant which is one of the largest funders for the LEAP education initiative. This means I have been very busy! Some of what I’ve been working on include attending a workshop where I had to present our complete work plan at a 2-day workshop. There we presented the budget, time line, and activity schedule for the program.

What big changes are coming up for the organization?

There really is so much - I can begin with our new LEAP coordinator, ‘Ntate Katiso ‘Mota has stepped in with a promotion, we are getting closer to publishing the LEAP Career guidebook, and we hope to shortly open the LEAP Resource Centre for district stufents. Bo ‘Nkhono (the Grannies) have also joined ESAF which is a buying program that should give increased access to the retail market for selling their chickens. Also, the Artisans were able to send a gift to the Queen for her birthday which just happened. There really are so many exciting things with all of the programs so I’m sure I’m leaving a few out!

Finally, how do you feel with the World Cup starting next door in South Africa?

Wow - This is one of the days in Africa where everyone is so excited and we are all in the mood for football!  Still, work goes on but we’re in the mood for it to start - only a few hours now until Bafana takes the field. In Africa, rain means a blessing and it has been raining all day and night - this is special because it is winter so we are all feeling the good mood.

Who do you think will win in the opening game tonight between Bafana Bafana (South Africa) and Mexico?

South Africa, of course! 2-1 is what I think so I’m absolutely excited!

Well, that about wraps it up for today - Kea leboha (thank you) ‘Me and GO Bafana GO!

Posted under Notes from Lesotho, Uncategorized

The past few weeks have seen some really exciting developments for the G.R.O. Artisans Collective. We have managed to sit down with ‘Me Mots’eoa, the Artisans Collective Coordinator, for a brief chat to update us all on what has been going on.

Lumela ‘Me! Welcome to your second G.R.O. Q&A – thanks for taking the time out of your day working on financials to hang out for a few minutes. Ok, here are your 3 questions….

Both the G.R.O. Lesotho Programs Team and the G.R.O. Artisans are about to move into a much larger office, still in the BEDCO Leribe complex. What does the new office space mean for the Artisans?

Well, the new office is very exciting for the Artisans particularly because we will centralize our space to include the retail space, the workshop, and my office with the Programs Team. There will also be a larger space that we are hoping, in future, can be dedicated to a space that Bo ‘Me can bring their children to work. As mentioned, we will be able to divide the retail shop and provide a more private workshop space. The new office and retail space gives the Artisans a greater chance to improve on their customer service and retail experience skills. The whole thing is a lot more convenient with a lot more space.

The Artisans recently had a pretty high ranking visitor to the retail shop – who stopped by and how did they hear about the Collective?

The Ambassador to the United States recently visited with his family. Ambassador Nolan had heard about the Collective from one of his daughters who had met us at the most recent Maseru Bazaar where we were selling jewelry. She took a flyer and ended up telling her mom. They were both impressed and visited our website to do a bit of research on the Artisans. From there the family decided to drop in to see the women and the workshop. The Artisans were ecstatic that they took the time to visit and purchase a few pieces of jewelry – I want to make sure we thank Ambassador Nolan and his family for the support!

That’s amazing! Congrats on the expanding customer base! In other big news the Artisans seem to have established a Royal connection – can you please update us all on what exactly I’m talking about?

Queen Masenate Mohato Bereng Seeiso recently received a birthday gift from the artisans - a jewelry set specially made by the Artisans in a custom bag made of local fabrics which was hand delivered by her mom. The Queen happens to be from Hlotse so we wanted to surprise her with a small gift. She gave us some really positive feedback that was sent to us through her brother. In fact, she was really impressed and she wants to purchase a few additional pieces. She has just ordered a customer set of 3 pieces that will match her seshoshoe in blue – the seshoshoe is the national traditional fabric and is worn at special events by Basotho women. This is of course big news for Bo ‘Me as it was really quite unexpected and we are hoping that this relationship that has been established with the Royal family will continue and that our queen will be a strong advocate for the Artisans showcasing their work at a number of events. I think we are all hoping she will eventually make a visit but we’ll have to wait and see!

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

G.R.O. Lesotho was lucky enough to have Megan Landes, G.R.O. Canada Chairperson, visit us here in Hlotse-Leribe and time her visit around the LEAP Career Fair. We have tracked her down for a cross-continent Q&A.

We were really excited to have you visit once again and the whole team misses you already! Having been to Lesotho numerous times what was your impression of the programs on your most recent trip? Is there anything that really stood out to you?

Well, I have to say that it was incredible to be back in Lesotho to see the work that GRO has done in the last 12 months. We have gone from having volunteers only to now having full-time employees - what a change. And we seem to be exponentially growing - an office, a beading store, a truck!! It is great to see what tangible change is happening on the ground - and in such a good way. The GRO Lesotho team seems to be energetic, motivated and passionate about what GRO stands for.

You were honoured as one of the dignitaries at the Career Fair - could you explain what that experience is like for everyone?
Yes, I was a “dignitary” as the Chair of the Board of GRO Canada. How exciting!
During the Career Fair we hosted over a dozen other dignitaries from the Ministry of Education and from the District Administrator. It was a key moment for GRO to get this kind of exposure to those in the government - Jamie White, the Director of GRO Canada and I spent quite a bit of time talking about what GRO is, what we do and how we do it. At the end of the day we had the attention and understanding and support of the dignitaries that were invited - a success I believe!

We have talked about this on numerous occasions but for everyone taking the time to read your Q&A could you say a few words about what you miss most about Lesotho when you head home?
It is always the people. It has been such a special thing to be involved with the Artisans and Grannies and students over the past few years. It is remarkable to be able to come back to Lesotho to see them grow, and prosper and succeed…and I wish them all well and hope to see them soon again.

Typically in a Q&A you only have to answer 3 questions but because we don’t get the chance to sit down often we are going to hit you with a 4th one. There have been big developments brewing for G.R.O. in Canada over the past few months - without giving anything away what can you tell everyone about what the summer has in store for G.R.O. Canada?
Yes, GRO Canada has been undergoing its own remarkable developments. We have applied for CRA registration status, have updated the website, strengthened our board, executive and community of volunteers on this end…and we will be holding a big GRO Canada Launch party come late summer/early fall…GRO Canada is growing along with our GRO Lesotho project partners!

Thank you for taking the time to answer your first G.R.O. Q&A. We were so happy to have you visit us and always look forward to your return to Lesotho!

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

Leanne is the newest member of the G.R.O. Lesotho Team having just arrived from Canada where she is a student completing her undergraduate work in Development Studies at Queen’s University in Ontario. Again, welcome to Lesotho. Let’s start your G.R.O. Q&A.

Having just joined us how has your welcome been into the team?

The whole experience has been great. Everyone has been very welcoming, kind, and there is a real sense of spirit in the G.R.O. office. Overall, I would say the work environment has been really friendly.

The LEAP Career Fair was your first experience with assisting in an event in Lesotho - what were your impressions of the event?

I thought that the event was fantastic. I had the chance to see the local student really enjoying themselves and from speaking to them during the Career Fair they took a lot out of it. Already I have heard of many people calling for more Career Fairs which shows that it was good for the students. Also, I think they had a good introduction to G.R.O. and we saw that there is a need for such programming in the country.

How do you think the team worked together to handle the 2,500 attendees?

Well I saw all of the prep work that went it the day and I came in at the tail end but the event was well organized.  Everyone worked well together - great team work! We made it through the day without any major glitches and it ran cohesively for the most part. The Molapo high school volunteers were also especially great to work with in the main Tertiary tent.

You have been working through a tough assignment over the past few days - can you tell everyone a bit about what you have been doing?

I have been analyzing the surveys and reviewing the data associated with that.

The team sent out pre-event surveys to collect information from students and there were volunteers at the Career Fair dedicated to giving out surveys to teachers and presenters. This has produced a pile of paper work that I have had the joy of going through.

overall, the trend from the pre-event student surveys is that many students didn’t know what their opportunities were and have little access to resources within their own schools. In terms of the event surveys the teachers and presenters thought that the Career Fair was a valuable experience.We are just now waiting for the post-event surveys to come in so we can do some comparative analysis.

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

Jean is well known to our supporting community as Co-founder of G.R.O. Lesotho and the outgoing Programs Manager. She is adamant about putting the focus at all times on individuals and projects here in Lesotho but we’ve tracked here down for her first G.R.O. Q&A.

The LEAP Career Fair is the largest event G.R.O. Lesotho has put on to date and potentially the largest Career Fair ever to be organized in Lesotho - how do you feel the event went?

I think the event was an overall success and it really demonstrated the G.R.O. philosphy of low cost high impact programming. We were able to provide 2,400 students with information and encouraged them to search outside of the careers and schools they may have been considering. All the feedback we received was positive and, more than anything, I was proud of how we presented a top of the line program to the students, high schools, tertiary schools, and the rest of the district.

In the days leading up to the event you mentioned a few times that you might have a mini-break down if things became seriously chaotic but I never saw you come close - were there many problems throughout the event and how do you think everyone dealt with them?

Logistically speaking, I think with any larger event there will be things you didn’t or couldn’t have planned for and, of course, we ran into a few barriers. However, I think the team was able to navigate the small challenges that came up and were able to easily accommodate the issues. Going into the event I wasn’t sure if we would have any serious challenges but no, I didn’t cry and spent most of the day thoroughly composed. Overall, I think we were all quite surprised how smoothly the whole thing went.

Over the past year the organization has seen tremendous growth and you have been at the centre to deal with the growing pains - where do you think G.R.O. Lesotho is in terms of potential and actualization at the moment?

You know, as a locally registered charity run by an exceptional team of basotho nationals with support from G.R.O. Canada and our current partners, including the Canada Fund, I think we have built a solid foundation of support.

In terms of potential, well, I think the potential for our Lesotho programming is mind boggling. Strong staff, strong partners, low cost - high impact programming, and an increasing recognition throughout the country - these are all great developments that are really the beginning of our vision. In terms of actualizing its potential I am completely confident that the team we have on the ground is able to recognize what the organization is capable of and use their tools and available resources to really follow through and continue to come up with ways forward in strengthening local communities.

I know that you had been dreading and avoiding this Q&A but thanks for taking the time to sit down and speak a little bit about the current G.R.O. Lesotho programming.

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

Career role models speak to students about their futures

Hlotse-Leribe, Lesotho – May 7th 2010 –  This past Friday over 25 Leribe high schools attended the first ever ’LEAP’ Career Fair, held in Leribe District.  The event, funded and organized by local non-profit organization ‘The G.R.O. Foundation Lesotho’, provided Leribe’s Form D and E students with career information and inspiration for their future academic pursuits.  Over 30 Lesotho based tertiary institutions, technical colleges and professional representatives were made available to discuss career options and academic opportunities with the students.  In addition, career and community role models presented 40 minute discussions to students highlighting the activities and benefits of specific careers. These included; police work, military service, nursing and medicine, health counseling, accounting, business and several other attainable career choices.

The G.R.O. Foundation Lesotho presented the event as part of the newly launched LEAP initiative (Lesotho Educational Advancement Program).  This program focuses on ‘bridging the gap’ between high school and tertiary education by providing students with information on academic and career resources available to them in the Kingdom of Lesotho.  Many Basotho students, although successful in completing their COSC exams, fail to move on to higher education due to lack of information or direction in planning their next steps.  Through the provision of academic leadership clubs, a career resource manual, and via district wide career fairs the LEAP program seeks to assist students in making the jump to further education.

The Leribe district career fair, held on May 7 2010, was the inaugural LEAP career fair event aimed at connecting students with academic institutes and Lesotho’s business leaders.  The event was hailed a success by all in attendance – with many calls for the event to be replicated in neighboring districts.  Teachers, students and presenting guests described the event as ‘well organized’, ‘rich in information’, and an ‘invaluable resource for students planning their futures’.

The G.R.O. Foundation Lesotho and its’ local partners would like to extend their sincere thanks to; the Lesotho Ministry of Education, the Lesotho Ministry of Youth, Gender and Sports, the Leribe office of the Ministry of Education, the Office of the Leribe District Administrator, the office of the Leribe Chiefdom, the Leribe District Council, the Lesotho National Security Service, the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (Leribe District), Nedbank Lesotho, the Lesotho Agriculture College, Kick 4 Life, Sunrise Theatre Group, and all of the students, teachers, volunteers and presenters that made the event a success.

The event’s slogan was ‘A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step’ and it appears through the LEAP Career Fair, many Leribe based students have taken a step towards a more positive future.

Students from 26 Leribe district schools attended the Career Fair

GRO Artisan, Mamabula, speaks to eager students about being a jewelry designer

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

This Friday, The G.R.O. Foundation will be hosting 26 Leribe district high schools and 20 tertiary institutions at the first-ever Career Fair.  The event will feature presenters from Lesotho colleges, schools, training institutes, and universities as well as Career Role models who will speak on behalf of their profession.

LEAP (Lesotho Educational Advancement Program) is an education initiative set to help graduating high school students bridge between high school and tertiary education.   The first of its kind here in Leribe district, the Career Fair concept quickly gained interest and momentum.  The Ministry of Education Leribe, in partnership with G.R.O., is featuring the Career Fair as part of its Education for All celebration.

Graduating high school students often lack the academic and personal support needed to make educated decisions about their futures, as well as the tools and resources to put future plans into action.  A significant hurdle in Leribe for students is the lack of career-centered programming focused on comprehensive education and career counseling.  The LEAP initiative sets to address these needs through four program areas:  monthly career seminars, a district career resource center, a career resource manual, and the career fair.

More to come as we build up to the big day on May 7!

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

Lumela ‘Me! As the newest member of The G.R.O. Foundation Lesotho you have the honour of our second Q&A. This is something new we’ve just started doing so all of the G.R.O. supporters can get a better grasp of what it is we’re doing on the ground in Lesotho. Again, you’re the new G.R.O. Artisans Collective Coordinator so on behalf of G.R.O. Canada and G.R.O. USA please let me welcome you to the team!

1) What are your goals for the GAC over the next few months?

As the Collective Coordinator I am hoping to increase the number of retail locations, both nationally and internationally, stocking the Artisans jewelry. Also, we want to expand our customer base with new sales initiatives and focus on national marketing and publicity.

2) What are you working on today?

Today, I visited a local retailer, with Bo ‘Me, to restock their display and collect payments. A bit later I have to reconciling cash records and run a meeting to review the process of quality control as well as roles and responsibilities for doing so amongst the Collective members.

Having the job of Collective Coordinator means a lot to me. Community development is something I am passionate about it - I believe in the purpose for the G.R.O. projects and that’s why I am involved. Non-profit management is what I  studied and majored in. I am definitely excited to be able to return to Lesotho work with G.R.O. Lesotho knowing that I’m giving back to my own community. So i’m very excited and looking forward to more growth and successes.

Posted under Uncategorized

Khotso!  Here are a few questions that we received from G.R.O. Supporters on what it is like to work with G.R.O. Foundation Lesotho and the programs and people you work with from day to day. Thank you everyone for your questions and please continue to connect with us www.grofoundation.org or contact Jason Clark jclark@grofoundation.org with questions for the programs staff.

Our first Q & A is with ‘Ntate Katiso ‘Mota, the G.R.O. Youth Counselor, and later this week we will talk with ‘Me Mots’eoa Seutloali, the G.R.O. Artisans Collective Coordinator.

1) What does your job include on daily basis?

My work changes every day but I spend a lot of time with the students of Family Scholarship Fund. The students meet two times a week and my job is to ensure they are doing fine without problems at school or any crisis situations at home. Also, I work on the LEAP program and the monthly workshops where I work to improve and prepare for the upcoming sessions. These two programs take a great amount of time so much that they become daily work.

2) What are you working on this week?

Too much work is being placed on the Career Fair so I am very busy contacting the high schools of Leribe district and also the tertiary and community leader presenters.

3) With the LEAP Career Fair only two weeks away you sound busy! What is on your plate for today?

Today I am contacting and confirming with potential sponsors and attending my Monday meetings with the Team and the students.

4) What would you like to say to all of the G.R.O. supporters?

Being with G.R.O. has taught me many things & made me to experience a lot. G.R.O. Foundation is broadening my horizons. Only through your support can we be on top!

Thank you for taking some time out of your morning, ‘Ntate! On behalf of the G.R.O. supporters I want to let you know you are doing a very good job and we look forward to hearing about your work with the students to prepare for the LEAP Career Fair!

Posted under Notes from Lesotho

Last Saturday was an incredible and important day for the members of the G.R.O. Artisans Collective. The community rallied around the event to support a group of women who only a few months ago were working out of their homes and now operate a workshop, retail space, and Lesotho’s only beading supply store.  Running around in the hot sun I didn’t have much of a chance to reflect on the event but after the passing of a few days and a cup of coffee, or ten, I am amazed at what this group of mothers has been able to do. The best part of this story is that the Artisans aren’t the only G.R.O. success story witnessed last weekend.

Since January I am proud to have been part of the Family Scholarship Fund to watch the students rally together and welcome the new G.R.O. Counselor, ‘Ntate Katiso ‘Mota. For the first time in the history of the Scholarship Fund there are students from Molapo High School outside the program’s membership who have joined for study sessions and lifeskills workshops. This is a true testament to the character of the students in the program and the great job ‘Ntate ‘Mota is doing with the group. When asked to volunteer their time to work at the Artisans opening the G.R.O. Scholars were there. These students - members and the recently joined -gave up their Saturday to prepare chicken, watch over the grill, distribute food to guests, clean dishes, and ensure the area around the workshop/store was free from garbage at the end of the day.

With a fresh cup and a few days I realize that the students commitment to community service and strengthening their program is a more subtle but equally exciting story that’s unfolding here in Hlotse-Leribe. On behalf of the G.R.O. Foundation Lesotho I want to thank and congratulate the students of the Family Scholarship Fund for their efforts this past weekend. See you on Monday!

Posted under Notes from Lesotho