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

Throughout this week, I am taking the GRO Scholars to the local internet café here in Leribe for internet training.  The café only has one computer with internet, which we reserved for four days so that the students could go after school in groups of four or five.

I was a bit surprised to learn that not one of the students had ever used the internet before. I set up email accounts for all of our scholars so that they could learn email basics this week.  Each of them get 30 minutes on the internet, during which they learn how to log-in to their accounts, compose and check email, type in web addresses, and use search engines.  Leading up to this internet training, I had completed basic computer training with the students using the Molapo High School computer lab and individual computer time on my laptop.  During these times, the students were taught how to type properly and use programs like Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.

One of our GRO Scholars, Marahaba, said how she was so grateful to have learned the internet and how wonderful of an experience it was for her.  The students took notes when they were not sitting at the computer (the other three observed while I would show one different features).  Afterwards, they were looking up prices at the internet café (which is fairly affordable for the students) so that they could come back on their own time.  I hope they do so often!

Sophie Kim
G.R.O. Volunteer

Posted under Letters from Lesotho, Uncategorized

My first week in Leribe as a G.R.O. Volunteer has flown by. I have been kept busy with meetings at Molapo High School and getting situated here in Leribe. Leribe is much quieter than Maseru (where I have spent the past two summers), but I find myself very happy here and well situated. I was so overjoyed to return to Lesotho that I was nearly crying when I arrived at the airport. I am incredibly thankful for the chance to come work here again.

During the next two months, I will mainly be working with the G.R.O. Family Scholarship Fund. It is exciting to dedicate myself to a project that I feel so strongly about. I have spent the past week learning as much as possible about the scholarship program and the school. I spent last weekend studying the scholarship recipients’ backgrounds and family situations. It was devastating to learn about what circumstances the scholars were living in. So many have lost parents and/or have families suffering from long stretches of unemployment (it is very difficult to find work in Leribe at this time). One of the students had an unemployed grandmother who had to resort to begging to take care of her and her 6 siblings. Some of the students have lost everyone in their family to HIV and are living completely on their own. All of this reminded me once again of the great importance of having the G.R.O. Scholarship available for these children who have gone through the unimaginable.

When I met the scholarship recipients at Molapo High School last Wednesday with Jean to kick off the new quarter, they each introduced themselves and told me what they dreamed of becoming in the future - engineers, doctors, lawyers… It is rewarding to be part of this important initiative that enables them to turn their aspirations into reality.

AIDS Club

I have been a special guest of the AIDS Club at Molapo High School during the past week. I asked to attend a couple of the meetings because I have previously conducted HIV education in Lesotho. The group meets every Tuesday and Thursday to discuss HIV – how it’s transmitted, ways of prevention, HIV news stories, etc. The club meets out in the field behind the school where the students stand in a circle to talk about what they know concerning the virus. I was impressed by their knowledge and that they were committed to discussing the topic for 2 hours every week. They asked me about details related to transmission that they otherwise may have been embarrassed to ask in front of their club advisor (who is one of their teachers). I was surprised that there was one question after another for an entire hour from the group. I was very frank in describing details concerning how exactly the disease is transmitted – most of them don’t know these important details concerning HIV as many of their educators are embarrassed to talk about it with them. I admit talking about some of these topics can be awkward at times - and there is plenty of giggling from the students (I did the same back when I was learning sex education in school). But it is absolutely crucial for them to know these things in order to protect themselves and others.

G.R.O. After School Program

I love being here with the students. Any feeling of homesickness I might have goes away when I am with them. It never fails to amaze me how resilient the human spirit is. You see it everyday here with these students. They are so sweet, kind, and open even after all they have gone through.

I have spent the past week with the G.R.O. Scholars to kick off a new after-school program. The students meet Monday – Thursday and the program is designed to provide more social and academic support. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday afternoons are made up of study hours for the students to work on homework and ask questions. Wednesdays are G.R.O. Leadership Club meetings which are for career guidance, confidence and leadership development, practical skill-building, and help with applications. The first week of the program went very well. The study hour periods helped students focus on their studies. The students also enjoyed their first club meeting, where we played icebreaker games and watched videos containing advice from successful Basotho on entering different career fields (e.g., medicine, accounting, data management, education).

I’m looking forward to continuing working with the students and helping them develop their interests and motivations.

Posted under Notes from Lesotho