It has rained, could this be the end of water problems?

As the declared El Nino effects intensified in the Kingdom of Lesotho, the weight of drought was felt by the young, the old and the livestock alike.

For Leburu Primary School in the district of Mafeteng, within the Sekameng Area Development Programme lack of water meant a shuttering of children’s dreams.

Children are dismissed from school at 11:00hrs, forfeiting the subsequent classess. This was a a trend embraced by Sekameng’s 22 primary schools and a handful of high schools. 

Sekameng ADP bought 22 tanks which were delivered to 22 Primary throughout the ADP for harvesting water from the roof to water crops, wash hands and prepare lunch for the children at school. 

The tanks supplied by the ADP saved children from missing school. The tanks saved some of 3, 978 children registered with World Vision Sekameng ADP who found themselves subjected to various forms of pressure as drought intensified. 

Before the disbursement of the tanks by Sekameng ADP, a teenage girl, Thato used to wait for water to collect at the source until late when it was dark in the evening. She would leave the water source with a 20litre container supported on her head.

"One dark evening as I was walking from the water source I came across a group of boys waiting on the road. I did not know what they were waiting for. It was not easy to identify them since it was too dark to see their faces,

"I was frightened and not sure what to do. One of the boys drew closer to me. I sensed a lot of anger from him as he was approaching. I asked what is it that he wanted instead he responded with slap across my face," Thato recalled.

The bucket fell from Thato's head as she was slapped. "The water spilled and I walked home with an empty bucket after waiting hours for the water to collect at the water spring,"She added.

As she cried out loud, the boys scattered and disappeared into the dark. Thato walked home where she narrated the story to her mother. Thato's mother assured her they will meet the area chief and explain what happened to her as she was coming from the water spring.

Another case was of Motšoane (20), a child registered with World Vision Lesotho, Sekameng ADP. Owing to the scarcity of grazeland for his father’s livestock, Motšoane crossed the river to the Republic of South Africa to cut some grass to feed the animals.

As he was busy cutting the grass the Afrikaners who own farms alongside where Motšoane was cutting the grass appeared. Knowing what he was doing was illegal, Motšoane immediately got up and ran to cross the river for escaping.

Motšoane jumped into the river attempting to cross. He did this at the wrong spot where he did not cross earlier. The spot was deeper than he expected, Motšoane drowned to the loss of his life. He was found hours after a community search and laid to rest by the weekend.