Childhood Education & Wellbeing

Our Childhood Education and Well-Being Programme is aimed at the poorest and most disadvantaged of the children in the community, many of them orphans and all of them vulnerable.

Through our programmes we aim to give these children as good a life-chance as any other child. Our support is offered through seven different programmes within this project

The Breakfast Club is for all the children in these programmes. We provide a breakfast of papa (porridge) and fruit every school day for 90 children - 20 Pre-School and 70 older children - who would otherwise go hungry. Their teachers and carers notice that this aids their development and helps them concentrate at school. Primary school children in Lesotho get a government-sponsored lunch at school, but for many children these meals are all they will eat all week, due to the intense poverty of the country.

Our Pre School Programme is for children aged three to five years. The programme is influenced by Aistear, the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework used in Ireland, with its four themes of Communicating, Exploring & Thinking, Wellbeing & Identity and Belonging. The principles and themes of Aistear have been highly beneficial in fostering emerging understanding and dispositions as well as building confidence, life skills and a sense of community in the children. The influence of Aistear extends beyond the Pre School Programme.
“What is interesting is that framework is used by or supposed to be used by early childhood but here we use it for all the children and it is working magic I can tell you” (Mats’ireletso Kanetsi, Childhood Education and Wellbeing Programme Manager)

The Homework Club provides space and learning support for older children. The staff provide guidance to the children to enable them to understand and complete their homework. The children help each other and are developing a love of learning. Staff liaise with school teachers to ensure the programme connects closely with curriculum expectations. Not only have we seen good improvement in their exam results over the past years, we have also seen an appreciation of the sense of empowerment that education can provide. This is evident in the words of the older children, two of whom authored and performed the following poems during a community performance.

Education for all,

The key to our destiny,

Can’t you see the change,

Now we can read and write

I AM somebody,

I WAS somebody when I came,

I WILL be a better somebody when I leave,

I AM powerful and strong,

I DESERVE education,

There is a lot of hope for students,

People to impress and places to go

The Weekend Programme runs from 10am until 3pm on Saturdays and Sundays and includes a healthy lunch. It gives the children an opportunity to play together in a safe space and to enjoy creative activities, games and play and to contribute to the planning and direction of the programme activities. Horticulture activities include taking care of the vegetable beds and we have recently planted spinach, rape, carrots, beetroot, etc. Sometimes the children also help elderly people in the village with their gardens.

When the schools are closed Action Lesotho’s Holiday Programme provides a stimulating range of activities, support for children’s studies and provides them with regular food. The holiday programme incorporates field trips and engagement with the local community.

Lepoqong Home Care Programme: Some vulnerable children live too far away to attend our centre at Ha Maqele. At present 51 children in Lepoqong receive food packages which are delivered to their homes at the end of every month.

High School Programme: Secondary schooling is not free in Lesotho, so many children do not progress beyond primary school, because their families cannot afford the fees. We ensure that as many children as possible gain access to government scholarships, and we provide help with fees, books and uniforms to many others.