About 50 km north-west of Quthing, in the rocky Mohales ‘Hoek region, is the community of Ha-Nohana. Tucked away among the peaks of Ketane’s mountains, Ha-Nohana appears to be cut off from the world outside. A gravel road meandering through extremely rugged terrain punctuated by mountains is the only way to get to Nohana villagers who live under precarious circumstances. There are no social amenities, like shops in the vicinity.
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Here, the villagers battle to earn a living from the land amid persistent droughts. Every drop of water and every meal holds immense value. Yet in this vast desert-like environment lies rich and dark soils, characteristic of the southern part of the country including the whole of Mohale’s Hoek.
People here work extremely hard, but nature always lets them down. The omens appear to always conspire against them. If they plant early the rains come late. If they plant late the rains come too early. Both the amount and timing of the rain are too unpredictable for the farmers to farm their way out of hunger.
For ‘Mathabelang Mzilakazi, a 28-year-old resident of Ha-Nohana, the struggle to put food on the table for her three children was once a daily battle against hunger and malnutrition. Her battle is similar to that of tens of other families in the village. But now there is a glimmer of hope that the villagers might start winning the battle against hunger. That’s thanks to the collaboration of UNICEF, World Vision International and the Government of Lesotho in a project funded by the Japanese Government. The goal of the project is to strengthen community resilience to respond, cope and recover from humanitarian shocks.
Targeted at communities most affected by the COVID-19 epidemic and the persistent food insecurity, the US$878,574 (M14.9 million) project is meant to reduce malnutrition in vulnerable communities through strengthened information systems, provide therapeutic commodities to treat malnutrition, improve water security in households and schools through green technologies including water harvesting, support food production and hygiene in the most vulnerable rural areas.
The project also aims to reduce incidences of violence against women and children caused by food insecurity through the provision of protection services. The focus areas are the most deprived rural communities in Mohales’ Hoek and Thaba Tseka, two districts classified as most prone to drought under the Lesotho Vulnerability Assessment.
Mzilakazi is growing a thriving vegetable garden and says the project is slowly improving the lives of about 250 households in her village. Mzilakazi says before the project was introduced, most children in the village were showing signs of malnutrition and were especially underweight. She says the villagers now grow a variety of vegetables such as green leafy vegetables – spinach, beetroot, and carrots to feed their children nutritious meals.
“We were advised to grow various crops in our gardens,” ’Mathabelang notes. She says as Nohana community they are grateful to have been equipped with the technical skills to grow their own vegetables. “For instance, we were shown how to build a banana plot,” Mzilikazi further explains how to build a banana plot.“ firstly you need to dig a hole using a spade to make a compost of dry cow dung, aloe, and dried grass, then add the soil from the compost onto their plants”. She says the project has changed their lives and saved many from the grinding hunger in the area. Mzilakazi says she will continue to use the skills she has learnt from this project to help keep hunger at bay.
Relebohile Bohloko, UNICEF Lesotho’s WASH officer, says the project has set up rainwater harvesting systems by installing tanks at the targeted 300 households. The rainwater harvesting project was extended to 30 primary schools in the area. “All these were done to make sure that the communities are better supported to have water security during dry seasons providing water for domestic use as well as for watering their gardens,” she says.
Several nutrition clubs were set up in Ketane including Ha-Nohana, where the communities benefited from training on how to run the project activities. Palesa Lesoli, the Nutrition Coordinator from World Vision International, says the nutrition clubs in the area are composed of caregivers to promote positive nutrition practices and awareness on child protection issues (prevention of child abuse, sexual assault promotion of school attendance).
The project also focused on training for community council child protection teams (CCPT) on issues of child protection and the installation of child-friendly equipment for children’s courts in recognition of the high incidences of violence against women and children in the country.
Lesotho ranks third globally for the highest instances of rape per capita and sixth for murder rates, surpassing some countries experiencing active conflicts, as reported by the World Population Review in 2022. According to the Police Child and Gender Protection Unit, intimate partners were responsible for at least 47 percent of the women murdered in Lesotho in 2021.
UNICEF representative, Deepak Bhaskaran, said the support from the Japanese government was timely. “Many communities and families are still struggling to recover from the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic and global economic crisis which was exacerbated by the war in Ukraine,” Bhaskaran said.
“The impact of the pandemic on the health, nutrition and well-being of children and families has been profound. With the emergency funding from the Government of Japan, we have been able to support the most vulnerable committees in these two districts on their path to recovery.”
The project is expected to reach and benefit 57,742 people through messages using a mobile application as well as some 3,500 children with screening and treatment of severe acute malnutrition and capacity building of 230 service providers in the country.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNICEF Lesotho partnered with the Government of Japan to support the Government of Lesotho in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This support has included building district vaccine stores, procurement of cold chain equipment as well as strengthening community health information systems.
Staff Reporter
