ON Tuesday, February 17, club member Colin Turner gave an account to the Dinas Powis Probus Club of his trips to Lesotho with members of The Penarth and District Lesotho Trust who provide charity work to the children there.

Lesotho is a land-locked country in South Africa, about half the size of Wales, with a population of around 1,600,000.

The whole country is higher than Snowden, and the main industry is farming.

Colin was based near the town of TY and spent his time at the local school/orphanage.

At the school 95 per cent of the pupils were orphans due to the Aids virus and the remaining five per cent had been sent by parents keen to give their children an education. The age group was between three and 17.

The children have no toys or the like and all take part in communal clothes washing, after which clothes are grabbed on the basis of first come first served.

They live in communal dormitories with no separation of the sexes. Most families live in thatched mud brick built one-roomed huts.

Colin emphasised that it is important that western culture should not be imposed on Lesotho. For example, attempts to set up proper kitchens was a failure, the locals insisted that they preferred to cook on the hut floor using wood, wood which required long daily searches to find. They are a nation of entrepreneurs.

Villages are full of small businesses selling vegetables, imported worn shoes, particularly “crocs”, metal workshops, cobblers and tapestry.

Colin showed examples of tapestry all woven in workshops by women who probably were unable to read or write but producing wall-hangings in complicated patterns and country vistas which, because of Lesotho’s remoteness were not exported.

Training work-shops have been set up in some areas to train men in skills such as bricklaying and carpentry, skills which they can then take back to their own villages.

School children are very proud of their schools and make real attempts to dress in a uniform whenever possible.

The language of Lesotho is Bantu, with English as a second language and the literacy level, proportionate to the population, is the highest in South Africa.

Government attempts to improve infrastructure and education standards are hampered by the remoteness and scattered population and lack of viable roads.

Although the income per head is very low, the people are generally well fed and happy.

The climate is favourable for maize and vegetable crops. The principal source of foreign income comes from the sale of water to South Africa.

The high rainfall encouraged Lesotho to build large dams with capacity above the national requirement for water.

The common religion is Malati and Colin was amused to note the competition between villages as to which Church contributed most to the collection each week.

The vote of thanks was given by Peter Coleman.