Mantsase Children's Home
PO Box 4, Mohale's Hoek, 800, Lesotho
MANTS'ASE NEWSLETTER
FEBRUARY 2010
We are saying goodbye again this month as Mpolokeng, Popi, and Mamello return to their mother, who has found a home and a job to help support them. But some of our children left us, other children joined our family at Mantsase. Mathabang, 16, and Bobo, 6, arrived in December, in time to participate in our Christmas pageant (Mathabang is a great dancer!). Khauta joined us in January, in time to start a brand new school year in Standard 6. And just at the beginning of February Thandiwe, 3, and Oratile, 2, joined us at the Home. Thandiwe and Oratile are our newest preschool scholars. Welcome to all of them, and all the best in 2010!
Thandiwe, Oratile, Khauta, and Bobo Mathabang
SUPPORT GROUP
The village which houses Mantsase is also home to a support group of 30 men and women, including some of our housemothers, who are dedicated to helping orphans and people living with HIV and AIDS. Support groups like this one are found in villages all over Lesotho. This support group assists by looking after people who are ill, helping sick people to take their medicine, giving gifts to orphans in the village at Christmas, and feeding both orphans and people living with HIV. Each member of the support group uses part of his or her land to grow crops such as beans and spinach to help feed the needy in the village. They also receive and distribute maize meal and oil from organizations such as WFP. And recently the support group was awarded a grant to build a chicken coop to raise egg-laying chickens. Eggs can be an important source of protein, vitamins, and minerals for growing children. The support group works hard to use available resources to help those in the village less fortunate than themselves. Last winter Mantsase received a large donation of cloth, which the support group used to sew shirts and pants for the orphans in the village. We at Mantsase feel privileged to be able to work with these dedicated individuals and to be able to give back to the community in which we live.
The support group and Barbara sewing clothing for the
orphans in the village.
MONTHLY BIO
Mamello arrived at Mantsase in 2006. She is 10 years old and is in Standard 5 at school, where her favourite subject is maths. Mamello loves to eat meat, wear yellow, and play dolls with her best friend here, Keneoue M. When she is older she wants to sell televisions and radios in an electronics shop. If she could go anywhere, she would visit Maseru.
BIRTHDAYS
MARCH:
Topollo - March 15
A special wish for Topollo to have a wonderful and blessed Birthday!
HOME IMPROVEMENT
We are currently trying to find funding to build an infirmary on the Home's compound, attached to one of the dormitories. We do not have a separate room for sick children, and with about 50 children living here, it is easier for germs to spread once one child has contracted a disease. It would also be better for a sick child to have a quiet room in which he or she can be more closely monitored by a housemother, and in which he or she can sleep to recover more quickly. As of now, sick children stay in their dormitories, which can become noisy as the other children return from school and use the dormitories to change clothes, do homework, or play.
We are also concerned for the health of our children who are HIV positive and are more susceptible to disease than people with healthy immune systems. Just a simple cold can become dangerous for them, and we would like to have a separate room in which they can sleep if they become ill and as they are recovering from illness, to protect them from other disease while their immune systems are recuperating.
PELARGONIUM PROJECT
In August 2009 Schwabe donated € 5,000 to Mantsase as a start to a Pelargonium Sidoides Cultivation project. Pelargonium is a plant in the geranium family and pelargonium sidoides is a unique species within that family. Schwabe (a German company) uses Pelargonium Sidoides, which produces a natural antibiotic, to manufacture the well known international medicine "umckaloabo" also known in some countries as "Kaloba", which has been used in Germany for years.
Schwabe, in cooperation with its local counterpart Bophelo Natural Products, wants to develop a long term relationship with Mantsase. Schwabe will assist with the cultivation to make it possible for Mantsase to sell the fully matured pelargonium for a profit. Benefits of the project include the possibility of some of the children who need to leave the Home to work for the project. One girl, Malehloa, has been employed since beginning January. The children at the Home also learn about medicinal plants and the need for conservation of natural resources and the value that they have.
Bokang learning about the pelargonium
Besides the obvious benefit of the evenutal sales there is also the link that is created between the European users and the source. Technical assistance is also provided by Schwabe and Bophelo Natural Products and the seedlings are propagated and sources from Bophelo. It is envisaged that the project will initially run for three years with the intention of evaluating the project and continuing.
THANK YOU!
Thank to Wendy from Scotland for sending Christmas crackers and cards to our children, and to Catherine Fagalde for her financial donation. Also, a special thank you to those not mentioned who have visited us, donated money, groceries, time, and prayers for the children and staff.
Boys dancing the ntlamu at the Christmas Pageant
Moeketsi
DONATIONS
If you are interested in giving to Mantsase, we have a new website where we can receive financial donations. All proceeds go directly to Mantsase through our partner Msizi Africa. You can access this new site by clicking here.
HOUSEMOTHERS
It has been claimed that motherhood is a thankless job, and I would like to recognize the women who work at Mantsase for all of the hard work they do every day. We have five housemothers, whose duties include making sure the children are fed, clothed, and bathed every day, that they get to school on time and that the children do their chores. These mothers also take care of the children when they are sick, help to teach the children when they are sick, help to teach the children morals, ensure that the children attend church on Sunday, clean the Home daily, and hand wash clothing for about 50 children.
Noi cooking lunch
To do all of this every day, they wake up at 4:00 AM in teh winter and 5:00 AM in the summer, starting their day by boiling water in large pots on an open fire so that the kids can bathe. After bath time they help the young children dress for the day and send them off to devotions at 6:30 AM. The children get breakfast at 7:00 AM, bread that the housemothers cooked the night before. Then the mothers send the children to school and spend the day cleaning and washing clothes. When the children arrive home in the afternoon the women start cooking, with the help of the older children. They call the children in for devotions again at 6:00 PM, followed by dinner and then cleaning the kitchen. They help the children with homework and get them ready for bed, at 8 PM for the younger ones and 9:30 PM for the older. It is only then that their day ends and they can sleep themselves.
Thank you, Manteoa, Malijanna, Noi, Lineo, and Matsieleli for everything that you do to help these children grow up safe, healthy, and happy. You are wonderful mothers to all of our orphans.
Relebohile baking Matseliso dressing Simon
Titi playing Barbara opening an outdoor rocking
horse, a new addition to our playground
KHOTSO, PULA, NALA
GO IN PEACE