Mohalenyane Phakela
LEARNERS at Ratjomose Primary School this week received a shot in the arm in the form of donations from the administration and marketing departments of Africa Media Holdings – the publisher of Lesotho Times and Sunday Express newspapers.
10 students received brand new pairs of school shoes and socks each with two of them also receiving uniform shirts.
AMH marketing manager, Nteboheleng Monethi said that they were moved to donate by the plight of the needy children they encountered on a daily basis.
“Many of the students pass by our office every day when they go to school and we were touched by the way some dress, especially the shoes,” Ms Monethi said.
“We then discussed as marketing and administration staff and decided to donate to ten children. We also bought shirts for the two siblings who were totally without school uniforms.
“Our initial plan was to start with about 60 kids but due to shortage of funds, we decided to start small and donate to the students in segments on a monthly basis,” she said.
The school’s principal ‘Mamikele Matṧaba said that the little that the students received did not only help the beneficiaries but school in general.
“We have 645 students and more than 60% of them are vulnerable due to unemployed parents or being orphaned.
She said learners’ performance could be negatively affected by such things as the lack of proper uniforms as they often lacked confidence because they feared drawing attention to themselves.
“So we are very much grateful for the gesture as this will not only help those who received the shoes but the teachers as well.
“However, this does not end with uniforms as some even come to school without bathing due to lack of soap at home or on empty stomachs and spend most of the time sleeping in class.
“We sometimes join hands as teachers and select a few we can help from time to time. Since lunch is provided here at school, we have even asked the feeders to give those from destitute families the leftovers so they can be able to eat when they get home. We have had a case of a child who would eat half of her lunch and later on learned that she was saving the rest for her sibling back at home,” the principal explained.
