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Gardens of Hope*Molapo School * Pitseng School *Linotsing School *Tsepong Clinic*Ha Makhata Group

Pitseng High School

Goals

  • To support the education of the school’s orphan students through the sale of trees and greenhouse seedlings
  • To establish the school as a model for sustainable farming, using indigenous systems of agriculture in combination with permaculture design
  • To incorporate vocational training in household food security into the school’s curriculum
  • To supplement school lunches with organic garden produce and fruit
Pitseng is a rural school, in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains. There is an excellent agriculture department that manages a large vegetable garden, along with extensive cereal crops, all of which are used to supplement the school lunches. SOLID built a tree nursery at Pitseng in 2006 to support the education of the schools’ orphans through the sale of trees to the Ministry of Forests, and provide saplings for the reforestation of the Pitseng region.

Fruit trees grown at the school will be sold to the outlying community, thereby assisting households in meeting their food needs.

 

In addition to having a connection with SOLID, the school is twinned with Salt Spring Island's Gulf Islands Secondary School’s (GISS) Global Awareness club. In 2005 for World AIDS Day SOLID made a Peace Tiles Mural with the students in the Global Awareness club, which we delivered to Pitseng High School in early 2006. Then we engaged the students from Pitseng High School’s AIDS Awareness Club in making their own Peace Tiles Mural which is now installed at GISS.

 

Play the video.

This art exchange provided a tangible and moving connection for students in both countries, and the murals act to empower students to address AIDS in creative ways. Now the AIDS Awareness Club at Pitseng is doing outreach to other schools in the district, and using art and mural making as a means to discuss the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS.

See the Peacetiles page

Accomplishments

  • Development of extensive vegetable and cereal crop gardens that used for production and teaching – focuses on composting, raised beds, proper water drainage, soil composition and organic pest management.
  • Formation of AIDS support club, outreach to surrounding communities to encourage testing and offer peer-to-peer education through art & media
  • Built tree nursery in 2005 to grow forest trees for resale to Ministry of Forests, along with orchard trees for long term food security and resale in the community as a school fundraiser
  • Partnership with four local community-based organizations for skill and resource share

Leadership

  • The headmistress, Sister Juliette, is supportive of twinning initiatives in general and agricultural and income generation activities in particular. The head agriculture teacher, John Tau, is himself a tree nursery owner and forester who passes those interests and skills on to his students.
  • Land: The school grounds are completely fenced and there are no livestock grazing near the gardens or maize fields. There is a well drained and well exposed slope to the north of the school where there is maize growing; intercropping and successionally planting that field would yield a larger harvest. There are also ducks and fowl that provide fertilizer for the gardens as well as eggs and meat to supplement the school lunches.

Natural Resources

The water at Pitseng is sourced by roof catchment, with a very extensive system of dozens of large holding tanks catching rainwater off the school buildings. There is also a borehole in the main vegetable garden that currently has an issue with the pump; SOLID recommends investment in a solar or wind water pump to save on the fuel costs of the diesel powered pump.

 

Human Resources / Stakeholders

  • Volunteers: The project at Pitseng is intended to benefit the school community, and be run by the staff and students. As such there is a small paid farm staff who manage the gardens, including the garden containing the tree nursery. The student body provides the additional labour for the project.
  • SOLID : In 2006 SOLID built a tree nursery at the school and intends to deliver a series of training workshops to students and parents.

 
  • Facilitate the sponsorship of orphaned students’ school expenses, offer annual leadership camps, facilitate twinning of Pitseng High School with Gulf Islands Secondary School on Salt Spring Island.
  • Project Help Lesotho: Facilitated training and peer-to-peer education resulting in the creation of an HIV-AIDS club at the school

HIV/AIDS Support

  • HIV-AIDS Support Group: This group engages in outreach to their own school community and to other area schools to educate about prevention and treatment of HIV-AIDS.
  • SOLID is engaged in using art to communicate about HIV-AIDS; Salt Spring students and Pitseng students exchanged Peace Tiles murals in 2006. The AIDS club now uses art workshops as a basis for discussing HIV-AIDS with primary schools in the region.
  • Pitseng has a program that allows orphan and vulnerable boys and girls who attend the school to reside there, some on week days and some full-time depending on their home situation. This framework supports many students who are affected by HIV-AIDS due to the loss of family members.