Empowering Communities, Restoring Hope

Journal entry by Jeff Weiss, American Red Cross International Response Team member. Weiss has supported the international work of the American Red Cross for the past four years by volunteering to coordinate efforts in his hometown of Ithaca, NY to support the American Red Cross-led Measles Initiative in Africa. Weiss then trained as an International Response Team member. He just returned from a one-month deployment to Lesotho, where he helped the local Red Cross program part of a US $1 million contribution that the American Red Cross made to help communities in southern Africa recover from the recent food shortage and address ongoing food issues. Due to the irrigation kit distribution that Weiss worked on, along with a seed distribution, planned demonstration gardens, community gardens and other projects, those affected by the food shortage and its root causes continue to receive immediate and longer-term assistance.

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There are two very striking things about Lesotho. One is that it is very beautiful. There are small plains, buttes and foothills in the lower elevations. And, much of the country is highlands and mountains. The second, and more important thing, is the friendliness and openness of the people. I have been impressed by both of these qualities of people in stores, on the street, in the city and in the villages, no matter how remote.

Of course, the people of Lesotho have some significant problems. The HIV/AIDS rate is estimated at 30% of the population. The drought of the last three years has significantly reduced the production of food. Although there is currently not an emergency food situation, there is a chronic food insecurity situation. This situation is made worse by HIV/AIDS which causes disability and makes it difficult for people to cultivate crops. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, both through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Federation) and through individual national societies, is here with many other organizations and the Lesotho government trying to address some of those problems.

The National Society, the Lesotho Red Cross Society, sponsors programs related to agriculture, water and sanitation, HIV/AIDS education and assisting orphans and households headed by children, and many others. The local Red Cross staff members work with the other Red Cross and Red Crescent societies and the Federation in several program areas.

I have been able to visit some of the smaller towns and villages in the western and southwestern parts of the country. Major roads are very good, but the smaller roads to the remote villages are barely roads. The ride is rough and slow. But, at the end of the journey, are villages of maybe 30 houses set on a plateau, hillside, or at the foot of a mountain. There are some cattle and household gardens, and the beauty sometimes makes you forget the difficulties many villagers face. Each village has a chief, and government councils are relatively new.

When arriving at a village to discuss the role of the Red Cross and the results of previous programs, we would first stop to speak to the chief. In one remote southern village, the chief received us and started talking about the Red Cross. He was very positive, relating the role the Red Cross played in building a gravity-fed water pipe system in his village. Everywhere I went, people were willing to talk with me about the positive and negatives of each program.

The last food program sponsored by the Federation occurred in February. Seed and fertilizer were distributed to support the planting of winter wheat. The focus of the assistance was on vulnerable households. These included households affected by HIV/AIDS, chronic illness, and those housing orphans and the elderly. I have been working on the next program that will emphasize food production, water resources such as irrigation kits, and general hygiene education.