photo of person from Lesotho the maluti mountains
lesotho
 
THEMES IN THIS TESTIMONY
Agriculture  
Development  
Gender  

Click on arrows
to find more
testimonies
featuring
these themes

’Malebohang

(LESOTHO 10)

Sex

female

Age

64

Occupation

farmer

Location

Ha Lekhera

Date

November 1997

summary

A short interview with lots of one-sentence answers, perhaps partly because the narrator was not ready to be interviewed and was anxious about the time. Brief mention of most things (i.e. school, health, and life in the village) but the most interesting part is when she is talking about leaving the village. The narrator is going to another highland area and so does not appear to be as distressed as some of the other narrators. But she, like others, is unclear about compensation, was not consulted in any way and only found out about what was going to happen after it had all been planned.

detailed breakdown

You will need a password from Panos to view the full transcript of the interview. To apply for a password, click here.

Once you have a password, click here to go to the beginning of the transcript. You can also click on any section of the breakdown of content below and go straight to the corresponding part of the transcript.

 

Section 1  Family details. Ten children, all now married.
Section 2  Uses European doctors. Road has made travel (e.g. to see doctors) easier. Agriculture; men plough, women hoe. Local schools – primary level only.
Section 3  Different Christian churches/denominations. Sesotho customs and dances. Theft of animals
Section 4-5  Problems in the village settled by the chief and a committee Moving the graves: expenses to be met by project. Has chosen to move to another highland area, not affected by the dam, and quite nearby. Life in the lowland would be harder: “You see we were born right here and the little life of the lowlands is actually a little difficult to us who were born here.” Did not know they were going to be moved, only found out once the plans had been finalised.
Section 5-6  Fairly optimistic about settling in to new place: “Because the area is still in our home area I do not feel that there is a problem. I am not going far.” Drought - government has helped them. Villagers sometimes help each other, particularly with a good harvest. Use of animals – for selling or working.