Warm welcome for Prince Harry
TEBOHO KHATEBE MOLEFI
MASERU—The British monarch, Prince Harry, accompanied by innovative funders and business leaders convening in Maseru as part of a tour to accelerate prosperity for youth in the Southern Africa region on Tuesday afternoon, received a warm Basotho welcome. Local praise singers and dancers opened the evening as a kick-off to a visit to Lesotho to witness charity group Sentebale’s programming in action, with Founding Patrons Harry and Chief Seeiso Bereng Seeiso speaking on behalf of Sentebale to the international guests, touching on its founding history and the vision for the future.
Sentebale is the non-profit organisation working to enhance health, wealth generation, and climate resilience for young people in Southern Africa. Founded in 2006 by Harry and Seeiso, Sentebale works with children, young people, and their communities in Lesotho and Botswana. Princes Harry and Seeiso, the Principal Chief of Matsieng, showcased Sentebale’s impact and opportunities to new supporters of the organisation, alongside existing donors, through American Friends of Sentebale, the American arm of the UK-based non-profit.
The evening at ’Mamohato Children’s Centre in Thaba-Bosiu takes place during the week Lesotho is celebrating her 58th year of independence and in her 200th year of the founding of the Basotho as a sovereign nation under King Moshoeshoe I.
The Founding Patrons also participated in a fireside chat moderated by Sentebale Board Chair Dr. Sophie Chandauka MBE, with Ntoli Moletsane, Lesotho Country Director, and KT Montshiwa, Botswana Country Director. Speaking at the gathering, Prince Harry highlighted that he has learnt in more than two decades that the younger generation has solutions of their own and that if the world continued to grow platforms and allowed them to share their stories while also breaking stigmas, real change happens.
“We are creating a force of young advocates, and once they are empowered to use their voices, the strength of their impact will be formidable. You guys are sharing on the radio; you may never know how big your impact is, but if it changes the life of even one person, it’s worth it,” Harry said. For his part, Founding Patron Prince Seeiso said, “This is legacy work, and we have a collective responsibility to do everything we can. How can we collectively make sure that whatever dollar we invest is multiplied by 10? We want an organisation that is slim, fit for purpose, but making a serious impact for children of Lesotho, Botswana, and beyond.”
Dr. Chandauka said: “Young people are agents for change. At Sentebale, we deeply believe in system change, so wherever we can place young people throughout the value chain, this will equal incremental, sustained change.”
Telling the local story, Lesotho Country Director, Ntoli Moletsane, highlighted that advocacy is a huge part of what the local chapter does, indicating that “now our young people are working to empower their peers to understand the standard of basic services that they deserve.”
KT Montshiwa, Botswana Country Director, said: “We are known throughout our country for being experts in young people. We bring in results, and we deliver on our promises to young people and the community.”
In addition, to reflect the work of Sentebale in Botswana, Botlhe Jane Kgosimore, a DUMA FM radio presenter and Let Youth Lead advocate, led four of her fellow Let Youth Lead colleagues in a discussion about their own journeys. The Let Youth Lead advocacy program facilitates the engagement of young people, their communities, and related stakeholders in advocacy efforts around better health, education, and social rights.
As a part of the programme, the youth advocates created Radio Positive on DUMA FM in Botswana, a talk show to discuss issues affecting young people. Let Youth Lead advocate Bakang Garebatho said, “With Radio Positive, we get to talk about young people and what we go through daily. We talk to 100,000 young people weekly. And we need to continue to talk to young people about conversations that matter outside of this on other platforms.”
The innovative funders and business leaders group viewed Sentebale in action in its program on Wednesday before travelling to Johannesburg to meet with additional global and local organisations in a reception and impact roundtable where discussions on youth employment and entrepreneurship will take place, alongside the development of ideas for collective action.
The innovative funders and business leaders visiting Lesotho were first convened earlier this year in Miami by Sentebale and its strategic partner LEBEC, a women-led innovative finance and philanthropy firm.
This initiative reflects the strategic direction Sentebale has pursued under the leadership of chair Dr Chandauka, as the organisation looks to increase its impact, according to a statement by the organisation.
When Sentebale was founded in 2006, HIV/AIDS was deeply impacting children and young people in Southern Africa as they disproportionately shoulder the burden, but with the outlook for a full life now a reality, it has evolved to working with the next generation on solutions to broader problems impacting them, like health, wealth inequity, and climate.
Sentebale’s interventions in these sectors include teaching critical life skills that build confidence and lead to success; providing inclusive services to address mental and physical well-being; working with youth and families on understanding the changing natural environment and how their livelihoods can adapt; as well as the holistic care of young people living with HIV/AIDS, including psychosocial support.
They further offer vocational training, career exploration, and entrepreneurship for young women to build career paths that contribute to a future that is more equal.
The organisation was founded as a response to the needs of children and young people in Lesotho and in memory of their late mothers. The name Sentebale means ‘forget-me-not’ in the Sesotho language, representing a pledge to remember the most vulnerable children in the region.
Over the last eighteen years, Sentebale has developed solutions informed by children, their carers, and the young people the organisation serves to address both systemic issues and individual needs of the moment.
This work includes providing and enabling the care of young people living with HIV/AIDS, addressing mental health issues, career exploration and entrepreneurship, critical life skills and advocacy, and offering vocational training and education opportunities.
Sentebale’s work has recently expanded into the regeneration of landscapes to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change on the natural resources that communities rely on.
