Moralia Monethi Farms

When faced with the challenge of being unable to complete her B.Com Statistics degree due to financial constraints, Relebohile Monethi started her own agricultural business rearing chickens and planting vegetables for sale. With the role she played in her community as a female farmer, she was selected to be one of fifteen youths to represent Lesothor as a Mandela Washington Fellow (2017) at Oklahoma State University. Relebohile has since opened various businesses including a café that offers free homework assistance to primary students as well as free meals to less privileged children. Relebohile believes all children should have access to books and a safe environment to be playful while learning. Relebohile is involved with various orphanages and has been a Global Shaper in an effort to be more impact full beyond her community.

Coving 19 has shit school doors. Even if schools were to resume it is too late for kids to catch up. We need a supplement to formal educational institutions in Africa. We need to keepay engaging primary school learners with educational material and access to fun informal learning. I propose we have pop up kids corners in the form of containers across Lesotho and Africa (the world). There are many tragedies such as wars and natural disasters that have kept many children from learning. I know the pain of watching ones peers go to school while I couldn't.  I commit to bringing educational material that correlates with every country's educational syllabus. I commit to setting up containers across Lesotho and Africa for children to still be able to learn. Poverty plays a major role in children's performance at school.

with a population of just two million, Lesotho is one of the poorest countries in the world. With the majority of the population being the youth and unemployment very high, it is not every child who gets assistance with homework. Parents are often stressed and tired. Many children either stop trying or are too afraid to bother their parents. We would be the hand that assists parents as well as an extra curricular activity for school. 

Economies are built from the very foundations. 

My project is a kids corner that offers homework assistance for primary school children. It takes into account the teacher per student ratio which in Africa is too high. Poverty and uneducated parents mean children often go to school for the sake of going. How can we eradicate poverty if children cannot read?

I opened my restaurants doors to accommodate primary school learners in homework assistance. On average we have 25 children a day in that village. There are hundreds of villages in Lesotho with children who cannot read, spell, do simple maths or even understand simple context. 

Most of the children I assist do not get assistance from home. A mother who walks 5km to the factories will get home too tired to assist her child. 

Traditionally public school learners are behind private school learners. Why? 

If we cannot have every child in a private school let us bring private school facilities to the public schools. This is my project. No child should be left behind.

My son was diagnosed with Passive Development Disorder. If I could not afford the best treatment what would happen to him. How many children have disorders and need that extra nudge? How many well able children just need a desk and a sandwich in order to reach their full potential?

Books saved me because my mother could afford it. I would like to offer the same lifeline to those whose mothers don't afford 

I would like my son to grow up having access to all possibilities and opportunities. He is two years old. When he is in primary I would like for him to have access to books, assistance with his homework and a safe space to get things right and wrong.

I see my son in every child I help.

As a Mandela Washington Fellow I have networks across Africa to scale this model in various countries. I am passionate about this project because it addresses a personal issue I went through and it has to get better.

After being kicked out of university I did not give up. I worked hard to use the skills and resources I had. I am one of the best farmers and social entrepreneurs in Lesotho because I know pain and struggle. I also know the benefits of a solid foundation to stand when the storms of life hit. With or without a degree I went after my dreams and I am still fighting.

As the founder of Moralia Monethi Farms I have to lead a team in order to remain in business as well as impactful. To start an organisation and to run requires leadership skills and a spirit for people and their advancement. 

This project is innovative because it can be duplicated in any country in any language for all primary school students. Covid 19 has shown that the traditional methods of schooling is running out of time.

How about tablets for rural children. How about hubs for information and assistance?

Children adapt very quickly. I am tired of African children adapting to poverty and everything substandard. Please help me introduce a new way of life for the African child. That she can do it because help is here. That he can solve that maths problem because a program on a tablet showed him how to count. We can assess progress from the very schools the children attend ensuring we have a pool of data of before and after the program.

my project currently serves 88 people. In a year it will triple this number simply because we do not take everyone. We simply cannot afford the actual numbers. 

This number does not include the impacted parents

The goal is to be in all the ten districts of Lesotho in five years. The impact will be phenomenal as we recruit more people to lead and duplicate the model.

The barriers are financialmore so with Covid 19 and masks, sanitisersand ample space is needed to practice social distancing.

I plan to acquire more space in order to have containers set up in various districts. We can still assist children as long as we adhere to regulations.

I have partnered with the US Embassy Maseru as a Mandela Washington Fellow. They support me by attending events, sponsoring key activities with regards to assisting girls in agriculture. 

We sell wellness food in the form of healthy prepacked meals. We always leave extra food for the children. 

We offer space in our restaurant, tables, chairs, books and refreshments for children in the program

We are a well known brand. People want to be associated with it. Apart from the the daily sales, the program can attract donations, investments and work directly to the organisation in support of the program.

I have raised funds from daily sales of my business. I have also attracted qualified teachers who volunteer to assist children. 

I am seeking to raise funds to establish the program across my country and not strictly in the businesses vicinity. 

$2000