Limpho Sello
QUEEN ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital (Tšepong) has built a state-of-the-art pigsty for SOS Children’s Village as part of the institution’s social responsibility initiative.
According to the hospital’s Public Relations Officer Limpho Seeiso, the collaboration started in September last year. SOS has been helping Lesotho’s vulnerable young people and children since the 1980s, and Tšepong’s initiative came at a time the village, which is located in Maseru, was finding it difficult to maintain its pig-project.
“The hospital started by providing feed for the pigs, and these were leftovers from our staff canteen. Besides providing food on a regular basis, Tšepong also built SOS a new pigsty in June this year, which is much bigger, sheltered from the sun and rain, and has a floor with a mild slope to allow water to drain out of the pen, thereby keeping it dry and smart,” Ms Seeiso said last week.
“In addition, the pigsty has a nice feeding area, as well as running water by way of automatic nipples. The pigs have to touch the water-nipple to activate it, so the water will only come out when needed. This helps keep the area dry and fresh.”
Ms Seeiso further said the pig project was very important to Tšepong as it involves health aspects the hospital does not deal with on a daily basis.
“The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, and this project helps us fulfil some of these goals.”
Ms Seeiso further said the project helped the children realise piggery could be a source of livelihood.
“This project encourages the children at SOS to take responsibility of the pigs and also helps them to see piggery as a way of earning a living. Pig-rearing, as you may know, is not very attractive as the common practice is to dump what we do not want in the sty, so the level of cleanliness is normally not that good.
“A child naturally would not see much beyond this picture, but the cleanliness here is attractive and the automated water-nipple is intriguing to a young mind. The village can decide to rear more pigs and then sell them for income. This is entirely up to them; we don’t prescribe how they handle the project; we only support them by ensuring adequate food and shelter.”
Ms Seeiso further said companies should have a sense of responsibility towards the community and environment in which they operate.
“Tšepong has been expressing its citizenship through waste and pollution reduction processes and by contributing to educational and social programmes in Lesotho.
“The company has also paid for many patients to access life-changing surgical interventions they would not otherwise afford. Surgeries to cure congenital heart diseases and cleft palate, remove cataracts, as well as hip-replacements are just a small fraction of the number of interventions that have been undertaken by the hospital since we started operations in October 2011,” Ms Seeiso said.
According to SOS Child and Youth Development Coordinator, Ithabeleng Sephelane, Tšepong’s support had come at a time the village was struggling to maintain its pig project.
“Because of this modern facility, we are now going to breed more pigs since the sty is really state-of-the-art and very spacious,” Ms Sephelane said.
“The children will no longer be reluctant to help out with the project since the facility is now very clean and enticing due to the equipment that has been installed inside.”
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