THARI TRUST SPEECH FOR FEMMES D’EUROPE PROJECTS CEREMONY

(Thanks for the invite and for support)

Thari Trust is a charitable trust founded in 2007 and registered in Lesotho in 2008, and in 2016 in
Belgium. Its primary aim has always been to help with education in Lesotho. Lesotho is a small
country about the size of Belgium landlocked within South Africa. Lesotho is a country which faces
political and may developmental challenges.

Demographically, Lesotho has a small population just a little over 2 million and a life expectancy
about 54 years. The official languages are Sesotho and English with all subjects except for Sesotho
taught in English at high school and literacy about 85%, higher in women than in men. Nearly 40% of
the population live below the poverty line and people living with HIV estimated at 24% of the
population.

Whereas primary education is free and universal, there is a large dropout rate at High School.
The Trust and its work since inception

The main objectives of the Trust are:

 To support the delivery of education in disadvantaged communities, with a focus on primary

schools
 To support disadvantaged communities to become more resilient

Since its inception the Trust focused mainly on the 1 st objective. Between 2007 and 2013 the Trust
mainly helped indigent and orphaned children with school fees at high school level and a small
subsistence allowance for the orphans to enable them to remain in school.

Our strategy now is;

1. to help with the teaching of English at primary level so that students are well prepared for
secondary school as Secondary school is only taught in English, therefore English critical to
success at Secondary level ;
2. focus on poor performing primary schools, especially those which are free schools (non-fee
charging) set up to serve specific catchment areas (notably in rural and peri-urban areas);
3. help with school building infrastructure where possible so that such schools can better and
more safely teach their students
4. to promote and encourage communities around primary schools (teachers, pupils and
parents) to participate more in their own development, take initiatives and be able to
sustain future development themselves without further help from the Trust.

The Trust aims to achieve its strategy by collecting and shipping English books mainly from Belgium
to Lesotho, by establishing school libraries and supporting teachers to help improve English in
primary schools.

From 2014, we have been providing significant support to schools via infrastructure and building
improvements and helping schools set up libraries. St Michael’s Primary School is an example of this.
English books have been donated to the school and a class monitoring system put in place to ensure
that the books are used properly. The Trust has refurbished several classrooms, including one which
was turned into a library. A school kitchen was built so that school children get at least one meal at
school a day. We are have also provided support for education either directly to pupils or teaching
departments in Liphakoeng Primary School, St Mary’s High School, Roma High School, Manonyane
School, and in late 2022, we have begun a partnership with St Ann’s school in Leribe.

Consequently, some results observed include:

 Increased interest and enthusiasm for teaching and improving the school from teachers and
parents;
 The school surroundings are being improved with flowers being planted around the
classrooms;
 Both teachers and students are speaking English more;
 There are more posters and resources in English in the classrooms showing efforts to teach
the students;
 The school board is more involved as well as parents in the school and there is more
community interest in the school;
 A kindergarten class has just started in the school this year.

Funding and Fundraising

Sources of funding for the Trust are 100% donations and fundraisers. Donations have been received
from the Femmes d’Europe, the Community of St Anthony’s, including the Knights of St Thomas
More, Daraja La Afrika asbl, Tervuren Municipality, and individual donations.

Fundraisers have in the main also been through the annual Charity Christmas Fayre at St Anthony’s
Parish where Christmas cakes have been sold to support the Trust. We also fundraise in Tervuren.

The Trust set up an Mpesa account in Lesotho, and can now receive small donations from locals, and
is working to fundraise more within Lesotho.

Operations of the Trust

The Trust is run by volunteer trustees in Belgium and in Lesotho, who work on a purely non-
remunerative basis.

One person, has been engaged so far to carry out monitoring at St Michaels on a small fee paying
basis of around 5 Euros per monitoring session, 2 sessions per month during term time.

The Trust has no operating overheads such as rent or salaries.

All funds received go directly to helping students and schools.

Femmes d’Europe

Femmes d’Europe has provided Thari Trust with support since its registration in Lesotho. For
example, one of the big achievements has was the approval by Association Femmes d’Europe
aisbl for our application for assistance in order to supply science laboratory equipment for
Manonyane School. This is very exciting for Thari Trust and the schoolchildren who will soon be able
for the first time to put to practice all the science theory they’ve learnt. 

Thank you.