Lesotho
Lesotho is a land-locked country, approximately 30,000 km2 in size (about 1.5x the size of Wales), surrounded by South Africa, with a population of about 2 million. It is a beautiful mountainous country, and is known as the “Mountain Kingdom”, where 80% of the land is above 6000ft, which means that only 12% of the land is suitable for growing crops.
The Lesotho Government is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, which gained its independence from Britain in 1966. It is a lower middle income country, with half of the population below the poverty line.
‘Basotho’ is the name by which the people of Lesotho are known.
Education
Education in Lesotho is only free for Primary School level, and yet it has one of the highest literacy rates in Africa (81%). Families have to pay school fees for their children to go to Secondary School or to go on and learn a trade at College.
Wages in Lesotho range between £200pa and £700 pa. Course fees are typically £350pa, so you can see how paying for course fees can be a real struggle for families.
Aids
Lesotho has the second highestHIV prevalence in the world, which has resulted in many orphans. They are often adopted by relatives, but that puts even greater pressure on the family’s income, resulting in few being able to pay for secondary or tertiary education.
BET History
BET is a Christian, UK-based charity.
BET was set up in 1982 by group of Imperial College London students visiting Lesotho who were struck by the lack of education which could help people break out of the cycle of poverty.
BET provides grants for young men & women to learn a trade.
It is a voluntary organisation, so over 95% of donations goes directly towards paying tuition fees.
To date, BET has supported over 1,600 students.
Basotho Educational Trust 