By Staff Reporter
Nthatisi Miriam Lesala wears many hats.
She is a climate activist, entrepreneur, youth advocate, traveller, blogger, community influencer, counsellor and grassroots soccer coach.
The Thaba Tseka based Lesala says she has always been conscious of her surroundings as she grew up in Thaba Putsoa area of the district, one of Lesotho’s poorest.
This inspired her to co-establish a cooperative called Bokamoso Youth Society Limited in 2015 with the aim of creating job opportunities for young people in the area through waste management.
The movement was registered with the Ministry of Co-operatives in 2019 after fulfilling all the requirements. It produces yoghurt and ‘motoho’ as well as handicrafts such as mags and baskets to enable dozens of youths to eke out a living.
Led by Lesala, the organisation also disseminates information on climate change to communities and schools. It further advises farmers on ways to adapt to the effects of changing weather patterns.
It would be a mammoth task, the activist soon learnt but she was determined to soldier on.
“I decided to focus on climate change after realising that most people in my district were not aware of this phenomenon. They simply refused to accept that climate change is real,” she told The Reporter in an interview on Tuesday this week.
But Lesala was not deterred but this reluctance.
In fact, she intensified her efforts by visiting local schools and addressing public gatherings in a bid to awaken them to this new reality that was seeing the villagers’ crop yields continuously declining due to severe droughts and other changes in weather.
“I couldn’t just rest on my laurels. I told myself that I had to help in finding solutions and ways of dealing with climate change and how it was affecting people’s daily lives,” she said.
Lesala’s efforts have not gone unnoticed.
She is inspired that people are gradually accepting that climate change is real and that it is here to stay. Her tireless efforts have seen her being invited to meetings and conferences as an activist to share her experiences with others across Africa.
She was in Malawi last week to seeks ways of how people in that country affected by the devastating Hurricane Freddy in February this year can cope with such natural disasters. Countries like Lesotho could also learn from such mishaps that often destroy homes and property on large scales. The meeting was attended by environmentalists and researchers from the region.
Lesala also visited Ethiopia in February this year to attend a meeting of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance.
In 2020 she was invited to the third edition of the African Presidential Leadership Programme in Cairo, Egypt. She also attended the World Youth Forum in the same country in 2019.
She was further invited to the African Youth Diplomacy Forum in Free Town, Sierra Leone in 2019. The same year, Lesala attended a training on waste management hosted by Hope for Rural Women’s Assembly regional head office in Braamfontein, South Africa.
In 2015 she took part in a conflict management programme run by the Norwegian Red Cross in Oslo.
Although things are now looking up for Lesala, it was not easy to have her work and advice accepted by local communities. But through the use of social media platform such as Facebook, Zoom and Google Team, she is now able to reach a wider audience. She also runs a programme on climate change on a local radio station, Motjoli FM.
To strengthen her work, Lesala this year co-founded Libokung Youth Club which aims to encourage young people to practice climate smart agriculture.
He efforts have won her several accolades over the years, including the Youth Volunteer Award by Lesotho Red Cross Society in 2018.
She was also given the Best Woman Award by Justice and Peace in 2014 and the Exemplary Youth of the Year Award by the Red Cross the same year.
This year Lesala attended the second edition of the Nairobi Summer School at Kenyatta University.
Despite the challenges that she faces in her mission, the tough as tick Lesala is determined that nothing will stop her.
