Wales’ African Twin

The story of Dolen Cymru - the Wales Lesotho Link

Paul Williams Author’s note

It is a privilege to have been involved with Dolen Cymru – the Wales- Lesotho Link – since its inception. And it was a special privilege to have been charged with keeping the records since those very first informal meetings in 1983. I continued, as Secretary, to keep the records of the link until the Spring of 2004.

I would like to record my sincere thanks to Dr Carl Clowes, who first suggested that I write this book. He has been a constant source of inspiration and encouragement. As well as writing the foreword, he has given the manuscript a thorough edit, adding fresh insights and up-dated material.

I would also like to thank my wife Elizabeth for her support, proof- reading and sensible suggestions.

As Secretary of the link, I have had the opportunity of working with wonderful colleagues, many of them serving on different Dolen committees and filling different posts, both in Wales and in Lesotho. They are too numerous to list here (some, but not all, appear in the text), but I would like to offer my deepest thanks and appreciation to all of them. Without their selfless and enthusiastic contribution, there would be no story to write.

Paul Williams, March 2008 Dolen Cymru by Paul Williams ISBN: 1 85994 601 1 Published by Cyhoeddiadau’r Gair, Contact details: Ael y Bryn, Chwilog, Pwllheli, Dolen Cymru - Gwynedd LL53 6SH Wales Lesotho Link Unit B, Enterprise House, First Published: June 2008 All rights reserved 126 Bute Street, Cardiff CF10 5LE Design and layout: Aled Davies Cover design: Robert Williams, Magma Books Tel: 02920 497390 Printed by: Gwasg Gomer, Llandysul www.dolencymru.com Contents

Author’s note 2 Foreword by Dr Carl Clowes 4 1. An idea is born 8 2. Finding a twin 13 3. Allies 22 4. “A new system of international relations” - 28 The link is launched and history is made 5. Discovering Lesotho 32 6. Getting started 40 7. Coping with a coup 49 8. Lands of song 55 9. Women together 64 10. Education! Education! Education! 71 11. A win at the Lottery – health and education. 84 12. “A deeper relationship” - 97 Links between churches 13. The Queen, the lifeboat and a new penfriend! 112 14. Health links 121 15. Enriching support 135 16. Bridging continents 146 Wales’ African Twin Foreword

When one sets out on a path without any map, the road can be difficult.

The idea of twinning two countries was a novel concept in the early 1980s and the path was far from clear. Fortune has been favourable to the link however and, today, it can boast major successes in both Wales and Lesotho.

But why begin on the path? The motivation of the founders was very much about enabling Wales to look out and encourage its understanding of the developing world. For a people that are passionate about their own culture, as important as that is, it was always going to take a particular initiative and imagination to enable horizons to be extended. In the early 1980s, the Welsh community at large had taken an interest in the Ethiopian famine and trauma elsewhere and responded in conscience through various aid organisations. The ‘third world’, for many however, seemed little more than a permanent problem looking for help.

In reality for some of us, the argument went, the communities that were suffering involved real people with strengths and attributes. They had a rich history, remarkable culture and traditions and was it not therefore incumbent upon us to understand more about the ‘developing’ world ?

The reciprocal argument was also valid. For most people in the developing world, Europe must appear as some sort of Avalon with everything in place and no concerns. Little did they understand that here too, there was a variety of communities, each with their challenges, histories and culture and, even, problems – not necessarily the same problems but, nevertheless, real issues for many. Was it not important that this gulf in understanding be bridged?

Paul Williams, Dolen’s untiring Secretary for 19 years, chronicles the events that have enabled this remarkable link become what it is today. It was never going to be an easy journey and what the portrayal of success can never capture is the sheer amount of hard work and determination that has gone into making the link as meaningful as it is.

The role of the various Chairmen has been crucial in this. Elaine Morgan who succeeded me in 1990, Dafydd Idriswyn Roberts and, latterly, John Ellis. It is

4 Wales’ African Twin a tribute to their stamina and leadership that only four people, over the first 21- years, held the Chair in this formative period. In 2007, Wayne Crocker became the Chairman and, as was the case with his predecessors, brought a new and different dynamic to the organisation.

Dolen’s greatest strength is that it has relied on developing links between people and their communities. Governments come and go but communities remain and therein lies much of the success. O T Sefako, the founding Chair in Lesotho, put great emphasis on this. Should Dolen ever become a traditional aid agency, he said, then it would have failed in its mission. The capacity to see people on an equal footing and learn from one another was always going to be paramount if it was to succeed.

Success has not come without its own challenges. For some, the link was seen as an opportunity to ‘experience’ Africa – a kind of ‘safari’ visit with no real understanding or engagement with the community at the other end. It has to be said this is probably true for some Basotho also. After an initial burst of apparent interest, little was seen or heard subsequently. This is not the kind of relationship we encourage and, over time, we have come to differentiate between those who simply seek that experience and those who aspire to Dolen’s true goals of a long-term relationship.

A second area of concern relates to good governance. As the organisation has grown, so clarity in relation to good practice, health and safety and financial administration had to develop accordingly – in both countries. Unfortunately, for some, the need for constraints, guidance and good governance has been seen as obstructive.

Thirdly, and I believe this is true for most if not all charitable bodies engaged in the developing world, there is an element in society that wants to ‘do good works’ as if Africa was there to enable them to achieve that. Dolen’s philosophy, quite simply, is that if there is work to be done then the case needs to be made adequately, based on a thorough understanding, and a pattern of activity with full funding then needs to be secured – “form follows function”. It is not, therefore, a question of ‘finding’ jobs for people to do simply because they fancy the idea!

As Dolen comes of age, it is inevitably a time to reflect. Clearly, no flash in the pan as some felt it might be at the outset, it has grown gradually but what does the future hold?

5 Wales’ African Twin

The nature of a ‘twinning’ with a focus on one specific country has been a real strength, albeit not always appreciated fully by those outside Dolen Cymru. As in any ‘twin’ relationship, there is a power, an emotive pull which gives added strength to the organisation through the focus it creates. The capacity of one activity to potentiate another through the joint understanding that develops, and the inter-relationships and friendship between peoples engaged in different domains, never ceases to amaze those of us who are involved. An awareness of the dynamic created by a single focus for activity in the name of ‘Wales’ will, hopefully, increase over time. This is not to deny the success of activities elsewhere but simply to highlight the benefits and opportunities created, based on a long-term national twinning or partnership.

With the National Assembly in place, there will probably be increased Governmental support and interest. This is to be welcomed so long as the ‘community’ to ‘community’ strength of the organisation is reaffirmed and not compromised. There is a balance to be struck and I do not envisage that as a problem.

The need for Dolen Cymru is probably greater today than at any time in the past as Lesotho struggles to meet so many challenges. Sadly, ‘friends’ are in shorter supply now than in the heyday of apartheid when everybody wanted to identify with the country as an island of refuge for the ANC. Tragically, the British High Commission closed in 2005, and Lesotho became the first Commonwealth country ever to be denied a diplomatic mission by Britain. This pattern is prevalent with many countries having downgraded their input – the number of missions reducing from 35 in the 1970s to six today. Aid agencies have responded similarly, and this despite some of the most depressing statistics for the country – an HIV/AIDS prevalence of 31% amongst the adult population, over 25% of the population dependent on the World Food Programme and income per capita little more than $1 per day.

There is considerable latent potential for Dolen Cymru to develop further. The decision in 2007 to invite Prince Harry to become a Patron of our work was a recognition on Dolen’s part of the Prince’s genuine commitment to the children of Lesotho and our wish to cooperate. His ready acceptance has already led to areas of cooperation and is something that is much appreciated by all those involved.

6 Wales’ African Twin

Many new opportunities remain and other areas, already the focus of development, need to be addressed anew. Much of this potential can only be met with a wide spectrum of enthusiastic support, so readily forthcoming in the past. Recognition has to be given in this country to the Welsh Office, the Welsh Assembly Government, local government, National Lottery, British Council, the North-East Wales Institute of Higher Education (NEWI), the BBC, HTV and the written media for their support to date. May that continue and their understanding also develop further. The reciprocal support from the Government of Lesotho and their personnel in the High Commission in London is equally acknowledged as being highly valuable.

Significant in the past, and equally significant for the future, is the contribution and potential of the people of Wales and Lesotho in making the link an even more meaningful relationship. This is truly a people’s link and one must place on record appreciation to all those who have contributed in whatever way in ensuring that Dolen has achieved much of what the founding ‘fathers’ had hoped for.

Thanks particularly to the countless members of committees who have contributed over the years, the various officers of the organisation here and in Lesotho – paid and otherwise – and, as already acknowledged, the Chairmen both here and in Lesotho for their selfless contributions of time and experience. Sadly, one can never do any of the above the justice they deserve.

In concluding, whilst the map is still unfolding, the journey to date has been demonstrably successful. For many of us, the dawning of the new Millennium heralded so much hope for better understanding and cooperation in the world. Sadly, these hopes have not materialised as world leaders have often shown a lack of understanding and respect for other cultures and the consequences have been clear with world society becoming more fractured than ever before. Confrontational policies can never be an answer if we are to secure world peace and justice. Developing understanding between our various communities, however, can and Dolen Cymru, together with its sister organisation in Lesotho, stands as a beacon for many larger countries which could well learn from our experience.

Dr Carl Iwan Clowes FFPHM President, Dolen Cymru Honorary Consul for Lesotho in Wales

7 Wales’ African Twin 1. An idea is born

In 2006 Dolen Cymru – the Wales-Lesotho Link – celebrated its 21st anniversary. It spans two continents, one in the rich ‘Northern’ half of the world and the other in the developing ‘South’, in a multi-faceted relationship of friendship and understanding. Today it stands unique as the world’s first ever nation-to-nation twinning.

“The link is a source of hope to the people of Lesotho. It is one of the greatest developments that has come to us on a human level... It is an unprecedented example of how meaningful links can be… given our location and smallness, there is a need to hold another hand, however far away, to help make us feel we are truly part of the world, part of the international community.” The Rt. Hon. Mohlabe K. Tsekoa, Foreign Minister Former High Commissioner, Cabinet Secretary and Minister of Education and Training

What exactly is the link? Why attempt to twin two countries anyway? Does this Welsh experiment have things to say about development relationships in our increasingly inter-dependent world? What does Dolen Cymru do and how did it come about?

The genesis of Dolen Cymru, the Wales-Lesotho Link, can be traced to the convergence of two separate streams.

In September 1982 Dr Carl Clowes, a Consultant in Public Health Medicine and well known in Wales as the founder of the National Language Centre at Nant Gwrtheyrn, wrote an article for the periodical Y Faner. It was entitled Cymru a’r Tlotaf o’r tlawd (“Wales and the poorest of the poor”). In it he looked at the plight of the world’s 31 “least developed countries” (LDCs) as defined by the United Nations and referred to the call of the World Health Organisation for the international community to adopt the goal of “Health for All by the year 2000”.

8 Wales’ African Twin

Dr Clowes records that his interest in the poorest countries stemmed from a two-year post-graduate course in Social Medicine in London between 1977- 9. “There were doctors there from every corner of the world, from the wealthiest to the very poorest. All had one aim in common – to learn more about the health problems they faced and where possible to try to find some answers for the well-being of their people. Perhaps for the first time I was able to appreciate fully the gross discrepancies in health and the provision of health care that exist in the world.”

In the Y Faner article Dr Clowes explored a possible Welsh response to the WHO call. He said that a letter had gone to the Director General of the organisation in Geneva, suggesting that Wales could ‘adopt’ one of the LDCs as a twinned country for assistance until the year 2000. Enlarging on how such a link might work, he wrote, “In practice towns in Wales (and organisations within each town) could adopt a village in the selected LDC and ensure, for example, there was an adequate water and/or sewerage system in the area.”

Dr Clowes went on to say that in this way, “the national community of Wales would be able to identify with and become more aware of the problems and challenges facing the linked nation. If such action could be repeated by 30 other countries in the developed world, all 31 LDCs would have access to similar help as required.”

In March of the same year 46 people from all over Wales had gathered at Tirley Garth, then a conference centre for Initiatives of Change near Chester, for a “Dialogue on Wales’ Role”. One of the questions discussed was, “What can Wales contribute to a troubled world in the 1980s?” Among those present were Dr Gwynfor Evans who had just stepped down as President of Plaid Cymru, and Dr Dafydd Alun Jones, a North Wales Consultant Psychiatrist.

At the end of the Dialogue, Dr Jones, convinced of the importance of what was being discussed, suggested that a further one be held later in the year to continue the search. A second Dialogue was duly convened in November at the former Normal College in Bangor, with a similar theme: “Where can Wales contribute?” Among the 56 present from all parts of Wales, as well as Dr Jones and Gwynfor, were the recently retired Archbishop of Wales Dr

9 Wales’ African Twin

Gwilym O Williams, Rev Roger Roberts, now Lord Roberts of Llandudno and then President of the Welsh Liberal Party, and Dr Carl Clowes. The Bangor gathering, like the one in March, was convened by the author, who works with Initiatives of Change.

It was here where the two streams converged. Bishop Williams opened the dialogue and chaired the morning session. A Canadian doctor, who had recently spent time in North Wales but was unable to attend, sent a short message which turned out to be amazingly appropriate to what was to transpire. It read, “Wales’ greatest contribution could be to help build a world community based on care.” When “Wales’ role in the context of the world” came to be discussed, Dr Clowes rose to put forward the idea he had proposed two months earlier in the article in Y Faner. Should Wales find a ‘twin’ country in the developing world? Some at the Dialogue – which included people from both North and South Wales and from every political persuasion – felt that Wales could not act internationally in this manner as she had no Government or any representative voice. Not only was there then no National Assembly for Wales, but just two years earlier, in the 1979 Devolution Referendum, the people of Wales had voted decisively against having one for the foreseeable future. Dr Clowes recalls arguing, “We in Wales exist, the LDCs exist, surely there is nothing to prevent such a link at the grass-roots level?” No formal resolution was passed, but for many at the meeting the twinning idea had struck a chord.

Without allowing too much time to elapse, I arranged to meet with Bishop Williams and Dr Clowes to look more closely at the idea. One of its attractions was that it could be something that the whole of Wales (so often divided) did together. And it had the potential, as a national link rather than a town or local one, to involve the whole spectrum of Welsh life. By that time, Dr Clowes had received an official response from the WHO to his original letter. It came from the Director of the Division of Co-ordination and read in part, “The approach you are proposing, if developed and nurtured carefully, with due consideration for the role of both ‘twins’, could be really effective. Experimental projects based on such an approach elsewhere have shown much promise and deserve all encouragement.”

Thus duly encouraged, the three agreed to move ahead to develop the idea and to consult with others. Looking back Dr Clowes reflects, “The rationale

10 Wales’ African Twin for creating such a permanent link was simple. Most of my generation had witnessed the appalling famines in Biafra, Bangladesh and Ethiopia in the 1960s and 1970s. The nation’s conscience had been provoked for a few months on each occasion and then other problems in the world raised their heads. So we were allowed to forget. More permanent links of friendship and understanding were therefore needed at the community level – between people and people, organisation and organisation, technical and social, medical, educational and cultural – a link at all levels.”

The next step was to arrange a third and final Dialogue, which took place during the week of the 1983 National Eisteddfod in Llangefni on Anglesey. The Llangefni “Dialogue on Wales’ Role 3" was held at Capel Ebeneser in the town and chaired by Dr Dafydd Alun Jones. It provided an opportunity for Dr Clowes to enlarge on the twinning proposal. He underlined that he saw it as, “a positive, constructive and outward-looking effort to be undertaken by the whole of Wales.” It would be completely non-political and totally ecumenical.

Bishop G O Williams said he would like to see the emphasis placed on associating groups of people with each other, as opposed to raising large amounts of money. Individuals, organisations, schools, colleges etc would be encouraged to establish a relationship with their opposite numbers in the twinned country.

Among those who attended this third Dialogue, and was to play an important role in bringing the twinning to birth, was Professor Glyn O Phillips, Principal of NEWI, the Wrexham-based North-East Wales Institute of Higher Education. He was active in the work of both the British Council in Wales and the Welsh Centre for International Affairs in Cardiff. Another was Rev Dewi Lloyd Lewis, North Wales Secretary of Christian Aid.

Seen in retrospect, the Llangefni meeting was pivotal to the birth of the link. It charged a steering Committee of 13 with researching the idea further and with consulting widely on the most appropriate LDC with which to twin. It is worth noting that, at this stage, no one had a particular twin country in mind. This proved significant as so many overseas links have come into being on the back of the enthusiasm of an individual who had spent some time in a

11 Wales’ African Twin particular place and wanted that relationship to be continued and formalised. The embryo Committee included former Archbishop Gwilym O Williams, Dr Carl Clowes as Chairman, Professor Glyn O Phillips, Rev Roger Roberts, Rev Dewi Lloyd Lewis, Dr Dafydd Alun Jones and Miss Beryl Jones (a retired headmistress living in Wrexham who had attended all three Dialogues and agreed to act as Treasurer). I became Secretary of the new committee.

It was game on. The goal was clear. But the idea had to be given legs.

12 Wales’ African Twin 2. Finding a twin

Ill health prevented Dr Gwynfor Evans from attending the Llangefni dialogue. However, in a letter ahead of the event, dated 14 July 1983, he wrote, “It is very good to hear that you are progressing with Dr Carl Clowes’ idea that Wales could adopt one of the small developing countries of the world. I hope that the idea will touch the imagination of the nation… I wish you all success with this truly wonderful undertaking.”

Tom Ellis, one-time MP and MEP, had similarly spoken of “the inspired imagination behind the idea”. But it is one thing to have a good idea – even an inspired idea – yet another to get it grounded in reality and to fashion it into a workable project. People would be the key.

At a meeting in their Wrexham home, Professor Glyn O Phillips and his wife Rhiain, introduced a colleague who was to play an important part in making this happen. Geraint Thomas was a lecturer in history at the North-East Wales Institute of Higher Education (NEWI). He had taught in a secondary school in Zambia for three and a half years and then spent six and a half years as Vice-Principal of Sokoto College of Education in Northern Nigeria. Luckily he seemed to need no second bidding to become involved. His interest in recent African history, his sensitivity to issues of development and his disciplined academic approach were to prove an invaluable asset.

Geraint was present as an additional co-opted member when the Llangefni- nominated Steering Committee met for the first time in Bangor on 19 November. As background, members were given a review of other Third World linking initiatives that had been started in recent years. It transpired that some 40 links (most very new) were in operation and there would obviously be things to learn from them. They varied greatly from small villages to cities like Hull and whole Counties or Districts like Warwick and Strathclyde.

Even before the meeting contacts had been made with the Welsh Centre for International Affairs in Cardiff and with the British Council in Wales. W R

13 Wales’ African Twin

(Bill) Davies, Director of the Welsh Centre, confirmed that he and his staff were supportive of the link proposal. “It is a very imaginative concept,” he wrote (10 October 1983), “though one whose execution will obviously demand much planning and care.”

The Steering Committee decided that the moment was right to end its brief life and that a properly constituted body should now be formed to carry forward the link project. Dr Carl Clowes was elected the first Chairman of Dolen Cymru. Geraint Thomas and I agreed to serve as Joint Secretaries and Beryl Jones as Treasurer. Bishop Gwilym Williams would be invited to be President and Professor Glyn O Phillips Consultant. Steps were set in motion to make the new body a registered charity.

Four of the Committee – Dr Carl Clowes, Geraint Thomas and the Rev Dewi Lloyd Lewis of Christian Aid and myself – were delegated to draft the aims and terms of reference of the future Trust; also to draw up the criteria to be followed in choosing a link country to approach. Once the criteria had been agreed and the aims finalised, the process of consulting people throughout Wales could begin.

Certain basic principles of the proposed twinning had been evident from the start. One was that it would be, as far as possible, an equitable relationship – i.e. a two-way enterprise whereby both Wales and Lesotho would benefit and contribute. This was never going to be an easy thing to maintain in practice, as inequality in terms of the resources each could bring to the table was in- built. Nevertheless the principle was established and, as it turned out, was to be fulfilled in some unexpected and intriguing ways. A second principle was that understanding and friendship should be the basic building blocks of the link, the foundation of all its activities. Material aid would not be at the forefront and would only play a part when it arose naturally over time out of the friendships made and the real understanding gained.

As it turned out, the drafting quartet had a head start in formulating Dolen Cymru’s aims and principles. In early November Geraint Thomas had written a proposal for the British Council in Wales in a bid to secure some start-up funding. It began, “It is now commonplace for British towns and cities to ‘twin’ with towns and cities abroad, mainly within Europe. Recently there

14 Wales’ African Twin has been a move to expand such twinning to include towns and cities in developing countries. More significant, from the point of view of resources, has been the twinning of large Local Authorities with individual developing countries or regions and districts within these countries. These schemes recognise that Local Authorities often possess the expertise and economic strength of many a developing country. They imply also that government-to- government activities have often left untouched the resources of the vast majority of the population. If these were tapped, not only would official schemes be supplemented, but involvement in development would be brought far more directly to ordinary people.” Dolen Cymru, the paper said, was taking things a stage further by proposing to link on a national scale. “An inter-nation scheme would introduce an entirely new dimension to the twinning concept.”

Before long a four-page bi-lingual pamphlet was produced, setting out in simple terms the aims of Wales Link – Dolen Cymru. Four aims were identified. They were:

1) To throw a bridge across the widening gulf between the countries of the materially privileged ‘North’ and the developing ‘South’ by organising a link between Wales and one of the 36 Least Developed Countries.

2) The link will bring two very different communities together in friendship and understanding.

3) The link will strengthen as each country enables the other to learn more about its aspirations, its people, history, culture, education and economy.

4) It is envisaged that the relationship will grow from the first small contacts to a multi-linking of numerous individuals, groups and institutions throughout the two communities. For example, doctor with doctor, school with school, church with church, college with college, etc.

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The pamphlet also stressed the two-way ethos of the link, “there being a wealth of viewpoints, experience and culture that developing countries can share with us.”

Importantly, it also set out criteria for choosing a link country. It should: ™ be an LDC (Least Developed Country – as defined by the United Nations). ™ be relatively small in terms of area and population. ™ have English as one of its official languages. ™ be “within reasonable distance” of Wales.

The pamphlet was also printed in poster size for display on school and college notice boards.

With clarity achieved on over-all aims and on the criteria for choosing a twin country to approach, the scene was now set to consult directly with the people of Wales. This began with a press release on 19 December 1983. “Which country would you like to see linked with Wales?” it asked. After outlining the way the link would work, it ended, “Wales Link is anxious to hear from anyone with ideas on the most suitable link partner.” This was reinforced by a prime-time interview given by Dr Clowes on Radio Cymru’s morning programme Helo Bobl in which he posed the same question. The Welsh language weekly Y Cymro followed by carrying a front page story in its Christmas edition. It was headlined Codi pont rhwng Cymru a’r trydydd byd – Building a bridge between Wales and the Third World. It began, “An exciting plan is afoot to twin the whole of Wales with a Third World country in order to develop understanding and friendship, as well as practical help in due course.” It made the point that this would be the first ever twinning of two whole countries. The Western Mail had a story by Clive Betts under the headline “Bid to twin Wales” and Dr Clowes wrote another article for the monthly Y Faner expanding on his earlier paper.

Letters inviting people to choose a twin appeared in the Daily Post, The Western Mail, The Shropshire Star, The Wrexham Leader, Y Cymro, Yr Herald Cymraeg, The North Wales Weekly News and many other local papers across Wales.

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The response was instructive and heartening. The letters that flowed in contained both encouragement and caution. They revealed an astonishing range of contacts between Wales and the developing world. Howard Plummer from Cardiff suggested Fiji. After making out a detailed case (which included “a natural flair for rugby and group singing”) he wrote, “I base my comments on spending the years 1974-83 in Fiji as Assistant Director of Mineral Development and Director of Mines.” Dr D G Arnot, from Berriew had seen the letter in The Shropshire Star. He had worked for 14 years in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania. After working with the International Atomic Energy Authority he had become Ford Professor in Ibadan, Nigeria. Later President Nyerere of Tanzania asked his help to establish a new Department of Development at the University of Dar-es- Salaam. His initial suggestion for a twin country was Nepal, but he also felt that Botswana, Lesotho and Malawi would all be excellent. “What a brilliant idea this is,” he wrote. “I grow more hopeful about your project the more I think about it. Nobody who has done field work in the Third World can fail to recognise similarities with the situation over much of Wales. I think this will be sensed by many and fellow-feeling will arise, which could become a formidable driving force.”

Geraint Parri from Penygroes suggested Bhutan. “I think that it is essential these days for people from the richer countries to extend their horizons and reach out beyond their national boundaries. There is no need to stress the danger of being introspective. I think in the past Wales has been too slow to take advantage of ideas like this, either because of narrowness of thought or even fear of a challenge. But here is a chance to venture into a new field – to give and receive.”

Bishop John Poole-Hughes of Llandaff sounded a note of warning. “Having lived in East Africa for eighteen years, I have had quite a lot of experience in fostering links. The theory is good, practice is often difficult. Maintenance of links depends on perseverance, a rare virtue. There needs also to be a great deal of self-denial and empathy… Another snag is that we tend to shift our interest as different places come into the news.” His advice? “Prepare carefully, be precise in what you hope to achieve, make sure you have a good bridgehead on the other side. Start in a small way and develop.” Also writing from Cardiff, Meurig Parri looked back to his work as South Wales

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Organiser for Oxfam. He had made special efforts to couple Oxfam’s work in Wales with the needs of Lesotho. “By using the similarities between Wales and Lesotho, many people came to realise how dependent people in the rich and poor countries were on each other for their common future.” He felt Lesotho would be an ideal twin from the point of view of size, population and geography and even to common problems such as water “which is a sensitive and important subject in both countries”.

Stephen Griffith from Neyland had heard Dr Clowes on the radio. He said he had spoken at fund-raising events for Lesotho organised by the United Nations and the Welsh Centre for International Affairs. “I would be delighted to see a closer connection between Wales and that small country.” Someone who had been at the ‘other end’ of that effort, when UNICEF in conjunction with the Welsh Centre for International Affairs had raised £90,000 in Wales for Lesotho during the International Year of the Child, was former British High Commissioner Owen Griffiths. Although he was later to play a vital part in cementing the link with Lesotho, Mr Griffiths (who had been raised in Bangor but had now retired to Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire) initially had doubts about Lesotho’s suitability and wondered about Uganda. He pointed out one snag that, he felt, was common with all Third World countries – “a frustrating lethargy about paper work, including correspondence!” Despite his reservations he conceded that there was a lot to be said for choosing Lesotho, “It matches the criteria you have in mind and, in addition, there are remarkable similarities between the two countries. Most of Lesotho is mountainous, most of the male population are miners (in South Africa) for part of their adult life and they love singing.”

Dr Gareth Howell, a Welsh ‘exile’ in London where he was Controller of Science, Technology and Education at the British Council, wrote with some helpful observations. “The potential of link arrangements and drawing on the enormous fund of goodwill within the community can be a powerful force for good,” he wrote. “Harnessing these resources can be quite a task as many voluntary organisations have found.” Having considered the possibilities of Nepal and Bhutan, he went on, “I think that the poor African countries are more in need of your attention. There is less of a language problem and contact is easier to make. Most of the smaller countries of Africa, particularly those in Southern and Central Africa, could well benefit from the sort of

18 Wales’ African Twin approach you outline. Even Botswana and Swaziland, though somewhat richer over-all than Lesotho and Malawi, are still very much in need of the assistance that humanitarian contact from outside can give.”

John Bond from Marshfield near Cardiff had read the item in The Western Mail. “I consider it is one of the best ideas floated for many years,” he wrote. He suggested Malawi, where he had been on the staff of the University of Blantyre. “Having lived in several African countries, I found that the people of Malawi were among the friendliest I had ever met in my life. He added, “In my travels overseas I have done the best that I can to ensure that Wales is proffered as a country with its own values and culture, but find invariably that whilst there is recognition of Scotland and England and Ireland, very few Africans have heard of Wales – so the link idea would do a lot for Wales itself.”

Eighty-six year old Mrs Gwen Mendus, who had had long experience as a missionary in North East India, suggested Swaziland as twin country. Posting her letter turned out to be one of the last things she did before she died. “The idea of the linked countries somehow caught her imagination and she was fired with enthusiasm for it,” remembers her niece, Cardiff City Councillor, Elaine Morgan. Mrs Morgan was later to play a major role in Dolen Cymru, following Dr Clowes as Chairman.

There were letters arguing passionately for countries like Tibet, Belize, Sri Lanka and Jamaica to be considered. Also offers of support. Among all the different suggestions received, Lesotho kept raising its head. There were echoes of the successful campaign led by the Welsh Centre to support UNICEF projects in Lesotho. We learned, too, that the Women’s Institute in Wales had focused their efforts to help with clean drinking water on Lesotho. And we learned of Welsh people currently living and working there.

Parallel with absorbing this ‘grass roots’ response went a more detached process of assessing the pluses and minuses of the different candidates. Geraint Thomas produced a comprehensive chart showing how all 36 LDCs scored under different headings. Four of these were factual: per capita income, population, size and life expectancy. The remaining six boxes listed key criteria to be taken into consideration: languages spoken, distance from Wales,

19 Wales’ African Twin stability, political features, religious features and additional features (where any particular problem area could be noted).

“Choosing the right country to approach will not be easy,” Geraint Thomas warned. For example, if you looked mainly at the need of a country, it would point you to a country low down in the table of poverty. But if the country were so poor that travel and communication outside the capital were virtually impossible, it would not make for a viable link. A country needed to be sufficiently developed to have a variety of civil society bodies and organisations for bodies and organisations in Wales to link with. Therefore if the country were to be one of the smallest (to match the size of Wales) it shouldn’t at the same time be one of the very poorest. Were there factors, he asked, that might deter some bodies who might otherwise be expected to play a prominent part in the link – like the churches – from joining in? Finally he warned, “We should be careful about suggestions based on personal and family connections. If other factors are favourable, such connections might act as catalysts, but if the objective factors are not favourable, personal connections do not help at all.”

When the full Dolen Cymru Committee met in Rhoscefnhir, Ynys Môn, on 25 February 1984, members had in front of them both the various academic assessment papers and tables and also a summary of the feedback from the public. Dr Clowes reflected on how remarkably positive the response had been from across the board. In all the letters received, phone calls taken and conversations held, not one breath of criticism of, or opposition to, the project had come from any quarter.

After detailed discussion a shortlist of four countries was agreed. Surprisingly they all turned out to be in the same part of the world – Central and Southern Africa. The four were Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania and Lesotho. The same sub-committee of four which had drafted Dolen Cymru’s aims was asked to undertake further research into the feasibility of linking with each of them. The Committee would meet again on 14 April in Wrexham to consider the results and make a final decision on which country to approach.

Realising the need to harness wider expertise, it was agreed to invite some of those who had shown particular interest in, and enthusiasm for, the project to

20 Wales’ African Twin join the Committee at the Wrexham meeting. Four accepted. They were Dr D G Arnot, Dr Olive Frost (who had considerable experience of health issues in Africa), Meurig Parri and Dame Margaret Miles, a distinguished educationist who had come to live at Pennal, near Machynlleth.

The Wrexham meeting, hosted by Professor Phillips, attracted a very strong turn-out. There was definitely a note of occasion – and expectancy – in the air. In-depth notes on all four countries had been supplied to members, along with two sheets of paper outlining the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ for each. It was quickly agreed that Tanzania was simply too large to be a successful twin for Wales. This left three strong candidates – Botswana, Lesotho and Malawi. There were people present who had lived and worked in each of the three. All had attractive features and feelings around the table were often strong. The next round of discussions left Lesotho and Malawi in the field. It was agreed to propose one as the first choice and the other as the second. In the end a clear preference emerged for Lesotho to be the country to approach in the first instance.

Why Lesotho? Somehow it just kept cropping up. As one Committee member (who had strongly advocated a different partner) noted, “Like a desert weed, Lesotho crops up again and again at the least encouragement – and despite all the questions that hang over it!” Questions or not, the die had been cast and Lesotho had been identified as Wales’ first-choice Third World twin. Whether it would accept the match had, of course, yet to be seen!

21 Wales’ African Twin 3. Allies

There was now a sense of urgency to get the news out that Lesotho had been chosen as Wales’ potential Third World twin. Everyone who had expressed an interest to date received a letter explaining the decision and asking for their support – whichever country they had originally championed.

It was also now imperative for everyone involved to learn more about Lesotho. This was just as much a steep learning curve for many on the Committee as it was for the growing list of supporters. Within a month each Committee member had received an information pack. It was also decided to invite some who knew Lesotho well to give presentations at the subsequent meeting in June 1984. Among these were Meurig Parri, who had lived and worked in Lesotho, Professor Cedric Milner, Director of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology in Bangor and Gwenallt Rees, Senior Lecturer in Education at Trinity College, Carmarthen.

Dr Milner would later play a significant part in the link and his wife Annis serve on the Committee for many years. On that day in Aberystwyth he gave a graphic insight, with the aid of slides, into some of Lesotho’s ecological problems, particularly that of soil erosion. As an educator, Gwenallt Rees had been visiting Lesotho regularly over the previous five years. His concerns had included the training of teachers and the availability of teaching resources for primary schools. Again he gave valuable insights into education in Lesotho – which had a comparatively high literacy rate and where girls attended school in greater numbers than boys. Meurig Parri was able to provide a more general overview of the country.

Meanwhile, with the choice of Lesotho confirmed, other allies were gathering. One of these was a colleague of Dr Milner’s at Bangor. Professor Gareth Wyn Jones was based at the University’s Arid Zone Unit and immediately became a friend of the link. He has kept a constant interest in, and involvement with, Lesotho over the years. Another was Emeritus Professor Robert Steel, a former Principal of University of Wales, Swansea, who was active with the international work of the British Council. He had been visiting Lesotho

22 Wales’ African Twin regularly as a member of the Council of the National University of Lesotho in Roma. He offered to help in contacting people in Lesotho who might be of use in establishing the link.

Like Gwynfor Evans and Professor Phillips, Professor Steel was a member of the Wales Advisory Committee of the British Council. In a letter dated 13 June 1984, apologising for not being able to help brief the Committee about Lesotho at its Aberystwyth meeting, he wrote, “I hope you will make it clear to the meeting that I am wholly behind you in this enterprise relating to Lesotho.” He went on to say that he had, as it turned out, been asked to Chair the latest meeting of the Wales Advisory Committee. “I invited Gwynfor Evans and Glyn Phillips to speak. They both pleaded for our interest and support, and I reiterated this from the Chair…It was decided that we as a Committee, and through us the British Council as an organisation, would give all the advice and encouragement we could, and we agreed to let our name be used to help you in your approach to other bodies.” He had taken the opportunity to brief the British Council Representative in Maseru (Lesotho’s capital) earlier in the year.

He was about to set out for another visit to Lesotho, where he promised to talk to the Vice-Chancellor “and make other contacts that I can and report back”. He duly reported back on the various people he had been able to brief. They included the Minister of Education, the permanent Secretary at the Ministry (also a fellow member of the University Council), the Vice- Chancellor and others at Roma and King Moshoeshoe and Queen ’Mamahato (“who entertained us one evening at the Palace and with whom my wife and I had a long conversation”).

Another such ally was Bishop Graham Chadwick, then serving as Assistant Bishop in St Asaph. He had been a priest in Lesotho for 16 years and had learned the national language – Sesotho. We were to discover that he was well-known and well-loved among the Basotho. He readily agreed to join the link Committee and offered to write to the Anglican Bishop of Lesotho, whom he knew well (and had in fact ordained), seeking his initial reaction to the concept of a link with Wales. He also offered to make a preliminary visit to the Lesotho High Commission in London on Dolen Cymru’s behalf. While there he was able to talk to the First Counsellor (No 2 in the Embassy) and to

23 Wales’ African Twin the Lesotho Cabinet Secretary who was passing through London on his way home. Another Welsh Bishop who gave early and welcome support was George Noakes, Bishop of St Davids – later to become Archbishop of Wales and also a Vice-President of the link.

Both Bill Davies, Director of the Welsh Centre for International Affairs in Cardiff and Hugh Salmon, Welsh Representative of the British Council, were supportive and both had helpful early meetings with Dolen Cymru officers. Although the Welsh Centre did not play a leading role, Bill Davies quietly steered things forward in the right direction when opportunity arose. He had always advocated Lesotho as the country Wales should twin with. The same was true of Hugh Salmon at the British Council in Park Place, Cardiff. From the start he had warned that the Council would not be able to provide any significant direct funding. “It seems clear to me,” he wrote (16 April 1984), “that Dolen Cymru has the major task of seeking support from many different agencies, official and voluntary, and from individuals in Wales. To my mind, the real basis of financing a project of this kind must be within Wales itself.” It was disappointing that no start-up money was available to get things launched, as this proved something Dolen really had to struggle with in the early days. But the Council did play a key role with advice and contacts, especially through its Representative in Lesotho, and in fact later facilitated Dolen’s first official visit.

Meanwhile Dolen’s President, former Archbishop Dr Gwilym O Williams, had undertaken to find suitable Vice-Presidents for the link. In a country where politics seems sooner or later to invade every corner of life, it was felt that it would be a real bonus to have across-the-board support from all the major parties – and thus be able to stay above party political warfare. Dr Williams wrote to five public figures, each well-known to him and each representing a different party. All five accepted the invitation.

Gwynfor Evans (Plaid Cymru) had been at the very first Dialogues in 1982 and was already an enthusiastic supporter of the project. “This is a superlative idea (syniad rhagorol),” he wrote in reply, “and it’s good to see it is making such progress.” “I readily accept to be one of your ‘front men’ – if I may use the expression,” wrote Lord David Gibson-Watt (Conservative). In also agreeing to serve, Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos (Labour) underlined that he had

24 Wales’ African Twin always taken an interest in the problems of the Third World and Lord Emlyn Hooson (Liberal) was equally enthusiastic: “I am sure that the way you intend working will be particularly creative and of real help to a country in the Third World as well as to Wales itself.” He saw the churches, the University of Wales, the trade unions and voluntary organisations like the Wales Young Farmers, the WI and Merched y Wawr all being involved. Finally Tom Ellis (SDP) became the fifth to accept. He wrote, “When I first understood your intention some time ago, I appreciated the inspired imagination behind it and wished the venture well. Now I see that early possibility quickly developing into being an immediate one, and I hope into a strong reality very soon.”

One of the most valuable allies, and particularly after the decision was taken to approach Lesotho as the potential twin, was Owen Griffith, who had been British High Commissioner in Lesotho only a few years earlier. “I am delighted you have chosen Lesotho,” he wrote (7 June 1984), “despite my initial reservations. The similarities with Wales are indeed remarkable.” He was very clear where the real challenge now lay. “It will be as difficult as it is important to establish the Lesotho side of the link.” That letter (and subsequent ones) was full of wise advice (including how to avoid some potential political pitfalls) and insights. Importantly he had good personal relations with O T Sefako, the Lesotho High Commissioner in London. (“He is likely to be helpful, but cautious – like me!”) He undertook to visit the High Commission and talk over the idea with Mr Sefako informally, before Dolen Cymru made its own approach. He reported back, “I gained the impression that his initial reaction is favourable.”

A letter from Dolen Cymru proposing the link and asking for a meeting to explain it further, was sent off to the High Commission in the second half of June 1984. It was accompanied by a formal letter of introduction from the British Council. Mysteriously these crucial letters were ‘lost’ – a fact which only came to light when Owen Griffith discovered that Mr Sefako had not received them. This led to an anxious (and fruitless) wait during the summer months – until Dolen learned what had happened and a new letter was sent.

The much-awaited reply arrived on 14 September 1984. In it His Excellency O T Sefako wrote, “When Mr Owen Griffith called on me on 3 September [to discover why there had been no reply to Dolen’s original letter] I assured

25 Wales’ African Twin him that it will be my pleasure to recommend the establishment of the linkage between Wales and Lesotho to my Government. I am convinced that it is through linkages like the one suggested by Dolen Cymru, that greater understanding between peoples can be beneficially promoted towards the enhancement of international peace.” He went on to say that he would look forward to meeting members of the link in London as soon as possible.

With the idea of twinning countries an untried concept and a visit to an embassy a wholly new experience, there was some awe and not a little trepidation when on Monday 22 October three members of the Committee – Chairman Dr Carl Clowes, Geraint Thomas and I – duly called at the Lesotho High Commission in Collingham Road, Knightsbridge (now located at Chesham Place in Belgravia). The anxiety was totally unfounded as it proved to be the first meeting with a man who, in later years, would come to be known as the ‘Father’ of the Lesotho-Wales link and its best known spokesperson and advocate in Lesotho. Now he was the beaming but wary diplomat. It was, he said, a completely new idea to him, representing as he did his small country to the whole of the United Kingdom, that a particular link should be formed with Wales. But Owen Griffith had done his work well and Mr Sefako was soon absorbing some of the possibilities envisaged. He made it clear that it was only to be expected that his country, as it attempted to struggle out of poverty, would expect some tangible benefits from such a link. His advice was that the fields of education and health would be good places to start.

He undertook to report immediately on the meeting to his government, but asked if Dolen Cymru could draw up a detailed proposal that he could forward in a more formal way. Significantly (for he must already have decided which way things were likely to develop and that there would be a favourable response from back home) he mentioned the presence in the UK of three prominent figures in the Lesotho education system. In Lesotho 90% of the schools are owned and run by the churches, with the government paying teachers’ salaries. The three were the School Secretaries of the largest church denominations – Catholic, Anglican and Lesotho Evangelical. As such they were the key figures in administration of the primary and secondary schools all over the country. They were attending a course in Leeds University arranged by the British Council. Mr Sefako thought they should seize the opportunity to visit Wales.

26 Wales’ African Twin

So it turned out that Dolen Cymru’s very first visitors from Lesotho were Mr M Tiheli from the Lesotho Evangelical Church (later to become Minister of Education), Mr A P Nyenye, School Secretary for the Anglican Church of Lesotho, and Rev A Motanyane, Secretary for all the Catholic schools. They were hosted (1-4 December) by the Chief Executive of Gwynedd County Council with the visit being facilitated and supported financially by the British Council. They visited a rural primary school, a bi-lingual secondary school and the Normal College of Education (now a part of the University) in Bangor. They also saw the special Welsh language reception centre at Maesincla in Caernarfon and were received at the Welsh National Centre for Religious Education in Bangor. Importantly, setting the pattern for future visits, they stayed in the homes of members of the link. Two of them were to become firm friends and active promoters of the “Welsh connection”.

By November Dolen Cymru had received the support of the Charity Commissioners to become a registered Charitable Trust. Two schools, one secondary and one primary, had come forward to begin a pilot link with a sister school in Lesotho and a Welsh medical student had decided to spend his elective training period at a Lesotho hospital. Now thoughts turned to the official launching of the link.

27 Wales’ African Twin 4. “A new system of international relations” The link is launched and history is made

It was Bishop Graham Chadwick who suggested that 11th March, Moshoeshoe Day in Lesotho, would be an auspicious day for the 1985 launch of the link. King Moshoeshoe I founded the Basotho nation in the turbulent years of the 1830s and is always remembered as the father of his people. The King at the time of the launch had also taken the name of Moshoeshoe (II) and the day is one of two national days celebrated – the other being Independence Day on 4th October.

The date was duly suggested to Mr Sefako. He said he could manage 12th March and plans began to be laid. News of a favourable reply from the Lesotho Government to the linking proposal came in a letter from the London High Commission dated 23 January 1985. It said that the Lesotho authorities had given their approval for the formation of the Lesotho-Wales link and that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would submit some proposals as to how it might be implemented from the Lesotho side. “Meanwhile you can by all means go ahead with preparations for the formal launching of the link.” This news was carried in The Western Mail and Y Cymro and over Radio Wales and Radio Cymru. The green light had now been given.

While these arrangements were proceeding, a set of Guidelines for Linking had been drafted by Geraint Thomas in an attempt to clarify Dolen Cymru’s approach to linking. “Dolen Cymru wishes to ensure,” the Guidelines stated, “that within a decentralised system, links conform in certain basic qualities with its over-all philosophy.” Three key stages were noted. “First understanding. Then friendship and involvement. Out of involvement come collaborative exchange and possible material help.”

Understanding involved “an understanding of the problems of one nation as it struggles to develop. But also an understanding of its national and cultural characteristics. For Wales there should be great educational value in focusing on one nation, understanding its ambitions, noting the options available to its leaders regarding paths to development; appreciating the practical difficulties

28 Wales’ African Twin of implementing plans; sympathising with their anxiety that fundamental national values should not be undermined in the process.”

The other key word was friendship, the rock on which the link would be built. Then “through understanding and friendship would come involvement and from involvement collaboration – where links initiated by individuals, communities and organisations, both in Wales and in Lesotho, lead to common action in a particular sphere.”

Two other things were high-lighted. One was that links should be a two-way partnership. The other addressed the issue of what place financial assistance should have in a link. Giving money (and other material assistance), the Guidelines stressed, should not be a prime feature – although it might play a part in some links when it arose naturally after understanding had been gained and friendship established. “Some links, e.g. between schools, could be learning orientated, while others, e.g. between hospitals, would be more geared towards collaboration.”

It was decided that the centre-piece of the launch should be a press conference in Cardiff, which the Welsh Office agreed to host. It was a central – and symbolic – venue.

When Mr O T Sefako and his party, dressed for their national day in traditional Basotho blankets and hats, stepped into the main hall of the Welsh Office they were greeted with a song by a choir from Ysgol y Wern primary school and a short welcome in Sesotho by Bishop Chadwick. It was a colourful scene, watched by civil servants who had come out of their offices to crowd the balcony.

In the conference room the Lesotho and Welsh flags adorned the wall behind the speakers. Mr R H Jones, Deputy Secretary in charge of Education, welcomed the Basotho party on behalf of the Secretary of State, Nicholas Edwards. “He sends his best wishes. He has read about the link idea and supports it most warmly.” Mr Jones went on, “When I look at the list of your Vice-Presidents, I am impressed by the complete spectrum of political opinion they represent. This is no mean achievement and gives you a huge bonus. There are very few other examples of such unanimous backing.” Nicholas

29 Wales’ African Twin

Edwards was to be the first in a long line of Secretaries of State to give such encouragement. Each and every administration since, in both countries, has been highly supportive.

Also present from the Welsh Office were Dr Gareth Crompton, Chief Medical Officer, and John Wyn Owen, the General Manager of the National Health Service in Wales. Other guests included Bill Davies from the Welsh Centre for International Affairs and Peter Skelton representing the British Council.

Dr Clowes read a letter from Dolen’s President, the Rt Rev G O Williams who was unable to be present because of ill health. Dr Clowes then outlined the aims and origins of the link.

“History is being made today,” said Mr Sefako in his reply, “because, as far as I am aware, this link is unique. We have known about town twinning, but this time it has been taken further to linking countries and whole communities. Linking people and communities in this way constitutes a new system of international relations.” He added, warning that there would be practical expectations from the link by the people of Lesotho, “We don’t want to be demanding, but the links will have to be meaningful.”

Then the High Commission staff, joined by Basotho studying in Wales, broke into a traditional song. The Headmaster of Llanishen High School and one of his staff told of the link they had already started with a secondary school in Lesotho. Gifts were exchanged and then the singing of the national anthems of the two countries ended what Dr Clowes described as “a most unusual press conference”.

Commenting on the warmth of his welcome, Mr Sefako said, “I felt it as soon as I was on Welsh soil. There is a saying that goes, ‘The stranger is just a friend you didn’t know.’ We have felt the sense of that friendship here today.”

Then it was off to the HTV studios in Culverhouse Cross to film an item for the evening news and from there to the BBC at Llandaff for interviews on Radio Wales and the BBC Africa Service. BBC Wales Controller Gareth Price and Head of News Gareth Bowen hosted a farewell tea before the

30 Wales’ African Twin visitors headed back to London. Both were to visit Lesotho later as part of the link.

News of the launch was carried by The Western Mail, the Daily Post, the South Wales Echo, Y Cymro, The Scotsman, The Guardian and The Mail on Sunday. Headlines varied from, “Mutual Friends” (Daily Post) and “Wales finds an African Twin in Lesotho” (South Wales Echo) to “It’s twins boyo!” (The Mail on Sunday).

31 Wales’ African Twin 5. Discovering Lesotho

So what was our new twin country like? It goes without saying that Lesotho is very different from Wales in terms of geography and development. It is completely surrounded by South Africa and, by definition, therefore land- locked. It is one of the very few countries in the world to lie entirely within another state.

Despite these very great differences, we found that there was an intriguing list of things we had in common. Though Lesotho is slightly larger in land mass than Wales, both are small countries. In 1985 Lesotho’s population was approaching two million and that of Wales three million. Both are mountainous, although the mountains in Lesotho rise to much greater heights. One distinction Lesotho has, we discovered, was that it boasts the highest lowest point of any country in the world. Pupils at a North Wales school were amazed to learn that Lesotho’s lowlands are at a greater altitude than the peak of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon). Hill farming is a common feature.

Lesotho is also water-rich. All South Africa’s major rivers, including the Orange river (known in Lesotho as the Senqu), rise in the Lesotho highlands. In 1985 plans were already well advanced to build a huge system of dams that would enable Lesotho to sell its ‘white gold’ to South Africa. Substantial parts of this ambitious scheme are now in place, including the Katse and Mohale dams and the hydro-electric plant at Muela. The scheme has not been without its critics and the enforced dispersal of populations struck a familiar cord for many in Wales. The export of water from Lesotho feeds much of the economic development of Gauteng district, the industrial dynamo for South Africa.

Like Wales, Lesotho is a bi-lingual society. Bi-lingual road signs can be seen in Maseru, just as in Cardiff. Sesotho is much more widely spoken in Lesotho than Welsh is in Wales. English, nevertheless, is very important as the language of education (from secondary school upwards) and in the administration of government. The development of English medium schools

32 Wales’ African Twin has seen a big increase in recent years. Historic comparisons with education in Wales are clear.

Both countries have a rich mining tradition. In 1985 nearly 40% of the adult male population worked in the gold or coal mines across the border in the Republic. This number has since been significantly reduced causing serious unemployment. Typically miners would work and live in South Africa for up to six months at a time, sending a proportion of their wages back to support their families in rural Lesotho. In Wales, whilst no deep pits now remain, the tradition is still strong.

A love of education and of choral singing is another common factor. It is instructive that the first Lesotho choir to visit Wales was the Teachers Choir of Maseru. Tourism is important for the economies of both countries, although in Lesotho it is still very much in its infancy.

Lesotho is a constitutional monarchy, proudly calling itself “the Kingdom in the sky”. It has two Houses of Parliament – the elected National Assembly and the House of Chiefs or Senate. At the time the link was formed the democratic credentials of the powerful Prime Minister, Chief Jonathan, left a lot to be desired. Unknown to us, in 1986 Lesotho was about to embark on six years of political turmoil that would see a Military Government take power and the King exiled to London. Today a fully-democratic Lesotho has become the first country in Africa to introduce an element of proportional representation into its parliamentary elections. This ensures that the smaller parties have some representation in the National Assembly of Lesotho. It is the same model adopted in this country for elections to the devolved National Assembly for Wales.

On the international scene, Lesotho is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth and the African Union. By contrast Wales, at the time the link was formed, did not have even the devolved National Assembly that it enjoys today. What Wales did have, and Lesotho lacked, was strong democratic local government.

33 Wales’ African Twin

In November 1985 the headmaster of a primary school in Morija, that had formed a link with a primary school in Wales, sent the following description of his country:-

“Like Wales, Lesotho is known for its magnificent mountain scenery. Only about 15% of its area is more or less level ground. The lowlands in the west are between 1500 –1600 metres above sea level, while the highest mountain, Thabana Ntlenyana, rises to 3,482 metres (11,424 feet).

“Our climate is much drier than Wales, rain falling from October to April, when temperatures rise to around 30 degrees. From May to September it is usually very dry, with temperatures falling to below freezing in parts, but the days are mostly fine and warm. Mountain peaks are often covered with snow. A large proportion of the interior consists of wild, eroded mountain landscapes, laced with deep gorges.

“Tarred roads join the main centres in the lowlands, but in the interior roads (often no more than tracks) are usually in bad condition. There are no railways in Lesotho and the National Bus Service and taxis link the villages with the larger towns. Many mountain villages can only be reached on horseback or by plane. The famous sure footed Basotho pony is therefore a precious possession.

“The Basotho as a nation have never been conquered. King Moshoshoe I, a man of courage and integrity, brought unity to the nation during the tensions that followed the northwards move of the Cape Dutch settlers (the great Trek) in the 1830s. Moshoeshoe repeatedly asked Great Britain for protection against the incursions of the Boers and in 1868 Basutoland became a British Protectorate. The country became independent in 1966 and the Paramount Chief took the title of King.

“Pastoral farming is the main source of income – sheep, goats, cattle, pigs and horses are kept all over the country, while crop agriculture is important mainly in the lowlands. Maize, sorghum, wheat and vegetables are grown. Maize forms the staple food, but periodic drought causes great hardship and soil erosion is a serious problem.

34 Wales’ African Twin

“Economically Lesotho is very dependent on South Africa. Because so many men work in the Republic, a number of our children only see their fathers occasionally. The school therefore plays a very important part in their lives – so much so that many of them do not look forward to school holidays!”

In Lesotho, as in Wales, it was always going to be important to keep the link from being engulfed in politics. This would not be easy. In a small developing country the hand of government, which has most of the resources and by and large controls communication, is never far away. Retaining a measure of ‘distance’ was greatly helped by the early emphasis on the grass roots nature of the relationship. In fact this was to prove vital as governments changed in rapid succession.

Even before a link committee could be properly established following Mr Sefako’s return to Lesotho in the autumn of 1985, Chief Jonathan’s government was swept away and a military regime installed. Somehow the young ‘seed’ of the link survived the coup of 20 January 1986. With its emphasis on communities, the project did not get lost and the new Council of Ministers decided to put its future in the hands of the NGOs (Non Government Organisations). There would be an over-view and facilitation from the Ministry of the Interior.

The initial meeting of Lesotho NGOs took place in the capital (Maseru) on 11 April. It was chaired by Mr V P Machai, seconded from the Ministry of Rural Development. We later learned that Mr Machai had trained in Town and Country Planning in Brecon and his daughter had studied in Swansea. Present were representatives from the Christian Council of Lesotho, the National Council of Women, the Lesotho Red Cross, the Girl Guides Association, Lesotho Save the Children, Catholic Schools Secretariat, Anglican Schools Secretariat (our friend Mr Nyenye, who had visited Wales from Leeds the previous year), the Private Health Association of Lesotho (PHAL) representing all the Church-owned hospitals, Lesotho Work Camps and the Lesotho Distance Learning Centre. Mr Machai had also invited John Hurst, an early friend of Dolen Cymru who had worked in Lesotho for many years and was a skilled photographer, to address the meeting on our behalf.

35 Wales’ African Twin

Ten days later this group met again to elect the first Lesotho-Wales Link Committee. Those present elected the Secretary of the Christian Council of Lesotho to be Chairman and Mr Machai to be Secretary. The Ministry of the Interior would have observer status.

The first visitor from Wales after the launch of the link was the Rev Noël A Davies, General Secretary of the Council of Churches in Wales (later to become Churches Together in Wales or CYTUN). As other duties were taking him to South Africa he decided to spend a few days in Lesotho to establish contact with the Lesotho churches. He met with the General Secretary of the Christian Council of Lesotho, whom he invited to come to Wales later in the year, and was invited to preach in Maseru Cathedral.

The much-looked-forward-to visit from Dolen’s own officers – always seen as essential for consolidating the link and mapping out a future direction in conjunction with our Basotho partners – did not take place until February 1987. The delay was largely due to the military coup – which had led to a considerable change in personnel at all the ministries. It had also greatly affected the position of O T Sefako who was closely identified with Chief Jonathan’s ousted regime, and was initially in some personal danger.

Though delayed, the visit remained a pivotal one. It was made with the backing of the British Council (including the funding of air fares) both in Wales and Lesotho. Dolen’s two representatives were Dr Clowes as Chairman and myself as Joint Secretary. We were guests for the entire two weeks in the home of the Chairman of the Lesotho Link Committee, Rev Daniel Senkhane. The Rev Senkhane was Superintendent Minister of the Methodist Church in Lesotho. He was also Chairman of the Lesotho Christian Council and as such had visited Wales the previous year when he had stayed in our home. He was a hard-working and cheerful host and our programme was packed full from start to finish. Able by now to move around more freely, O T Sefako met us at the airport.

As we waited at Johannesburg International Airport for our connecting flight home, we calculated that we had taken part in 65 meetings and discussions. Neither Dr Clowes nor I had had any training in international discourse or high diplomacy, but we were plunged right in at the deep end. Everywhere

36 Wales’ African Twin we went and in every conversation or interview, we endeavoured to clarify and explain the link. Our first full day included attending the opening of the High Court, followed by a reception by the Chief Justice, where we met several Ministers, including the Minister of Information; lunch with the British Council Representative and an afternoon meeting with the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior.

During our stay we had two meetings with the Minister of the Interior, an uncle of the King. We also met the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Education (our former School Secretary friend Mr Tiheli, who had been one of our first visitors in Wales) and the Minister of Health. Health Minister Dr Makenete, we discovered, had spent two years of his training at Morriston Hospital in Swansea. He greeted us on entering his office with a cheerful “bore da!”

We were interviewed twice on Lesotho Radio as well as by the press. We visited eight schools, three hospitals, the National University at Roma (where we met the Vice-Chancellor, who later came to Wales), the Extra Mural Studies Centre in Maseru, the National Teachers Training College and the Agricultural College.

We were able to deliver personally letters of greeting from Welsh church leaders. One was from the Archbishop of Cardiff to his counter-part, the Catholic Archbishop of Lesotho. Another was from the Archbishop of Wales to the Anglican Bishop of Lesotho, Philip Mokuku. A third came from the Chairman of the Council of Churches for Wales addressed to our host, Rev Daniel Senkhane, as Chairman of the Christian Council of Lesotho. These early greetings and meetings were a foretaste of the strong relationships that would be forged and the mutual visits that would follow.

We were also bearers of a message from the Secretary of State for Wales, the Rt. Hon. Nicholas Edwards. It was addressed to His Majesty King Moshoeshoe II, Major General Lekhanya, the head of the military government, and “the people of Lesotho”. It read, “My colleague, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, joins me in hoping that this recently established link between Wales and Lesotho will continue to thrive. I trust

37 Wales’ African Twin that this visit will serve to strengthen and enlarge contacts between Wales and Lesotho, which I am sure can only be of benefit to both peoples.”

We received strong support throughout the visit from the British Council Representative, David Bates and from the British High Commission. Peter Rosling, the High Commissioner, gave a cocktail party specifically for us to meet Welsh people living and working in Lesotho as well as key government and NGO figures. We discussed progress half way through the programme and he invited us for a final de-briefing session before we left.

In one sense however, the most important meetings, as far as the future of the link was concerned, were with the members and officers of the Lesotho Link Committee. Two meetings, one at the beginning and one at the end of the visit, were held with the full Committee and there were numerous other sessions with the Chairman (our host Rev Senkhane) and the Secretary V P Machai. Also, importantly, with O T Sefako, who was quietly in the background, still needing to keep a low profile but always available. It was in these meetings, both formal and more informal, that the real ‘welding’ of the bridge we were seeking to construct was done.

In this respect important new friendships were being made and old ones deepened. This was exemplified by invitations to dinner in the homes of Bishop and Mrs Mokuku, Education Minister Tiheli and his wife, President of the Lesotho Homemakers ’Me Mali Mokokoane and Mr and Mrs Sefako.

Although not always understood at the outset, it became increasingly apparent as the visit went on that Dolen Cymru’s emphasis on the link being primarily one of relationships based on understanding and friendship, was the right one. We discovered that Lesotho in 1987 was a much-aided country. Our talk to the Maseru Rotary Club – to an extremely international audience – underlined this, giving us a glimpse of the number and variety of overseas NGOs and aid agencies active in the country. Most projects are, by their nature, short-term. Experts come and go, their reports, sadly often gathering dust. So a much longer-term approach was what was needed. In fact, at this time, Lesotho, as a front-line state in the battle against apartheid, was reputedly the country receiving the most aid per capita in the world. Not surprisingly then, despite the warm greetings from Ministers and officials, it was apparent

38 Wales’ African Twin from several of our initial encounters that we were at first regarded as just another aid agency.

What we were asking our counter-parts to embark on with us was a long- term exercise in developing mutual friendship, understanding and exchange across the thousands of miles that separated us. When this was understood and the equitable nature of the relationship made explicit, the welcome was to become much more meaningful and much more appreciative.

39 Wales’ African Twin 6. Getting started

It was perhaps inevitable that at first things developed in a somewhat haphazard way. There was a framework, but no ready-made plan of how to set about the detail. Opportunities were developed as they presented themselves. People would come forward with ideas and suggestions. If they fitted into the over- all philosophy and aim they were accepted. There was very little money and just the ‘visionary volunteers’ to do everything. Some initiatives took root and grew; others withered after initial enthusiasm faded.

This was not to say that there was no pattern at all. Certain key areas where linking opportunities would be actively sought out had been identified early on. These included education (particularly the linking of schools), health, the churches, women’s organisations and local government.

Each small development was important because it helped build up a sense of momentum. As former Archbishop Gwilym Williams wrote in his President’s message to the first Newsletter (November 1985), “Since the link was formed six months ago scarcely a week has gone by without news of some fresh initiative.”

Looking through that first Newsletter, it can be seen that by then 16 schools – eight secondary and eight primary – had started links with a sister school in Lesotho. Each school put its own particular stamp on its link. “I was thrilled to learn that your school had agreed to become a twin to ours,” wrote the Headmaster of the English Medium school in Morija in a letter to John McBryde, his opposite number at Cae Top Primary in Bangor. “Building a bridge between Lesotho and Wales will not be an easy task, but it holds exciting possibilities.” Cae Top, like Ysgol y Garnedd (also in Bangor) was always ready to receive visitors from Lesotho when they came to the north of Wales. These visitors in turn were often moved by the warmth of the welcome and the quality of the singing that awaited them at Assembly time. The two schools also took advantage of the presence of a succession of Basotho students at the School of Forestry, University of Wales, Bangor.

40 Wales’ African Twin

“Taking an interest in events outside one’s own country, finding out about another culture and way of life and learning to write clear English are just a few of the reasons for the link in the minds of teachers from both countries,” wrote a Cardiff secondary school teacher.

One school that embraced its link with Lesotho with particular enthusiasm, and became a pace-maker, was Ysgol Morgan Llwyd – Wrexham’s Welsh medium secondary school. It faced a particular challenge as its sister school – Mopeli High School in the south of Lesotho – was in a remote mountainous location, with approach roads often blocked by flooding after rains. Early on the school established a “Lesotho week” where the morning Assembly each day would be dedicated to a different aspect of Lesotho: on Monday, geography; on Tuesday, history; on Wednesday, Lesotho’s links with Wales and if at all possible a speaker from Lesotho or from Dolen Cymru. Then on the Friday there would be a summing up from the Headmaster. The school also provided an early venue for an exhibition of 110 framed photos of Lesotho put together by John Hurst and which had started its tour through Wales with an inaugural exhibition in Wrexham Town Library.

Learning that some classes at Mopeli High School were without proper desks and chairs, the pupils at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd decided to purchase the furniture with money they had raised and to have it made locally in Lesotho. To do this they were able to enlist the help of Ronald Bardgett, a volunteer from Bala who had visited the school before going out to Lesotho to train young men in carpentry and metal working. They were doubly pleased that their gift to their link school was also supplying much-needed work for Bardgett’s trainees.

When in the Spring of 1987 the Welsh youth movement Urdd Gobaith Cymru asked Ysgol Morgan Llwyd to prepare the annual Goodwill Message from the youth of Wales to the youth of the world, Headmaster Edward Williams suggested it should be based on the school’s international link of friendship with Mopeli High School. Each year the message is carried extensively on radio and television in Wales. “It helped to bring us all closer together,” recalls Edward Williams. “In a nutshell, the message was that we see the world as one large chain with every nation and country a link in that chain. In order for it to be strong we must ensure that each link is tightly coupled with its neighbour.”

41 Wales’ African Twin

A sixth former, Sarah Wright, told a teachers’ magazine how pupils at her school “have been given the knowledge of a small, little known country thousands of miles away from us in Wales.” She went on, “Today nobody in the school would dare to say that they had never heard of Lesotho. Our link with Mopeli High School has involved exchanging letters, photos and cassettes. The link helps us to understand other cultures and other points of view. Our encounter with Lesotho, even though only in a small way, will help us to become better people and pave the way for a better future as we learn to understand and become more tolerant.”

Not all schools developed their links with such vigour and imagination. Sometimes a breakdown in communication, or a change in staff at one of the schools thwarted the early enthusiasm. It was only later that Dolen developed strategies to deal with this through tying in linking activity to the teaching requirements of the National Curriculum and organising a system of regular teacher exchanges. It was all part of the ‘learn as you go’ process that characterised those early years.

Church links were important from the outset and their history is recorded separately (see chapter 12). Similarly health links were always going to be central, considering Dr Clowes’ early vision. Both the Chief Medical Officer for Wales and the Director of the National Health Service expressed an interest from the start. Similarly the Welsh Board of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting wanted to explore the possibilities of forging links with counterparts in Lesotho.

Although there would be significant developments on this macro level, the health links, like most others, started small. What was to become a long tradition of Welsh medical students opting to spend their ‘elective’ period of training in Lesotho was established. Students were often plunged into taking far more responsibility than they would normally be given in Wales. One of the first students to experience Lesotho in this way was Elfyn Thomas from Llanfairpwll on Ynys Môn. He counts it as a privilege to have spent three of the 10 weeks of his ‘elective’ training with the Lesotho Flying Doctor Service (LFDS). Elfyn, who was studying at St Bartholomew’s in London at the time, describes his whole time in Lesotho as “a never-to-be-forgotten

42 Wales’ African Twin experience – both socially and medically”. “What I remember most,” he wrote afterwards, “is the beauty of the country and the friendliness of the people. The LFDS looks after 12 remote rural clinics each with a catchment area the size of Anglesey. The majority are run by just one nurse, with the help of the visiting doctors. On each visit there would be some 80 patients waiting for treatment by a doctor – and any medical student fortunate enough to be on hand! Besides the wonderful work experience I gained with the Service, I must admit that the best part was the breath-taking vistas of the country we enjoyed while we were in the air.”

“We stayed in the home of Dr Mokete, an eye surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Maseru,” wrote Sophie Chiddick, reporting on behalf of herself and two other students from the University of Wales School of Medicine, Menna Clapworthy and Mair Thomas. “We spent our initial two weeks on general medical wards with an excellent, if eccentric, Burmese doctor. We saw a lot of TB and very advanced stages of diseases that you rarely see in ‘First’ world countries. This was followed by a two-week stint in general surgery. After that it was arranged for us to spend some time in a remote missionary hospital in the mountains on the other side of Lesotho. We flew into Tebellong with the Flying Doctor Service. It was a small, 38-bed hospital run single-handedly by a Dutch-Canadian doctor. He gave us a lot of time, letting us carry out many procedures. There was no electricity, apart from that developed by solar panels during the day. The wards were lit by oil lamps at night. I thought I had found heaven on earth as the mountains were spectacular and peach blossom was coming out and turning the village into clouds of pink. It was a sad day when we had to leave, but we had already extended our time there and it turned out that Dr Mokete in Maseru had been telling everyone that he had lost his ‘daughters’!”

The children’s wards in Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor and Llandudno Hospital, with the encouragement of part-time teacher Joan Griffiths, began a link with the children’s section of the District Hospital at Mohale’s Hoek. Nurses on the ward collected baby clothes and cot blankets to send to Lesotho and volunteers collected wool for knitting into children’s clothes and woollen blankets.

43 Wales’ African Twin

Early support for the link came from Y Gymdeithas Feddygol, the Association of Welsh doctors. One of them, Dr Chris Madoc-Jones, a Denbigh GP, suggested organising a collection of no-longer-needed medical equipment that could be used in Lesotho, and offered his help. During our visit in February 1987 Dr Carl Clowes and I were able to discuss what equipment would be most suitable (and most urgently needed) with the Director of Health Services and the Secretary of the Private Health Association of Lesotho. We were also able to agree a distribution system to cover both government and church hospitals.

A comprehensive list of needed equipment was eventually forthcoming. Y Gymdeithas Feddygol offered to supervise and coordinate the collection of items from all-over Wales. “For various reasons disposable equipment has now become the norm in the NHS,” said Cymdeithas Secretary Dr Hywel Morris. “But the old fashioned metal instruments and equipment are still of great value. With adequate sterilisation, they can be used time and time again with the minimum of time and effort.”

So much equipment was donated that a whole warehouse had to be sought as a temporary storage and sorting facility. The Welsh Development Agency (WDA) came to the rescue and provided the necessary storage in an advanced factory near Corwen. Items received varied from surgical instruments and dental chairs to hospital beds and trolleys. The final pre-shipment sorting was supervised by no other than Lesotho’s Minister of Health, Dr Makenete, aided by the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Health. Dr Makenete’s verdict was that he had been “overwhelmed” by the Welsh response. The shipment by container was then financed by Y Gymdeithas Feddygol.

A month after the equipment arrived in Lesotho Dr Hywel Morris (Secretary) and Dr Gruffydd Owen Jones (Treasurer) of Y Gymdeithas Feddygol were in Lesotho as guests of the Lesotho Medical Association and Dr Makenete. They visited hospitals and clinics in different parts of the country and addressed a specially convened meeting of the Lesotho Medical Association.

By today Dolen offers little encouragement to those individuals and organisations intent on sending goods or equipment from Wales to Lesotho. Experience has shown that it is invariably more effective to raise money in

44 Wales’ African Twin

Wales and buy locally in southern Africa, so ensuring technical support and adequate service. When the transport and distribution costs are taken into account, there is minimal if any benefit in transporting second-hand goods 6,500 miles across the globe.

Links between women’s organisations in the two countries also began to evolve at an early date. One of Dolen Cymru’s National Committee was Ifanwy Williams from Porthmadog. Ifanwy was an active member of the women’s network, Merched y Wawr, chairing its Disability Committee. She had started a correspondence with Rose Ramabitsa, Secretary of Lesotho’s National Council of Women. Rose was running an NGO called The Visual Problem Centre in Maseru. The two became firm pen friends, their correspondence providing Ifanwy with a clear picture of the different organisations making up the Lesotho Council of Women. Another person who joined Dolen’s National Committee, having heard about the link from Gwynfor Evans, was Jill Walden-Jones from Bethlehem in Carmarthenshire. Jill was Chairman of the Welsh section of the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS).

It was an appeal from Lesotho for blankets that served as a focus to galvanise women from all over Wales into a very practical way of supporting the link. The need had been revealed by John Hurst’s Action Aid Lesotho and John, who had been of help in several formative phases of the link (and whose photo exhibition on Lesotho was touring Welsh venues) naturally thought of Wales as the ideal place to seek a generous response to such a need.

At first blush, the idea of sending blankets to Africa seemed to call for some explanation. After all, Africa, in the popular mind, was a place of tropical heat with either scorching deserts or steaming jungles. The fact that Lesotho herd boys would be spending winter months in the open looking after cattle on snow-covered mountains or that patients in mountain hospitals had to cope with freezing nights first needed to be understood and explained. It was all part of learning about our twin – the mountain kingdom. It also needed to be explained that blankets hold a special significance for the Basotho as a highly patterned type of blanket constitutes their national dress. The blankets now being requested were not of this category – but ordinary bed (and cot)

45 Wales’ African Twin blankets that had become more and more redundant in Welsh homes as the duvet revolution took over.

With the consent of her National Committee, Jill Walden-Jones immediately offered the services of the Welsh WRVS to coordinate a national collection. It was ideally placed to carry out this role, with well-organised branches in every county. What was really heartening and very significant was the whole- hearted support offered by the two other main women’s organisations in Wales – the Welsh WI and Merched y Wawr. This response represented an almost unprecedented coming together and cooperation of these three organisations.

The majority of the blankets collected were to be distributed free to hospitals and the herd boys in the mountains and the remainder sold at a modest price. The money raised from this would be used to purchase light-weight sewing machines for use by women’s groups in income-generating projects. The response was encouraging indeed. The appeal was launched on 16 October 1986, with WRVS offices all over Wales acting as collecting points. Over the winter months 4,500 blankets were donated. Then one day in March the following year, having all been brought together, they were duly loaded by a team of volunteers into a container drawn up outside the Walden-Jones home in Bethlehem and sent on their way to Lesotho, via Southampton and Durban.

The campaign had energised women across Wales and also brought an awareness of Lesotho as Wales’ twin country to the attention of a whole new constituency. Merched y Wawr in particular would carry the torch for cooperation between the women of both countries in the years ahead.

A similar high profile campaign involved the dispatch of a fire-engine to Lesotho. The appliance, a 400-gallon capacity Gomer type, was donated by the Clwyd Fire Service. Before being handed over by Chief Fire Officer Ken Hayton, it had received a complete overhaul and been fully kitted out. The hand-over was shown on the evening news of all the Welsh TV channels. As part of the efforts to raise the money for shipment, the tender went on display alongside Dolen Cymru’s stand at the Porthmadog National Eisteddfod.

As luck would have it, one of Dolen Cymru’s Vice-Presidents – Lord David Gibson-Watt – was visiting Lesotho when the fire-engine arrived in Maseru.

46 Wales’ African Twin

So he was able to hand it over on Dolen’s behalf at a ceremony attended by the Lesotho Chief of Police (there was no Fire Service, so the police dealt with such things), the British High Commissioner, Peter Rosling, and Rev Daniel Senkhane, Chairman of the Lesotho-Wales Link. “In a short ceremony, marred only by heavy rain,” reported Lord Gibson-Watt, “the machine was blessed by the Rev Senkhane, a few speeches were made and a good time was had by all. This is only the second fire-engine they have in Lesotho.”

The sending of the fire-engine and the blankets might have been one-off events, but they served to give the link momentum and wide-spread publicity. For example the blanket appeal was the lead story on the front page of Y Cymro, with a large appealing picture of a Basotho boy wearing a blanket under the banner headline, “Rowch imi flanced” (Please give me a blanket). With its high visual impact, the visit of the 25-strong Teachers Choir of Maseru in the summer of 1988 (described in chapter 8) served a similar purpose.

Not all new initiatives fulfilled the hope invested in them – but there was always enough going on and enough new links being started to ensure a sense of continuous growth. This points to one of the secrets of the link’s survival in those early years: that, because it was an all-Wales venture and could include so many aspects of Welsh life, there was always a sufficiently varied number of linking initiatives coming on stream.

Things began to assume a more orderly shape with the opening of Dolen’s first National Office. It was located in Wrexham and staffed with a Development Officer and two part-time secretaries, courtesy of a Manpower Services Commission employment scheme. Professor Glyn O Phillips kindly found a home for the office at NEWI’s International Management Centre. It was formally opened on 14 November 1986 by His Excellency Dr John Kolane, the Lesotho High Commissioner at the time. The first Development Officer was Rhys Owen, followed after 18 months by Andrew Parry, a law graduate from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. From that time on, supported by different funding schemes and with only a few gaps of anxious months of inter-regnum that had to be covered by volunteers from the National Committee, there has always been, thanks to the tireless efforts of Carl Clowes (and later John Ellis), a paid officer to coordinate day-to-day activities.

47 Wales’ African Twin

In March 1990 an editorial in Y Cymro looked back on the first five years of the link. Under the heading “Joining Hands” it read, “Over the weekend that unique organisation, Dolen Cymru, celebrated its fifth birthday. In five years it has accomplished much, nourishing relationships no one would have thought possible between a patch of land on the periphery of Europe with a poor, very small country which is a virtual island in the midst of one of the worst regimes [under apartheid] in the modern world, South Africa.

“Some words of its High Commissioner are a testimony to the importance of a link of this kind. He said what a comfort it was to them to be able to hold another’s hand – no matter how far away. It is a great honour for us, too, to be accepted and appreciated in this way, because this inspired twinning is so worthwhile for us as well. In such troublesome days it is indeed a blessing to be able to join hands across the world.

“And we can be proud that Wales is the first country in the world to create such a relationship. It is up to others to follow.”

48 Wales’ African Twin 7. Coping with a coup

When in the summer of 1985 O T Sefako returned to Lesotho to take up the post of Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence in Chief Jonathan’s Government, he was full of optimism about the future of the fledgling link. He would be going home, he promised, “as an ambassador for Wales”.

Addressing a meeting of Dolen Cymru’s National Committee at Newtown on 29 June, he announced that his priority would be the establishment of a corresponding Link Committee in Lesotho. “I promise that if the link fails, it will not be due to any lack of effort on my part,” he said.

The returning High Commissioner was not to know that he would be arriving back to only a short period of calm before the storm. And that at the Ministry of Defence he would be uncomfortably close to the eye of it.

The first crisis after his return was one of drought. It was severe enough for a state of emergency to be declared. But thankfully, by December there were signs of recovery.

Then, on New Year’s Day 1986, the South African authorities began imposing a go-slow (“for security checks”) at all the border crossings into Lesotho. The reason for this, they said, was the increasing activity of African National Congress (ANC) activists who were being harboured by Lesotho. In fact there had been a raid into Lesotho, targeted at abducting some of these ANC refugees, towards the end of December. Lesotho had lodged vigorous complaints with the United Nations – resulting in the Security Council issuing a warning to South Africa to end such intrusions. The Republic’s response was to tighten border security all around its tiny neighbour.

But more had been going on inside Lesotho to heighten friction between the Government and the Army. Military leaders of Lesotho’s tiny Defence Force had become increasingly concerned about the activities of the youth wing of Chief Jonathan’s Basotho National Party. The Youth Wing was militantly

49 Wales’ African Twin pro-ANC and had begun flexing its muscles. When Chief Jonathan decided that its adherents should be allowed to carry arms, the army felt thoroughly alarmed and threatened. On the wider diplomatic front, Chief Jonathan had begun looking more and more to several communist countries for support. Russia, China and North Korea had been allowed to open diplomatic missions in Maseru. South Africa (and Britain and the United States) was particularly alarmed by an increasingly visible North Korean presence, with North Koreans working on high profile projects such as the building of the National Stadium in the capital.

As January progressed the border go-slow turned into outright economic blockade. Because it is entirely surrounded by its powerful neighbour, the pressure this created on Lesotho was enormous. There were long queues for petrol and there were forecasts of food running out in the shops.

In this crisis, Lesotho appealed to Britain and to the UN for help. As its newly-found twin, Wales did its best to assist. This was the first call on Dolen Cymru to play a diplomatic role. Welsh MPs and members of the House of Lords were lobbied and spoke up for Lesotho. The Western Mail of 15 January ran a story under the headline, “Call to end South Africa’s blockade of Lesotho”. It began, “A Welsh MP yesterday called on the Government to go to the aid of a small land-locked state in Southern Africa that is twinned with Wales. The plea from Labour’s junior foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Donald Anderson, was made in a letter to the Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe…” And on 20 January the same paper carried a story, “Churches in drive to aid Lesotho”. It began, “Welsh Church and welfare leaders, including a former Archbishop of Wales, Dr Gwilym O Williams, are appealing to political leaders to join them in pressing the Prime Minister for action to stop the South African stranglehold on the economic life of Lesotho. The plea to Mrs Thatcher is from Dolen Cymru, a charitable agency that has strong links with Lesotho.” The article quoted Dolen Chairman Dr Carl Clowes as saying that Dolen Cymru was urging the people of Wales to extend a hand of friendship to a country that was suffering.

In the House of Lords Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos, a Vice-President of the link, tabled a question to the Minister of State. “We are conscious,” he said, “that, landlocked within South Africa as it is, Lesotho is in a sensitive and

50 Wales’ African Twin difficult position. Against this background, can the Minister say whether the Government has made representations to the South African Government, and has it supported the appeal by Lesotho for immediate talks with South Africa?” Dafydd Elis Thomas MP wrote to Minister of State Linda Chalker along the same lines while Dafydd Wigley MP tabled his question to the Secretary of State for Wales.

Then, on 20 January, all the pressure and de-stabilisation produced the result that may have been intended all along. The Lesotho Government was overthrown by a military coup. Army commander Major-General Justin Lekhanya appointed himself Chairman of the new Military Council. The Council would act as a top tier of government, below which some civilian ministers would operate. A greater role was envisaged for King Moshoeshoe II and talk of national reconciliation was in the air.

The question that everyone was asking was how far the new military government would be in the pocket of South Africa, widely regarded as having engineered the coup? And how would it affect the link? Could the fledgling twinning survive such an upheaval at the top? Traditionally Wales did not look kindly on military regimes. Would this turn of events prove to be an early killer blow? These were questions that the link Committee now found itself having to answer as the prophets of doom surfaced.

Some of these questions were posed in the editorial column on 31st January of the weekly paper of the Presbyterian Church of Wales, Y Goleuad. It was entitled “Dolen Frau” (A fragile link). After going through the history of Chief Jonathan and reviewing the events that led up to the military coup, it went on, “It seems that this turn of events has been welcomed by the majority of the population, and this leads on to the question of the country’s special relationship to Wales. Can we any longer consider continuing to develop the link between us and a country that seems to have got into the clutches of Mr Botha [the South African President] and appears to have turned a deaf ear to the cries of its brothers and sisters suffering under the yoke of apartheid? In such a desperately fragile situation it is imperative to consider this question carefully. We therefore hope that those charged with promoting the link in Wales will respond to the events of this week with sensitivity and provide us with careful leadership in the matter.”

51 Wales’ African Twin

It was exactly this question that Dolen Cymru’s National Committee had been considering at its AGM in Aberystwyth on 25 January. The Committee knew that Mr Sefako’s own position immediately following the coup would also be “fragile”. Members learned with relief that he was safe and that Dr Clowes had succeeded in speaking to him just before and just after the Government was overthrown. Only hours before the coup took place, he told Dr Clowes that he felt the country had now got through the worst and that he would be meeting Chief Jonathan later that day. In the call Dr Clowes was able to put through after the coup, he found that Mr Sefako was shaken but safe. After that his office at the Ministry of Defence told callers that he was “on leave”. While as a member of the Jonathan regime he was bound to be regarded with suspicion by the new rulers, his previous work at the Ministry of Defence meant that he had good personal relations with many of the military leaders.

At the end of its meeting the Committee issued the following statement: “Dolen Cymru re-affirms that the link between Wales and Lesotho is one between the people and communities of the two countries and it will therefore continue as before the recent changes in government. It notes with concern the severe degree of pressure which South Africa has been able to apply through imposing an economic blockade around Lesotho’s borders. This has worrying implications for the future.

“There is now more need than ever for the link and indeed for Lesotho to strengthen its ties generally with friendly countries outside South Africa. The Committee will therefore explore all possibilities of strengthening the link, particularly among women’s groups, owing to their unique importance to life in Lesotho. Appreciation has already been expressed, both from the High Commission in London and from within Lesotho, for the understanding and support given by Wales in the recent weeks of crisis.”

On 7 February The Western Mail carried a story under the headline, “Link remains after African coup”. It began, “Last month’s coup in Lesotho will not mean an end to Dolen Cymru, the link between Wales and the African country Lesotho established last year.” There had been a general upsurge of media interest in the days that preceded and followed the coup, with Committee members being interviewed about the events and their impact on the link, on

52 Wales’ African Twin morning, lunchtime and evening news programmes both in Welsh and in English.

Later Dr Clowes was able to respond directly (in its letters page on 14 March) to the concerns expressed in the Goleuad editorial. “There are no grounds for believing,” he wrote, “that the new authorities in Lesotho have any intention of turning a deaf ear to the cries of their brothers and sisters suffering under the apartheid system in South Africa. A good example of this from the very early days of the regime was its refusal to hand over ANC activists to South Africa. Instead they were handed over to Zambia and Zimbabwe.” Dr Clowes also pointed out that Lesotho had complained directly to the United Nations about some of the initial demands made on it by the South African Government. It would be a big mistake, he said, to interpret the change in government following all the pressure from South Africa as a readiness to cooperate with the old enemy. “Of course the real danger that faces Lesotho now – and indeed any of the other surrounding countries – is that South Africa, having once got the taste of what an exercise of power can to do to one neighbouring country, will try to do the same thing again when things are not going its way. Ironically therefore, Lesotho needs its friends more than ever if it is to face a challenge from its neighbour. That is where the relationship with Wales is so important.”

The conclusion of the Dolen Cymru Committee was that the precarious situation Lesotho found itself in, while it might complicate the twinning and make linking activities more difficult, also enriched it. A strong bond of friendship with Wales would be one important way of easing Lesotho’s isolation.

As it turned out, despite all the fears and some quite understandable misgivings, the growth of the link was not unduly hindered. The new government seemed to appreciate and value its ties with Wales no less than the old. As has been seen, it facilitated the establishment of a Lesotho linking committee firmly based on the country’s NGOs, ensuring that the emphasis would be on the linking of people and organisations at the grass roots level.

Not that the Government itself remained disinterested or aloof. By June of the next year the Hon Colonel A L Jane, Minister of Water, Energy and

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Mining was in Wales on an official visit and taking time out to meet link members. Accompanied by the Chief Executive of the Highlands Water Development Authority, Mr Masopha Sole, and the Permanent Secretary of his Ministry, he had come especially to Wales to see the underground pumped storage hydro-electric scheme at Llanberis in Snowdonia. He was followed a year later by Colonel Sekhobe Letsie. A key figure on the Military Council, with responsibility for overseeing the Ministries of Defence, Interior, Rural Development, Health and Education, he was in Britain at the invitation of Linda Chalker at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. After the visit she wrote, “I am pleased that the link between Wales and Lesotho is thriving. Colonel Sekhobe Letsie’s visit to Wales will, I hope, have helped to strengthen the link still further. There is no doubt that Dolen Cymru is unique and I am sure that both Wales and Lesotho will find the link between the two countries of great value.”

Colonel Letsie had asked specifically that a visit to Wales and a meeting with Dolen Cymru be included in his itinerary. He had a deserved reputation as the hard man of the Military Council. Later, in the 1990s, he was imprisoned for his part in the deaths of two Ministers of the previous regime. When we asked him over dinner whether our friend Mr Sefako was now out of suspicion and free to move around normally, he replied that he would be perfectly safe if he didn’t interfere with the Government’s work, but that if he did… There followed a rather chilling gesture that spoke volumes!

It was not to be until 1993 that Lesotho would finally emerge from the shadow of military rule and be able to boast a fully democratic government. The elections in that year were the first genuinely free elections since 1966, as those of 1970 had been subverted by Chief Jonathan. Although it has not always been an easy ride, there is a certain satisfaction in reflecting that the link has been able to survive and grow under very different forms of government in both countries.

54 Wales’ African Twin 8. Lands of song

In November 1987 Edward Heath MP, the former British Prime Minister, wrote to express his congratulations on the growth of the link. Heath had been a member of the Brandt Commission which produced a ground-breaking report on the ‘great divide’ between the developed countries of the ‘North’ and the developing countries of the global ‘South’. Outside of politics he was well known for his love of music.

“It is a particular pleasure for me to learn,” he wrote, “that a link is being developed through music and song – a most appropriate one for Wales!”

Wales’ first musical experience of Lesotho was not through its well-known choral singing (that was to come later), but through one of its most popular groups – Sankomota. At the end of the Rhyl National Eisteddfod in 1985 a huge concert was organised to raise money for the Ethiopian famine appeal. Arian Byw (which can either mean “quicksilver” or “money for life”) was the Welsh equivalent to Bob Geldof’s memorable Live Aid concert. To have an African group of such quality playing was a real coup for Arian Byw. Sankomota’s lead singer, Tsepo Tshola, had an immediate rapport with the lively young audience. The event received wide media coverage and was broadcast live by S4C.

Later in the year the group was invited back to play in Bangor. Recognising Sankomota’s talent, Aneurin Owen, who was a member of Dolen Cymru’s National Committee and had connections with several Welsh groups, suggested the possibility of a record and cassette that, presenting contributions from both countries, would embody the spirit of the link. The Llandwrog- based recording company Sain agreed to produce the cassette. Entitled “Lesotho-Cymru: Songs from Wales and Lesotho”, it featured alternate numbers from the two countries.

Og Thomas, Programme Leader at the Oxford Development Education Unit at Lady Spencer Churchill College, wrote a review of the tape for the magazine “Community Link”. “It is,” he wrote, “an excellent, and to me inspiring,

55 Wales’ African Twin feast of singing from Wales and Lesotho in celebration of the link between the two countries. Both have a fine tradition of vocal music, each setting the other off to perfection in this kaleidoscope which explores the variety of characteristic songs and hymns from their homelands.” He singled out the St Moses Choir, “displaying the fluidity and strength of Southern African singing at its best” and Côr Rhuthun, “giving us the sonority and cohesion which are the glory of Welsh choirs” for particular praise – along with Sankomota and Welsh soprano Leah Owen.

“Each country,” he continued, “offers accompanied and unaccompanied solo and choral singing, a mixture of traditional and up-to-date, secular and sacred. But for me the high spot is the very first track, where Leah Owen is joined by Sankomota, each partner singing their own version in their own language in a song about the link. They sing separately to start with, and then the two versions come together and weave harmonies around each other in a manner that succeeds both musically and symbolically in illustrating the partnership between the two cultures and the new possibilities it can unlock.”

Also on the label is a song by the popular Basotho composer Lioli tsa Eja Matsekha, which recalls the hardship suffered by mine workers in the mines of South Africa. The Welsh group Catraeth contribute a haunting song of the same name, about the famous sixth century battle. The eye-catching cover, designed by Robert Williams (Magma, Beaumaris), shows two hands, black and white, clasped together. The diary writer of The Independent commented, “Wales is celebrating its own national twinning with musical fervour.” As Aneurin Owen, who was mainly responsible for bringing all the items together, put it, “What better way is there of getting to know each other and carrying out the aims of the link, than by sharing our experiences in song?”

Following close on the heels of the release of “Lesotho-Cymru”, which was played frequently on Radio Wales and Radio Cymru, came the visit of the Teachers Choir of Maseru. Led by conductor and composer Josiel Lepheana, it was the first time the 25-strong mixed choir had ventured outside of southern Africa. Their long trip to Wales was funded by the European Union in what, it turned out, was its first major sponsorship for artists from outside of Europe.

56 Wales’ African Twin

The choir had won several national competitions and had performed in neighbouring Botswana and Swaziland and in South African townships like Soweto. But for all of them coming to Wales was something else and before leaving they gave a dress rehearsal of their repertoire before the King and Queen of Lesotho and a distinguished audience at the royal palace.

Before embarking on a series of concerts and engagements from one end of Wales to the other, they joined competing choirs, singers and dancers from all over the world at the 1988 Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. They were an immediate hit. “The choir that is stealing all the attention is the Teachers Choir from Maseru,” reported Radio Wales in its coverage of the Eisteddfod. Competing against 28 other choirs in the Folk Song section, the Basotho visitors were overjoyed to be awarded third prize. “Singers from Wales’ twin country hit the high note with the audience,” said The Western Mail the following morning. “Dressed in traditional costume, they delighted Eisteddfod visitors with two traditional tribal songs and were given a magnificent round of applause by the 4,000 strong audience.”

The choir received an equally warm welcome when it paid a visit to Ysgol Morgan Llwyd in nearby Wrexham – in recognition of the school’s active link with Mopeli High School in Quthing. “Youngsters stopped work in classrooms and teachers opened doors to listen as the melodic tribal singing wafted down the corridors,” reported the Daily Post. “Dressed in multi-hued blankets and straw hats, the choristers were greeted in Sesotho by Headmaster Edward Williams, using the traditional greeting ‘Khotso! Pula! Nala!’ (‘Peace! Rain! Prosperity!’)”

The choir were joined at the Ely Festival in Cardiff by Sankomota. In the capital they sang at Llandaff Cathedral, at a Sunday evening concert at Eglwys Dewi Sant and at a reception given by South Glamorgan County Council. In fact they sang everywhere they went, including at stop-offs at Machynlleth and Porthmadog as they travelled north for three packed days based in Bangor. During their time in North-West Wales, they fitted in a recording session at the Sain studios at Llandwrog, Caernarfon and an evening of singing and dancing and cultural exchange at Nant Gwrtheyrn, the Welsh Language and Heritage Centre on the Llÿn Peninsula. They sang at Caernarfon Castle and to Gwynedd Council workers at County Hall before their final evening, giving

57 Wales’ African Twin an unforgettable farewell concert at Theatr Seilo in Caernarfon. As the Caernarfon audience were beckoned onto the stage, their inhibitions melted as young and old alike gave their best interpretation of African dance! There was many a moist eye as the evening closed as, more than ever, the occasion had so vividly portrayed the generosity of spirit that the link had by now created.

“We never thought so much would be achieved,” wrote conductor Josiel Lepheana after their return. “The trip to Wales was an experience never to be forgotten. We are still somewhat dazed by the effects of all the festivities we enjoyed in Wales.” The many families who hosted the choir members as they moved around Wales also gained an appreciation of the link as relationships flourished and understanding developed by the day.

One result of the visit was that Sain Studios produced another cassette “Côr Athrawon MASERU Teachers Choir”. It included many of the numbers that had become favourites during their Welsh tour. One spoke of the long journey from Lesotho to Llangollen: “Even though far, we are going to Llangollen and we come from Lesotho, the land of Moshoeshoe.” “It bubbles with enjoyment and sheer energy,” wrote music lecturer Mair Carrington Roberts in a review for the Welsh periodical, Y Faner. “The singing is never out of key and the traditional sounds intertwine smoothly with the skilful and inventive musical arrangements.”

Another consequence was that we received an invitation for a Welsh choir to make a return visit to Lesotho. After much consultation with different choirs in North and South, Cantorion Coedpoeth, Wrexham accepted the invitation. The choir had just won the 1988 Sealink Competition (Mixed Choir class) and had made a recording for Crown Records.

Under the leadership of their conductor Graham Marshman, the 23-strong party set out for the long journey to Lesotho on 17 April 1990. Except for the first two nights and the final night (which they spent at the modern Lesotho Sun Hotel) they stayed in the homes of members of the Maseru Teachers Choir. They gave six concerts at vastly contrasting venues. “Having heard the Teachers Choir sing in Wales, I had a clear idea of the musical environment into which Cantorion Coedpoeth were venturing,” recalls Graham. “My

58 Wales’ African Twin greatest concern was their response to our music: we would undoubtedly appreciate and enjoy the singing of the Basotho choirs, but would they enjoy ours?”

He need not have worried. Their offerings were appreciated wherever they went. “It was more than encouraging,” records Graham, “to be asked to sing a song a second time, and this happened at most of our concerts. As well as the requests to repeat a song, it was enjoyable to hear the audience react rather in the way jazz audiences do. If they liked a particular passage or moment, they would show their appreciation immediately, rather than wait to the end. Such uninhibited response was a constant source of satisfaction and pleasure to choir and conductor.”

The venues were all very different and Graham contrasts three of them. “The Setsoto Stadium, with its tartan track and modern stands, seemed the most unlikely but, performing from the track, it soon became apparent that this was an ideal acoustic. After this modernity, the Bantu Stadium was a bit of a shock! Its compacted earth stage in the middle of a large field and its PA system consisting of one microphone which was hurried from compere to stage between each number did not deter the performers. As you would expect, the best venue was the wood-panelled hall of the Royal Palace. It was a sheer delight to sing in that room.”

On the more informal level, Graham highlighted the singing of “O Iesu Mawr” at the tomb of the founder of the nation, Moshoeshoe I, at the top of mount Thabu Bosiu; the singing and the dancing at the home of the President of the Lesotho Homemakers Association and singing outside the Queen’s residence in the royal village of Matsieng. Colin Lewis, a Welshman working in Lesotho at the time, was present at a farewell reception given to the choir at the Residence of the British High Commissioner. “The choir sang superbly,” he remembers, “For my money they could have sung all night. A few of us went back to the hotel where they sang around the piano until late.”

There were more technical aspects to the music links too. In 1989 Dolen Cymru, in conjunction with BBC Wales and the Urdd National Eisteddfod, invited Mr Molefe Sello to visit Wales. Molefe was Senior Music Producer at Radio Lesotho and Secretary of the Lesotho Music Society. He was well

59 Wales’ African Twin known throughout Lesotho for the music lessons he gave over the air. While working for a month in the studios of Radio Lesotho as part of BBC Wales’ link, broadcaster Gareth Bowen had told him about the Urdd Eisteddfod back in Wales and how it arranged its regional and national competitions. Molefe had long wanted some sort of competitive framework to encourage school choirs in Lesotho and resolved to see the Welsh Eisteddfod for himself.

At the 1989 Cwm Gwendraeth Urdd Eisteddfod, Molefe sat glued to his seat for most of the week watching the competitions. His mission, he said, was to improve the standards of music in Lesotho – and what better way than to start with the youth and with similar competitions to those he was now seeing? Beside the choral, party and solo singing and the instrumentalists, he was fascinated by the recitation competitions. “Such competitions would be very useful in Lesotho,” he said. “Perhaps accompanied by our largely forgotten traditional instruments, the lesiba and the setolotolo.”

“The colour and excitement of the Urdd Eisteddfod could soon be a feature of schools in the tiny Southern African country of Lesotho,” wrote The Western Mail in its report on the visit. The Daily Post headlined its story, “Musical bridges”. The first inter-schools choral competitions reached their final stage in Maseru in August 1991 – with 16 choirs taking part. Dolen Cymru had contributed two trophies to be presented to the winning choirs and the following year two more were given by Urdd Gobaith Cymru.

February 1992 saw two conductors of leading Lesotho church choirs visit Wales for a month’s study visit to broaden their knowledge of choral singing and conducting techniques. The tour was made possible by a generous grant from the Commonwealth Foundation, with further assistance from the British Council.

Karohano Ntlaloe was leader of the Lesotho Evangelical Church Choir and Benedict Mafisa was conductor of the Catholic Cathedral choir in Maseru. During an intense programme they held one-to-one discussions with leading Welsh conductors, attended choir rehearsals and concerts, sat in on University Music Department classes in opera and conducting and saw how music was taught in Welsh schools. At a rehearsal of the Anglesey male voice choir, Côr y Traeth, they were each given the opportunity to take the baton. Their

60 Wales’ African Twin programme in Cardiff included a visit to the Welsh National Opera (Verdi’s “A Masked Ball”) and sitting in at a rehearsal of the BBC Wales Orchestra.

For their final week they attended a course (“The Reluctant Organist”) at the Royal School of Music in Addington Palace in Croydon. “We were not short of laughter,” wrote the leader of the course, “and we in our turn have had our horizons widened.”

One of the Welsh conductors whom Ntlaloe and Mafisa spent time with was Gwyn L Williams, then Senior Music Producer at BBC Wales, Bangor and conductor of the Liverpool Welsh Choir. Between them they conceived the idea that Gwyn could be invited to give a series of master classes in Lesotho on conducting and choral techniques. This became a reality in January 1993 when he embarked on an intense two-week tour, organised by the Lesotho Music Society and the Ministry of Education and sponsored by the British Council. Gwyn (who went on to become Chief Executive of the Llangollen International Eisteddfod) had already conducted choral master classes for the Association of British Choral Directors in Cardiff in 1992.

All the main districts of Lesotho were covered by the tour. Sometimes travelling by air and sometimes by four-wheel drive over high mountain passes, Gwyn calculates that he talked to or taught nearly 600 music teachers and choir conductors. Numbers at his workshops never fell below 60 and on one occasion (in Leribe) numbered 130. At one venue he found that two choir conductors had travelled for two days on horseback to attend. “They sing naturally in so many areas of everyday life,” he says. “In schools, at church, on public holidays and special occasions, in choirs and in ensembles. Even the pilot sang in the cockpit of the plane!”

Considering the numbers attending the workshops, he felt that solid progress had been made. To improve voice production, those attending learned relaxation and breathing techniques and voice exercises. Also basic elements of conducting. “What I tried to demonstrate in the conductors’ workshops was how to instil the discipline necessary for good choral singing. This begins with the conductor’s right hand techniques. In particular I would concentrate on the most efficient way to begin a performance.”

61 Wales’ African Twin

In April 1993 Sain released a third cassette – this time of hymns and praise music from the two countries. It was called simply, “Mawl! Lithoko! Praise!” Launching the cassette at the South Powys National Eisteddfod along with the Archbishop of Wales, Lesotho High Commissioner Kenneth Tsekoa spoke of the central part choral music played in Lesotho culture. “This is especially true of our churches, “ he said. “We are proud to have our Basotho musical contribution on tape side by side with the Welsh music.” Archbishop Alwyn Rice Jones added, “Through our music, the churches in our two countries are being brought closer together.”

To mark the tenth anniversary of the link in 1995, one of Lesotho’s leading youth choirs, The Maseru Vocal Waves, was invited to Wales. Like the Teachers Choir before them, they began their tour by entering competitions at the Llangollen Eisteddfod. The 30-strong mixed choir, all below the age of 30, brought vigour, enthusiasm and colour to the Welsh scene. In addition to the main choral element the party contained an explosive dance group. In fact the trophy they brought away was third prize in the Folk Dance section.

This time the Lesotho visitors were asked to lead the annual opening procession of competing choirs and dance groups through the town. “The choir, in Lesotho national dress, won the applause of many in the crowd,” reported The Western Mail. “During this week in Llangollen they seem to have been everywhere,” commented BBC Wales later in the week. “They are the great favourites.” As well as entering three competitions – Youth Choir, Mixed Folk Choir and Folk Dance – they were invited to perform at the children’s matinee and the final Saturday evening concerts. “The stars of the afternoon were undoubtedly the choir from Lesotho, which has special ties with Wales,” said another commentator, reporting on the children’s concert.

With the choir, whose members again stayed in Welsh homes wherever they went, came veteran music producer Molefe Sello to renew his ties with the Welsh music scene. After Llangollen the choir embarked on a two-week tour of Wales. This included concerts in Wrexham, Menai Bridge, Caernarfon, Machynlleth, Aberystwyth, St Davids, Tenby and Cardiff. The sort of rapport the choir achieved with young people in Wales was illustrated by their visit to Caernarfon Castle. In the castle grounds on a sunny afternoon they in turn sang to, and heard songs from, 150 youngsters from five local primary schools,

62 Wales’ African Twin some dressed in Welsh national costume. The afternoon of song climaxed with a joint rendering of the new South African National Anthem, which some of the schools parties had learned by heart. “Of course after that we had to finish off with our own Lesotho National Anthem,” grinned conductor Molefe Motloung. Commenting later on their experiences in Wales, he added, “It was all beyond our expectations.”

Their journey home was certainly beyond their expectations! Having reached London, they were told that the airline which had brought them was unable to take them home. The company had ceased trading and the party were left stranded. Their finances didn’t allow them to purchase new tickets and there was no recompense. The High Commissioner, Kenneth Tsekoa, recounts how he hosted them on various floors in the High Commissioner’s residence for almost two weeks before he was able to arrange alternative flights home. “It was uncomfortable” he said, “but we had singing every evening to see us through.” It was not an experience to be repeated.

This was the last occasion to date for a Basotho choir to tour Wales. A bid for funding for a visit to the International Eisteddfod and to mark the link’s 20th anniversary in 2005 was rejected by the Welsh Arts Council as the choir in question did not meet the required standard and they did not believe it was good value for money. This despite the fact that the choir had been convened by probably Lesotho’s leading conductor who had experience of Llangollen previously. Somehow, one felt the Council missed an opportunity – but then they hadn’t witnessed the Basotho perform previously as we had. Such events undoubtedly cement the link like nothing else can.

At the end of their visit to Wales, choir conductors Ntlaloe and Mafisa had commented on the lack of any teaching of music in Lesotho primary schools. The same observation was made by Gwyn L Williams in his meeting with the Minister of Education before he left Lesotho in 1994. This lack was finally addressed in 1997 when music was made an official part of the primary school curriculum. Then Wales was able to help meet the urgent need that this threw up for basic classroom teaching materials (see chapter 11).

Perhaps of all the variety of links, the ones in music and song have come nearest to fulfilling hopes for a genuine two-way link – where each ‘twin’ has been able to contribute something to enrich the other. 63 Wales’ African Twin 9. Women together

One home that came to epitomise the link and one Dr Clowes and I were invited into during our ‘official’ visit in February 1987 was that of Mrs ’Malikeleli Mokokoane, President of the Lesotho Homemakers Association. It is a home where many from Dolen have experienced Mrs Mokokoane’s legendary welcome – always full of people, the embodiment of African hospitality. “Is this your home or a social centre?” a visiting friend had once enquired on finding the house teeming with people seeking help in one form or another.

With its motto, “Shine just where you are”, the Lesotho Homemakers Association (LHA) is the oldest of the organisations making up the Lesotho National Council of Women. It was founded in 1934. Its aims include, “To improve our homes by encouraging Christian standards, to improve the status of women in the community and to bridge the gap between rich and poor, educated and non-educated through non-formal education and self-help programmes.”

Mrs Mokokoane (Mali as she became known after her visit to Wales) had had considerable experience in advancing the cause of women in Lesotho. She had joined the Homemakers as a young teacher in 1954. By 1972, after four years on its executive committee, she was elected President. After seven years in that post she was appointed Commissioner for Women’s Affairs, working in the Prime Minister’s Office. Now she was back as President of the Homemakers. Mrs Innocentia Sefako, wife of the former High Commissioner to London O T Sefako, was Secretary.

We found Mali eager for links with Wales. In a letter written shortly after our return to Wales she wrote of “the enthusiasm we have lived with since your departure”. She welcomed the suggested possibility of a link with the Welsh women’s movement Merched y Wawr. “We feel, even before we get definite news from them, that we will accept it. We have so much in common in our activities. We are ready to work hand-in-glove with them.”

64 Wales’ African Twin

On the Welsh side the ground had been prepared by Merched y Wawr’s active participation in the blanket collection for Lesotho that had been co- ordinated by the WRVS (Women’s Royal Voluntary Service). It was Merched y Wawr member Rhiain Phillips who initiated the next step. After returning from a visit to Lesotho with her husband, Professor Glyn O Phillips, she put forward the idea that the principle of two-way giving in the link might be furthered by producing a book of folk tales and traditional stories from both countries. Such a joint venture had already been foreshadowed, musically, with the release of the Lesotho-Cymru cassette and record. The women in both countries, said Rhiain, could be invited to collect the tales.

Merched y Wawr undertook to collect the tales in Wales. Branches in different areas were asked to submit a tale that reflected the traditions of that region. These were then selected and edited by the Editorial Board of the magazine Y Wawr. The Homemakers oversaw the collection of Basotho stories. The book was published with the Welsh tales in Sesotho and the Basotho tales in Welsh.

“Y Ddolen Air – straeon o Gymru a Lesotho” (Kopano Ke Gauda – litsomo tse tsoang Lesotho le Wales) was published by Merched y Wawr and launched at its 1994 Annual Residential Weekend in Lampeter. In English the title of the book translates as, “The Link in Word – tales from Wales and Lesotho”. The title is special because, orally, “Y Ddolen Air” can also be heard as “The golden link”. There were nine tales from Wales and seven from Lesotho. The book’s publication was a striking illustration of grass roots cross-cultural exchange. Each Welsh story is illustrated by artist Ela George and each Basotho one by Mohau Masoabi. Merched y Wawr sent 300 copies to the Homemakers as a gift.

Meanwhile Ifanwy Williams had been keeping in touch with Mali and also writing in Y Wawr about the possibility of a formal link developing with the Homemakers as a sister organisation. “I wish you could see a group of 85 LHA members gathered around listening keenly to me reading your letters,” wrote Mali to Ifanwy in September 1989. “They are hungry for a link with the Merched – to exchange ideas, love and shortcomings. It really was a day. Now we can’t wait to get started.”

65 Wales’ African Twin

As a first step, Mrs Mokokoane was invited for a month’s visit to Wales in the autumn of 1990. This enabled her to attend Merched y Wawr’s AGM and also the Annual Meeting of the Welsh Assembly of Women. The programme was planned carefully by Ifanwy and Mererid James, National Organiser of Merched y Wawr. It was funded by a grant from the Commonwealth Relations Trust.

What stood out in Mali’s mind were all the homes in which she stayed. “Do you have any hotels in Wales?” she would joke afterwards. “If so, I never saw inside any!” She sampled the hospitality of Welsh homes in Porthmadog, Bangor, Wrexham, Cardiff, Nantgaredig and Aberporth. To a “Homemaker” that meant a lot.

She spoke (and sang) in schools, visited alcohol and drug treatment centres, spoke in church services and in numerous meetings, gave interviews on Radio Wales and Radio Four’s Woman’s Hour and visited rural skill and craft centres. She was received by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Cardiff, the Chairman of South Glamorgan County Council and the Mayor of Carmarthen. She met the Catholic Bishop of Wrexham and the Church-in-Wales Bishop of Llandaff (both of whom had been in Lesotho earlier in the year). And everywhere she met members of Merched y Wawr.

The visit turned out to be a catalyst in several ways. In Conwy she spoke at a large gathering of Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin (the Welsh nursery school movement), that was also being addressed by local MP and Minister of State for Wales, Wyn Roberts. This led on to two things. One was the involvement of Mudiad Meithrin with nursery education in Lesotho. This was vividly demonstrated when, the following year, Lesotho was made the focus of the movement’s annual Festival. “Wales Sings for Lesotho” was a sponsored ‘sing-in’ of nursery rhymes and lullabies aimed to raise money to further Early Childhood Education in Lesotho. Widely reported and filmed by the media, it involved a colourful procession through the centre of Cardiff and sing-ins at nursery schools and play groups all over Wales.

By the end of the summer, when all the sponsorship promises had been met, a magnificent £20,000 had been raised. Later Rafiloe Mofolo, Coordinator of Early Childhood Education in Lesotho, was invited to Wales for a two-

66 Wales’ African Twin week study visit and Ceinwen Davies, Assistant Director of Mudiad Meithrin, returned the visit when she was able to see at first hand how the money raised in Wales was being spent.

Wyn Roberts had also been very impressed with Mali’s contribution at the Conwy meeting and from then on took a real interest in the link with Lesotho. This was to prove important when the Welsh Office came to consider our application to fund a full-time Education Officer for the link.

Through a contact with one of her hosts, Mali was also asked to speak at a Council meeting of the Welsh Young Farmers Clubs in Aberystwyth. She mentioned, among other things, the desperate need to replace the Homemakers’ dilapidated four-by-four vehicle – which alone made possible travel to the numerous villages she needed to visit. The Young Farmers rose to the challenge in their inimitable way. Fund raising initiatives included sponsored parachute jumps, and organising barbeques and dances. They were able to send Mali a cheque for £4,500 with which the Homemakers were able to purchase a used Toyota Land Cruiser “in very good condition”.

Mali’s visit did a great deal to raise the profile of Lesotho, and the Lesotho Homemakers, among members of Merched y Wawr throughout Wales. It also revealed some areas where the Welsh movement might be able to give practical help to members of its new sister organisation. In the Lesotho villages there was a constant need for women to find ways to supplement meagre family incomes. One way, which the LHA encouraged, was through sewing and garment making. But many of the women were without access to a sewing machine or the means to acquire one. Talking with Mali, the thought came to Mererid and Ifanwy that there were many of the older, hand-operated, sewing machines stored away unused in Welsh homes. Why not initiate a collection of these and send them out to the Homemakers in Lesotho? Sturdily built and durable, and not requiring electricity to operate, they would be ideal for use in the villages.

In total 46 machines were located. They were rounded up in a van that had been lent (and filled with petrol) by Slaters of Abergele, a leading North Wales garage. Mererid and her colleague Meira Roberts went with the van to Southampton to supervise the packing of the machines and their onward

67 Wales’ African Twin shipping to Lesotho. The whole operation was filmed for a magazine programme on S4C, the Welsh language TV channel. In order to pay for the shipping, Merched y Wawr launched a sponsored knit in all its branches. Incredibly, the “Knit for Lesotho” appeal raised over £13,000. The knitted items, blankets and children’s clothes, were sent out along with the machines.

Meanwhile the Homemakers had extended an invitation for Mererid and Ifanwy to spend some time in Lesotho. The Commonwealth Foundation made a grant for half the cost of the three-week visit. Their arrival in March 1992 caused great excitement. The seal was set on the link between the two movements at the AGM of the Homemakers. “It took place in a small rural village and lasted three days,” recalls Mererid. “Business meetings alternated with lessons in crafts, so that the delegates could go back to their villages equipped with new skills. I was given the opportunity to speak during the closing meeting and to present a special commemorative plate as a symbol of the link between us. The meeting lasted two hours, but in between the speeches the women would get to their feet to sing or dance. Perhaps there is an idea there for Merched y Wawr!”

The main speaker at that final meeting was the Honorary President, Her Majesty ’Mamahato Seeiso, the Queen Mother. “Mererid and I had to sit on either side of her while she delivered her speech in Sesotho,” recalls Ifanwy. They were invited to meet the Queen Mother again – this time in her home at the royal village of Matsieng. “We had lunch in the open air,” says Ifanwy. “Afterwards we were entertained by a local ladies choir, who were joined in their dance numbers by our enthusiastic hostess. Eventually we were somehow persuaded to join in, much to the amusement of the Basotho dancers.” Ifanwy also confesses that she could not resist sitting down on the ground with the royal drummers to try her hand.

They met members in many branches. “It was interesting to observe,” says Mererid, “that they are involved in a variety of projects such as training young women in sewing and weaving, in dairy and bakery skills, in horticulture and in child care best practice.” In their last week they took part in a women’s workshop. Ifanwy addressed a seminar on, “The place of women in development in a democratic world” and Mererid on the skills involved in organising and developing a movement.

68 Wales’ African Twin

On their return, Mererid embarked on a series of slide presentations over several months to inform members about the visit and thus bring the link with the Homemakers to life. She also recorded a tape for the blind, outlining the story of her visit. The impact of the visit was no less strong on Mali and the Homemakers. In a letter to Ifanwy, she wanted to remind her of sentiments she had expressed while the two were in Lesotho. “Remember what I said to the women in my remarks about your presence with us,” she wrote. “You make us feel that we, too, are human beings. We used to feel abnormal when we were together with whites. It’s so good to know that thousands of miles away we have friends who share our concerns, friends who believe that we, too, are people capable of developing our community, our society and our small country. You make us feel good.”

Ties between the two movements were further strengthened when Angeline Lepono, President of the Mafeteng District of the Homemakers, came to attend a special six-week course on rural development at Aberystwyth. She immediately linked up with Mererid at the Merched y Wawr office and received numerous invitations for meals and week-ends. Apart from all that she learned on her official course, the invitations led to training in machine knitting, fruit drying and cake icing and decoration. She was present at a weekend at Lampeter with 450 members of Merched y Wawr. Mrs Lepono later became the MP for Mafeteng and a Minister in the government, but she never lost the art of cake decoration!

One of the things nearest to the heart of Mrs Mokokoane was the building of a vocational training centre for her women which would have residential facilities. In Mali’s vision it would provide courses in the practical skills that would empower women by enhancing their earning capacity and also provide a worthy headquarters for the LHA. “Up to now we have always operated from members’ homes, under trees or in churches,” she said. “Now we will have our own centre. Knowledge liberates. We want to free people from ignorance, disease and overwhelming poverty.” After quite a struggle and not a few disappointments, land for building was eventually secured at Khubatsoana on the outskirts of Maseru.

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Merched y Wawr decided to send £11,000 to support the project. This was money left over from the sponsored knit after the costs of shipping the sewing machines and publishing the book of folk tales had been deducted. “We hope that the new building will serve as a permanent reminder of the relationship between Merched y Wawr and the Lesotho Homemakers Association,” said Eleri Non Griffiths, who succeeded Mererid James as National Organiser.

In February 2000 Sylwen Davies, President of Merched y Wawr, travelled to Maseru for the opening ceremony. She was accompanied by former President Mair Penri Jones. During their visit they were shown around the National Assembly by its new woman Speaker, took tea with the Queen Mother at the Royal Palace and attended the wedding of her son, King Letsie III. At Mali’s ever-open home they met with a whole group of Homemakers and were welcomed with the usual singing and dancing and with a display of the women’s craft and sewing work.

“The high point of the visit was the great day of the opening of the new centre,” says Sylwen Davies. “It was an unforgettable occasion. There were about eight MPs present and I was accorded the privilege of opening the centre along with a member of the Lesotho Cabinet.”

Although now opened, the centre was still not complete and more funds urgently needed to be raised. On their return Sylwen and Mair set out to help by offering to speak and show their slides at meetings large and small all over Wales. They spoke at over 80 occasions and were able to send a further £4,560 for the new centre. A plaque on the building reads, “Built with the support of Merched y Wawr, Wales.”

In the winter of 2005 the Centre suffered considerable damage during extreme storms and, at the time of writing, Merched y Wawr have agreed once again to lend a practical hand of financial support to their friends in need.

(Sadly, Mrs ’Malikeleli Mokokoane died in November 2007. A great loss to the Lesotho Homemakers Association, to the link and to all the women of Lesotho whose cause she championed.).

70 Wales’ African Twin 10. Education! Education! Education!

In its very broadest sense the link has always been about education – “educating the people of Wales about Lesotho and the people of Lesotho about Wales”. This mutual learning - about each other’s situation, culture, challenges, aspirations etc – is of course especially relevant in schools and colleges, feeding as it does into the whole subject of development education and the more recent emphasis being placed in schools on “education for world citizenship”. It was therefore entirely appropriate that the first visit to Lesotho concerned with a specific area of the link, following the official but general visit earlier in 1987, was undertaken by two educationists.

Gareth Wheatley, a lecturer in Development Education at the North-East Wales Institute of Higher Education (NEWI), in Wrexham and Ann Bonner- Steel, a lecturer in Education at Trinity College, Carmarthen, made a two- week visit to Lesotho in May 1987. They had different briefs that reflected the two main areas where the link would operate. Gareth’s was to explore possibilities of cooperation in higher education – particularly technical and vocational education – and Ann’s to assess how links between primary and secondary schools were faring and how they might be improved. The joint visit was again funded by the British Council.

Gareth arrived in Lesotho at a time when there was a whole new awareness of the importance of inculcating technical, occupational and management skills in young Basotho if the country was to make progress in development. A new Department of Technical and Vocational Education had just been established within the Ministry of Education. A major concern was the low standard (and low morale) among many technical teachers along with a lack of adequate resources available to them.

Possible remedies were both short-term and longer-term. In the short term Gareth recommended a series of ‘in house’ seminars to raise standards among trade and technical teachers. Some of the facilitators for this, he suggested, might be drawn from staff at NEWI. The longer-term would involve radical changes in the way the technical teaching institutions were run.

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Gareth’s visit was followed three months later by one from his Principal, Professor Glyn O Phillips. By this time everyone’s minds had become focused on the massive Highlands Water Project, about to come on stream. Hundreds of skilled and semi-skilled workers would be needed in building the huge dams, hydro-electric plant and intricate network of tunnels envisaged. If a fair proportion of these workers was to come from within Lesotho, rather than all being hired from outside, a lot more trade skills and technical education would be needed. The main institution providing trade and below-degree skills training was the Lerotholi Polytechnic.

Professor Phillips learned that the EEC (European Economic Community - now European Union) was ready to finance a much needed up-grade of the institution. He immediately suggested that Welsh institutions could be involved and that NEWI was ready to be the lead partner. “Such partnership is the very essence of Dolen Cymru,” he wrote, “with both sides associating on an equal basis, inputting equal effort.” One of those he talked to about his ideas was M Tiheli, the same ntate Tiheli who, as a denominational Education Secretary, visited Wales in 1984 and had now been appointed Minister of Education.

By the beginning of the next year (1988) the German and Basotho Joint Directors of Lerotholi Polytechnic were in Wales to discuss areas of possible collaboration with NEWI. They were followed in June by the Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Mr Kenneth Tsekoa. During his talks at NEWI Mr Tsekoa took time out to address Dolen Cymru’s National Committee which was meeting in Newtown. He said that the biggest challenge for Lesotho was to develop its human resources, “our greatest asset”. A ‘sister’ nation like Wales could play a significant part in this. “We fully appreciate that Wales has extended its hand and we in turn extend our hand.” He went on to say that, surrounded as Lesotho was by the apartheid system, “It means a great deal when a country like Wales befriends us. It is one of the greatest developments that has come to us on the human level.” Kenneth Tsekoa was to become an unceasing supporter of the link, showing his special appreciation when Lesotho’s High Commissioner in London and, subsequently, on his return to Lesotho, as Government (Cabinet) Secretary, Foreign Minister and Minister of Education.

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By September Professor Phillips was able to report that the Government of Lesotho was insisting that Welsh institutions must be included on the short- list for the EEC contract to up-grade Lerotholi Polytechnic.

Meanwhile a Welshman, Colin Lewis from Llanfrithyd in the Vale of Glamorgan, had been appointed Adviser on Technical and Vocational Education in Lesotho. He was especially engaged in drawing up a new national curriculum for the teaching of joinery, automotive mechanics, electrical installation and bricklaying. He wanted to introduce a modular form in the teaching of these subjects and, as no one in Lesotho had the necessary experience, was looking for help from outside. When the Welsh choir Cantorion Coedpoeth was in Lesotho (April 1990), Lewis fell into conversation with the choir Chairman, Roy Morris, who happened to be a lecturer in Engineering at NEWI. He was assured that NEWI could provide the necessary expertise to teach the modular method to the Basotho technical teachers. The first NEWI facilitators were in Lesotho by June. Roy Morris himself followed with three colleagues in September. In November, Lewis’ Basotho counterpart in the Department of Technical and Vocational Education started an intensive course at NEWI.

When NEWI was awarded the EEC three-year contract to up-grade Lerotholi Polytechnic the flow of staff both ways increased dramatically. NEWI staff were asked to advise on curriculum development, on the design and equipping of laboratories and workshops and the training of technical teachers. The EEC contract itself was worth over £500,000. When Professor Phillips was next in Lesotho, he recorded that he had met eight of his NEWI staff, fulfilling different roles. Appreciation of NEWI’s input was reinforced in April 2006 when Education Minister Jane Davidson visited Lesotho. Believing that the new-found skills could be cascaded within the organisation, the NEWI contract was limited to three years. In the event, many of those trained looked to new pastures and the Director pleaded with the Minister for a new and similar initiative.

The University of Wales, Bangor also became involved in Higher Education links. In February 1997 Professor Cedric Milner, an expert in environmental and soil science, was invited by the British High Commissioner in Maseru,

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Peter Smith, to undertake a short exploratory visit to take a look at the continuing problem of desertification and land degradation. One need highlighted by this visit was for environmental education to be taught in the schools to increase universal awareness of the problem.

It was decided this could best be done by collaboration with the Institute of Education at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) at Roma. Professor Milner discovered that the then Vice-Chancellor, Professor Moletsane, was himself an enthusiast for his lecturers to bring their academic experience to community projects – especially environmental ones. The two became firm friends. Between them they negotiated an environmental education project involving the two institutions which the British Council agreed to fund.

The project, which had a modest budget of £5,000 in the first year, involved developing suitable teaching materials on the environment for Lesotho schools. The School of Education in Bangor agreed to participate in the scheme. In May 2001 Connie Bisto of the Institute of Education at NUL was in Wales visiting schools and environmental organisations and in November Professor Milner, accompanied by Cynrig Hughes of the Bangor School of Education, was in Roma. There they worked closely with Project Leader Emma Nthyna. Emma had been trained in Aberystwyth and so was no stranger to Wales. She joined the Welsh visitors back in Bangor shortly afterwards to continue the work.

Projects in Lesotho were also undertaken by staff at University of Wales, Bangor’s Arid Zone Unit, led by Professor Gareth Wyn Jones. In 1997 he wrote about a project the Centre was involved in, with scientists from NUL, in the Pelaneng-Bokong area of the Lesotho Highlands. “The aim of our work is to study the link between the state of the communal range lands, the various off-takes that sustain the local villages and how government policies impact on these subtle relationships. This type of work is detailed and time consuming, but we hope it will be able to contribute directly to the welfare of the Highland people of Lesotho and help our scientific colleagues at NUL make an important contribution to the development of their country.”

In 2004 he was reporting on participation in an EU-funded agronomic research project in the Katse Dam area, where subsistence farmers had lost a large

74 Wales’ African Twin proportion of their grazing land when the dam had been constructed. Interestingly, the area proved particularly suitable for vegetable production, much of which is currently imported to Lesotho from South Africa.

In 2002 the School of Education began another joint enterprise with its counterpart at NUL. This project – “Family Teaching for the Mother Figure” – aimed to advance literacy by involving parents, especially mothers, in teaching children to read. Under the supervision of Cynrig Hughes, the project again involved a lively exchange of staff. All these visits fed into the over-all link and were not without their effect on those taking part. “It helped me to put modern life in perspective,” wrote Education lecturer Bryn Tomos after spending time in Lesotho with his colleague Tony Elliot. “I hope we are much more appreciative of what we have around us, that we are more tolerant and that we are better able to put material things in their proper perspective.” Jessica Chapman, who went with Cynrig to trial material with workshops for primary teachers in the TY region of Lesotho, was similarly moved. “It was a fascinating experience and the motivation and interest shown by teachers and pre-school assistants will stay with me for a long time.”

More recently, Trinity College Carmarthen has become involved in a literacy and numeracy project with the National University of Lesotho following a lead from Gwenallt Rees, Chair of Dolen’s South-East Wales education sub- committee. The work of both Bangor and Carmarthen was identified as a significant contribution to development by NUL’s Vice Chancellor and the Dean of Education when they met Education Minister Jane Davidson during her 2006 visit.

Ann Bonner-Steel’s 1987 brief, to report on how links between primary and secondary schools were faring, highlighted many of the issues Dolen Cymru would strive to address over the next few years. There was an obvious enthusiasm for such links, both in Wales and Lesotho – but also a continual need to ‘rescue’ links and to problem solve. Schools in Lesotho varied greatly in the resources available to them, but the vast majority struggled with inadequate materials and very large class sizes. Ann found “on average” a ratio of one teacher to 70 pupils, “but in many schools there can be as many as 120 children to one teacher”. “Owing to the lack of finances, buildings are often in poor repair and equipment almost non-existent. Generally blackboard

75 Wales’ African Twin and chalk are the only teaching aids. In some schools desks and chairs are considered a luxury.”

When you add to this the remote location of many of the schools outside of the main towns, often with no or very poor road access, some of the difficulties of maintaining a link become clear. Looked at in this way, it is even more remarkable that so many links did succeed than that some failed. A common complaint – on both sides – was that letters had not been replied to. Ann, and those who attempted to problem solve after her, stressed that persistence and patience were called for and an understanding of what might be involved in a letter reaching its destination. For Welsh pupils finding out about this and understanding that Lesotho’s culture was traditionally very much an oral one, was all part of the learning process about life in their twin country.

Sometime letters arriving at Welsh schools would contain requests for money to help with studies. While Lesotho Head Teachers were embarrassed by this, and did their best to discourage it, it could again be seen (and used) as a reminder of the huge economic gap that exists between the two societies. When one Head Teacher was told this had happened he had been “ashamed” and decided to reorganise the link through a supervised “link club” in the school.

Several visitors from Wales, following in Ann’s footsteps, spent a great deal of time visiting schools and re-connecting links. They were always rewarded by heart-warming welcomes and a genuine appreciation that they had come. In particular Helen Adamson from Ruthin devoted much time to this work over several visits, which she usually financed herself. She would send back detailed reports of what she found to ‘sister’ schools in Wales. Visitors would also, of course, be the bearers of long-awaited letters and small gifts. Barbara Daly from Wrexham was another. “I visited a variety of schools, mainly around Maseru,” she wrote, “but I had two days with Simon (the British Council driver) and the Land Rover so that I could visit further afield. We had great difficulty finding some schools, in fact we sometimes didn’t, the roads being very bad after the heavy rains. There were times when I felt we were going to tip right over.”

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In Wales schools also needed encouragement and resources. When there was individual input to a link things would liven up, as Sally Jones recorded on returning to her class at Bakers Lane Primary School in Wrexham after her visit to Lesotho. “I was greeted with great excitement as I delivered replies to the children’s letters. Each child now has a pen friend in Lesotho. A class project was begun immediately and lasted half a term. We watched videos of my visit, looked at photographs, listened to music, visited the library to study reference books, learned some Sesotho words, made a large wall frieze of mountains, huts and people, made models of mothers carrying their babies on their backs and men on horseback, tried carrying pots on our heads – and made ‘information books’ for other classes in the school to read. We also began a book collection for our link school.”

Dolen now recognised the need for a slide pack, and “An Introduction to Lesotho”, complete with commentary and teachers’ handbook, was prepared and made available to any school wishing to start a link . A schools Link Newsletter was produced giving news of other links but also useful information about Lesotho. A new Education Sub-Committee came into being to support, supervise and encourage school links. A lot of this work was done from the Wrexham Office under the supervision of Andrew Parry. In May 1990 he organised a seminar for secondary schools which had sister schools in Lesotho. The seven schools represented heard from Armstrong Mockatse, Joint Director for Technical and Vocational Education in Lesotho, who was attending a course at NEWI. They were introduced to the latest resources to support school linking and much appreciated a valuable trouble-shooting session.

One need that became evident was for a reliable, up-to-date, resource book on Lesotho on which senior pupils and teachers could depend. With the help of a grant from Christian Aid, agreement was reached with the Dutch authors of a study commissioned by the Royal Dutch Tropical Institute in Amsterdam for a Welsh edition to be published. Authors Dr van de Geer and Dr van der Wiel offered to revise and up-date “Lesotho: Land and People” especially for the Welsh version. It was translated from the original Dutch directly into Welsh by Elenid Jones, South Wales Secretary of Christian Aid and published by Gwasg Gwynedd of Caernarfon as “Lesotho: y wlad a’i phobl”. The book covered Lesotho’s history, geography, culture and economy and was copiously illustrated with photos, graphs and maps.

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Soon after the book was published (Autumn 1992) the Chairman of the Education Sub-Committee was in Lesotho for a two-week visit. Glyn Owen was a geography teacher and Head of Humanities at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd in Wrexham. He had been nurturing the school’s link with Lesotho for some time and pioneering its application to the curriculum. During his time in Lesotho he visited 35 schools, met the Minister of Education, had several talks with the Chief Inspector of Schools and facilitated a seminar for 18 schools on ways to maintain and enhance their links with schools in Wales. This visit was funded by the League for the Exchange of Commonwealth Teachers and was to prove the forerunner of a whole series of teacher exchanges that would transform school linking in the future.

With the expansion of Dolen Cymru in all areas, and particularly in education, and because NEWI was requiring more of Andrew Parry’s time for other activities, finding a full-time officer or director for the link was becoming essential. With backing from NEWI, Clwyd Education Authority, South Glamorgan Education Authority, the Council for Education in World Citizenship-Wales, Schools Partnership Worldwide and Mid-Glamorgan Health Authority, it was decided to approach the Welsh Office for funding. As talks proceeded, it became increasingly clear that any help that might be forthcoming would be weighted towards Dolen Cymru’s education activities.

Great was the rejoicing when a letter arrived from David Hunt as Secretary of State for Wales in late March 1993 confirming that funding had been agreed to support a full-time officer for three years. Although successive Secretaries of State for Wales had been supportive of the link and had sent messages to that effect, this was the first time the Government had given direct financial assistance. Fortunately it was not to be the last. The official description of the post was “Director of Development – Education”. The job description specified the production of teaching material linked to the new National Curriculum, so as to “enhance the education of school children in Wales”. This time the new Director would be based at NEWI’s Faculty of Arts and Education, which would provide an office and the back-up of its resources. The Dean of the Faculty agreed to provide day-to-day oversight of the Director’s work in consultation with Dolen Cymru.

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Sioned Harries, who was at the time teaching Welsh, Drama and History at Fishguard Secondary School, was appointed to the new post. Strong on her CV was a period of four years’ teaching in Nairobi, Kenya.

Soon after she began work, Sioned was in Lesotho. “I wanted to see for myself what makes two countries that are so far apart in many ways, feel such an affinity for each other,” she said. “Although I had spent some years working in Kenya, I soon learned that Africa is a very large and varied continent and that Lesotho’s geography and history make it a unique country and very different to anywhere I had experienced in the past.” She visited as many schools as possible, which involved a lot of travelling. It was she said, the welcome she always received “that carried me through a very hectic and tiring three weeks”.

She did not return empty handed. “I felt I had gathered an abundance of information to convey the country’s particular appeal to children in Wales, as well as bare facts (and materials) that would be useful in any school project.” The main project that was forming in her mind was to design a work pack for primary schools that would meet the requirements of the new geography curriculum. She would do it by portraying life in Lesotho through the eyes of a child who lived there.

The mountain village of Semonkong was chosen and, over the years, thousands of Welsh primary school children have been introduced to 12-year old Rethabile and his family. Designer and photographer Robert Williams went specially to Semonkong to photograph Rethabile and his family, his home, school and village. Simply entitled Khotso! (a common Basotho greeting meaning peace) the pack was edited by Humanities Adviser Toni Schiavone, who also acted as consultant. Besides the stunning photos, the pack contained work cards, maps, a story book, an audio cassette and teachers notes. Supplementary funding for the pack, which appeared in both English and Welsh versions, was provided by the Welsh Office. “It is especially relevant to Welsh pupils,” said Sioned, “because it brings to life a community within a country that is already linked with Wales. It therefore has an immediate interest which no other work pack can offer.”

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Teacher Elin Williams described her experience of using the work pack at Y Felinheli Primary School, with a class of eight-to-nine year olds. “Through the eyes of a Basotho child they received an authentic picture of living conditions in Lesotho. From day one I was astonished by the children’s burst of enthusiasm and their sudden thirst for knowledge. There was a notable improvement in the standard of the children’s work – which in itself seems to prove that thematic work both appeals to children and ignites their enthusiasm. I suggested that they might like to write to the children of a school in Qacha’s Nek… To cap it all (and totally unexpectedly) we received answers to our letters during the term. The children were extremely excited. Here was first- hand proof of what I had been teaching about living conditions in Lesotho. In discussing the letters some aspects became very clear, like their bravery in facing poverty. To quote one of the letters, ‘I likes to play netball, but we doesn’t have one ball.’ There was definitely a moral aspect. The children discussed among themselves what they could do to help. They wanted to raise some money for the school. [Which they did by arranging a sale of small items they made and a bread and cheese lunch for parents and governors which they prepared themselves.] I can only say that the whole experience widened the children’s horizon and enriched their lives.”

Sir Wyn Roberts MP, who had been Minister of State at the Welsh Office when the education grant was made, was guest of honour at the North Wales launch of the teaching pack in a Bangor primary school. “The link between the two countries in the past few years has been unique,” he said. “Now we have something really important for the children. The world is shrinking day by day, and when they grow up it will be even smaller.” Such was the up- take of the pack that the Welsh-language version sold out within two years and the Welsh Office made funds available to print a second edition.

Later the Khotso! pack was made available on CD Rom for wider use in classrooms, using electronic white boards. The new inter-active CD Rom was launched by Welsh Education Minister Jane Davidson in 2005 at an occasion at the National Botanical Gardens of Wales. Within a few months sales of the CD had passed the 600 mark.

It was Toni Schiavone who wrote the material for a second work pack tailored for secondary schools. The Key Stage 3 bi-lingual pack Khotso! Pula! Nala!

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(Peace! Rain! Prosperity!) had as its core a 60-minute video, made up of five 12-minute units. It was filmed in Lesotho by independent film-maker Wendy Williams of Orbis Productions with Toni Schiavone as consultant. Maps and teachers notes support each unit of the pack which was funded by the National Lottery. (See chapter 11.) On the pack’s release, Toni ran a series of Local Education Authority-supported seminars in different areas of Wales to introduce it to secondary school teachers.

With teaching about Lesotho firmly embedded in the classroom, Dolen Cymru turned its attention to examining how teacher visits – and teacher exchanges – might further enrich school linking. A fore-runner to what was to be a new era of teacher exchanges was undoubtedly the visit made in 1996 by three senior figures in primary education in North Wales. They were Dafydd Idriswyn, Head Teacher of Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll Primary, Gareth Hughes, Head Teacher of Ysgol y Borth, Menai Bridge and Humanities Adviser Toni Schiavone. They visited a cross-section of Lesotho’s 1,230 primary schools, spent considerable time with the Chief Inspector of Primary Schools and other officials from the Ministry of Education and gave an all-day seminar for 80 carefully selected teachers and specialists.

For the seminar each of Lesotho’s ten Districts sent two teachers, two Deputy Head Teachers, two Head Teachers and two Education Officers. One teacher, recalls Idriswyn, had travelled four hours on horseback just to reach the tarred road and then a further 12 hours by minibus. “We were very impressed with their willingness to share with us and to listen,” he said. “The eagerness of the children to learn is very moving. This is despite the lack of equipment, inadequate school buildings and over-sized classes. It’s what they achieve with what they have got that is so impressive.” The biggest impression made on them was seeing teachers struggle to teach English when there was a total lack of English reading books anywhere in the school. As they travelled home they began to think what could be done.

Teacher exchange visits began to gather momentum in 2000, aided by a reconstituted and reinvigorated Education Sub-Committee that benefited from the active participation of the three who had been in Lesotho and other heads and teachers in the area. As the teacher visits generated more enthusiasm and involvement, other Education Committees were formed in South-West

81 Wales’ African Twin and then in South-East Wales, which in turn organised more exchanges. Five North Wales teachers went to spend time in their link schools in Lesotho during Easter 2000, staying part of the time in the homes of teachers from the host school. The following year five Basotho teachers (four of them Heads) were in North Wales on a return visit. In 2002 six teachers from West Wales journeyed to Lesotho, with a return visit by Basotho teachers in 2003, while three from Conwy travelled the other way. So the pattern continued.

There were plenty of ‘vignettes’ from both sides. “It was a strange experience to walk to our link school, crossing a river, clambering over rocks and avoiding dongas (steep gullies formed by erosion) in the company of 750 children,” wrote Elin Williams (since Elin Burns), now at Llanfairpwll Primary School. “Teaching classes of over 100 children about Wales with them looking wide- eyed (not so much because of what I was saying, but out of amused fascination with my white skin and strange accent) was an unforgettable experience. I show them photos of my class back in Wales – ‘They all look the same!’ is the response. On the day I left, the school laid on an amazing farewell ceremony, which included dressing me in a traditional Basotho blanket and putting me on a horse. (‘You don’t mind wild horses, do you?!’) Amid all the poverty they had worked to find gifts for me.”

Staying in African homes as part of the exchange could make a deep impression on both sides. Head Teacher Alun Pritchard from Ynys Môn described his experience in these words – “I arrived at the small village of Boinyatso, near Roma, after sunset. There waiting for me was a sea of faces, including my hosts and their eight children smiling broadly. Before I even slept I felt totally at home in my new family. Next morning as I walked down the path to our link school, it was strangely familiar, as we had received several photos. There was a feeling of excitement in the air and the response to my paltry presents will stay with me forever. Without doubt, it was the football from the Look Around shop in Llangefni that caused the greatest excitement, as they could finally replace their current ball – a tube wrapped in rags. A game with a neighbouring village was quickly arranged. I came home with a new name, Thabo – the one who gives pleasure – and the warm words of Headmistress Mrs Mahloane in my heart as she said she had never thought she would share her home with a white man. It was my pleasure.”

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The exchanges were a learning opportunity for teachers from both countries. “We were of course envious of your resources,” conceded Rosa Moshoeshoe of Hoola Primary School to her Welsh hosts. “I learned a lot from you about how you deal with slow learners, bringing in special people to help them.” Headmistress Mpho Nau felt that her teachers needed to improve their record keeping and assessment skills. She was also impressed with the role played by Parent-Teachers’ Associations and the support that many schools in Wales receive from their local communities. “We need that cooperation in Lesotho. I want to share all the information I have gained here with neighbouring schools, so they too can benefit.”

One unexpected consequence of the exchanges involving Howell’s school in Cardiff was that the lead teacher, Mari Brewer, became inspired to take some time out of school for two months. Her time was spent as a volunteer in the Lesotho-Wales Link office in Maseru and was greatly appreciated. This, hopefully, can become a useful precedent for the future!

Now, in addition to these regular teacher exchanges between linked schools, a longer-term Lesotho Teacher Placement Programme (LTPP) is in place. Funded directly by the Welsh Assembly Government and supported by the British Council, it enables teachers to spend six months in a Lesotho school. At the time of writing, the third programme is about to commence with ten teachers from a wide variety of backgrounds and geographical areas in Wales about to commit themselves to a six month placement in Lesotho. Impressed by the earlier experiences of teachers on the LTPP, the Assembly Government has now offered the opportunity for teachers to stay for a full 12 months.

83 Wales’ African Twin 11. A win at the lottery - health and education

It finally became clear at the end of 1995 that the Welsh Office funding for Sioned Harries’ post as Education Officer would not be extended beyond March 1996. “As you know,” wrote Secretary of State William Hague to Dolen Vice-President Lord Gibson-Watt, “the Welsh Office has taken a particular interest in Dolen Cymru since its formation in 1985. Dolen Cymru is to be commended on its fine work in bringing the people of Wales and Lesotho closer together. For our part we have allocated funding totalling £81,000 for the appointment of an Education Officer for three years. I am afraid to say that there are no plans to extend that period.”

By March that year, Sioned had vacated the office she had been using in Wrexham and the equipment had been put in store. There was no officer and no office. What next?

The National Committee had been urgently searching for alternative sources of funding. The responsibility of over-seeing school links and the continuing marketing of the Khotso! work pack was taken up by the Education Committee under the leadership of Dafydd Idriswyn. The remaining administrative duties largely fell on myself working from home. But it was a situation that was not sustainable. We were all hoping that something would turn up. What did materialise came from a very unexpected source.

In March 1996 the National Committee invited a representative of the Welsh Council for Voluntary Action to advise on likely sources of funding. We learned that from June the National Lottery Board would be starting a brand new programme of international grants to be made available to UK charities working overseas. It seemed worthwhile to investigate. In fact, through its Welsh office, the Board approached us – would we like to submit a project in the fields of health or education or development needs in poorer countries such as those in Africa? The deadline for fully costed (and detailed) project proposals was January 1997.

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As a visit to Lesotho by three senior figures in primary education in North Wales was soon to take place, those going were asked to bring back proposals reflecting the priority needs they would discover. As it happened, Mary Browning, a clinical psychologist working with Powys Health Care NHS Trust, was in the middle of a three-month locum at Lesotho’s only mental illness hospital. She was asked to similarly identify the most pressing needs in the mental health sector.

There was no doubt at all what was most on the minds of Dafydd Idriswyn, Gareth Hughes and Toni Schiavone when they returned from their visit (see chapter 10). It was the urgent need of Lesotho’s primary schools for English reading books. “Outside the capital, any books in primary schools were a rarity,” reported Dafydd. “Even basic texts like an atlas or dictionary were lacking. The children were being taught everything purely from the blackboard. This included learning English, with nothing at all to read to develop their skills.” Mary Browning highlighted the need for Village Health Workers (the volunteer, front-line troops of the Health Service in rural Lesotho) to receive training in identifying and responding to the everyday mental health problems they encountered.

These needs came to form the basis for our submission to the National Lottery’s first “international round” of grants. On the educational side of the project, four stages were proposed. Stage 1 would see the collection of good quality, second-hand English reading books from primary schools all over Wales and their shipment to Lesotho. Stage 2 would see the purchase of basic text and reference books for the use of teachers. Stage 3 would involve the production within Lesotho of new teaching materials, written in partnership with Basotho teachers and curriculum specialists. The fourth and final stage would be the production of a work pack on Lesotho for secondary schools in Wales. The health aspect of the project would aim at improving the competence of Village Health Workers in dealing with mental health issues. This would be approached through in-country workshops to “train the trainers”.

It was decided to move ahead with the collection of books from Anglesey schools as a pilot project – whether or not a grant might be forthcoming from the Lottery. The English reading books donated would go to primary schools in the Mafeteng District of Lesotho. The Isle of Anglesey County Council –

85 Wales’ African Twin which had a long-standing link with the Mafeteng District – gave its blessing for schools to be circulated and offered to provide storage space for the books. Peter Smith, the British High Commissioner in Lesotho, undertook to pay the shipping costs.

Over 30 schools took part and the result was extremely encouraging as books flowed in. Children had been asked to give a few best quality books from those they no longer needed. An appeal leaflet sent to the schools linked the giving of the books to the celebration of St David’s Day. “Gwnewch y pethau bychain” (“Do the little things you can”), it said, quoting the famous words of Dewi Sant. “Children’s gift of knowledge” was the front page headline to a story in the Daily Post. Inside it carried a major feature, “A gift from Anglesey to the hills of Africa”, complete with colour photos. Children interviewed on TV were able to give a good account of just why the books were needed.

It was satisfying that the pilot book collection in Anglesey was already a success in its own right before the announcement of a grant from the National Lottery Board. Papers all over Wales carried the news that Dolen Cymru had been awarded the largest grant given in Wales for overseas work – £250,000 over three years. The grant was announced in May and a new Director-Project Manager was in place by October, housed in a new office in Bangor. It had been 19 months since the office in Wrexham had closed. Amazingly, looking at the Newsletters and records from that ‘inter-regnum’, it does not appear that linking activity slowed down at all over that period.

The occupant of the new post was Delyth Lloyd from Pwllheli. She was no stranger to public affairs in Wales, having served for the previous ten years as constituency secretary to Caernarfon MP Dafydd Wigley. She was a member of Pwllheli Town Council and Chairman of the Friends of nearby Plas Glyn y Weddw Art Gallery.

One of Delyth’s first tasks was to roll out the sequence of book collection campaigns until they covered the whole of Wales. But before that a visit to Lesotho was necessary, both to familiarise herself with Lesotho and to ensure that the different strands of the Lottery-funded project were fully agreed and properly coordinated with our partners. Besides the Lesotho-Wales Link

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Committee, these included the Ministries of Education and Health along with their respective agencies.

It was a non-stop two weeks for Delyth and myself – I went along to make the introductions. We were received by, among others, the Speaker of the Parliament, the President of the Senate, the Cabinet Secretary, the British High Commissioner and the Queen Mother.

Our programme began with two ‘round-table’ meetings of interested parties – one at the Ministry of Education and one at the Ministry of Health. We were relieved to hear both the Chief Inspector of Schools and the Director of the National Curriculum Development Council (NCDC) confirm that the proposed distribution of reading books to primary schools was particularly timely and would enhance their own current drive to promote a ‘reading culture’ among Basotho children.

It was also reassuring that the Schools Supply Unit foresaw no difficulty in receiving, storing and finally distributing the books when they arrived from Wales. It was agreed that the first consignment (from Anglesey) should be distributed among the 136 primary schools of the Mafeteng District. We were able to visit Mafeteng and meet with the District Education Officer, who was delighted at the prospect of each of her primary schools receiving a large parcel of books when the new term began in January. Later she wrote us, “Teachers have been overwhelmed and I am too! The books we received are simple and so many relate to the stories our mothers and grandmothers passed on to us.”

There was more relief when both the Curriculum Council and the National Teachers Training College were enthusiastic about our proposed use of the ‘working workshop’ method, which would involve classroom teachers in producing new material. We spent a morning with nine subject specialists at the Curriculum Council where it was agreed that we should concentrate on producing material for subjects which had only recently been included in the school curriculum and for which few, if any, teaching aids existed. These subjects turned out to be Music (with Art and Drama) and Physical Education, Health and Sport.

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On the health side it was agreed that the project should major on training trainers in the too-often neglected area of mental health. It was agreed that those to be trained would include Public Health Nurses, Psychiatric Nurses, Social Workers, Senior Health Assistants and Health Inspectors. Those who had received this training would then, using material produced at the workshop, run courses at village level for groups of Village Health Workers.

The National Lottery funding also enabled us to establish an office in Maseru for the first time and, some 12 months after Delyth’s appointment, we were able to appoint ’Me Lineo Phachaka as the Director, based in accommodation in the former British Council building in Maseru. ’Me Lineo was formerly the adviser on Special Needs to the Government of Lesotho (Chapter 14). Lesotho-Wales Link was also established as an independent NGO, a significant principle in terms of empowerment, although funding for the activities in the Maseru office comes predominantly from Wales. The investment has generally felt to be very rewarding in terms of progress, as so many aspects of the link are organised through the office in Lesotho. Crucially, during ’Me Lineo’s tenure, the office has witnessed a transformation in communication with the advent of e-mail. Prior to this, communication was poor, reliant either on expensive phone calls, unreliable post or intermittent visitors carrying messages!

The ‘office’ has been strengthened in recent years as other personnel have joined ’Me Lineo, notably Thato Makumane, whose enthusiasm is legend and, latterly, ’Me Bernadette ’Mapalesa Thipa who joined the office in a developmental role in summer 2006. It was able to continue at this central site until 2005, largely through the good grace of ’Me Keke Tsekoa, the Director of UNESCO, which had taken the building over from the British Council when they terminated their presence in Lesotho. Pressures on the space grew, however, and Dolen were delighted when the Minister of Foreign Affairs was able to secure, rent free, new and extended accommodation in the former offices of Danaid, the Danish aid organisation.

Back in Wales, Delyth turned her attention to getting the book collection campaign under way. She decided to begin with schools in Gwynedd and Conwy. The fact that so many of the schools knew something about Lesotho through their use of the Khotso! work pack was a real advantage. As books

88 Wales’ African Twin flowed in to a storeroom lent by Bangor Library, volunteer teachers met to sort through the piles, ensuring that each box sent would contain a balance between reading ages and fiction and non-fiction. Two hundred large boxes were prepared and 15 Bangor postmen volunteered to help children from nearby schools to load the container.

The campaign moved next to Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion. After that it was Neath-Port Talbot and Bridgend. “Giving a book is a small sacrifice in our comparatively affluent society,” said Bridgend Director of Education, David Mathews. “But every gift will be a valuable contribution to children who are struggling to read with few books to help them.” Neath MP and Welsh Education Minister Peter Hain wrote to all primary Head Teachers in Neath-Port Talbot urging a generous response.

Mrs Sian Ashton, Deputy Head of Cefn Glas Infants School, Bridgend, wrote to describe how the children had learned from the exercise. “The children from all classes, from Nursery to Year 2 brought in hundreds of books – enough to fill 20 boxes. We put together all sorts of information about Lesotho, and some of the children did their own research at home on computers and from reference books. Two of our dads had visited Lesotho and sent in photos, posters and Basotho hats to add to our display. We compiled a simple facts file comparing Wales with Lesotho. The children in Year 1 and Year 2 took home the facts to learn and we had a Grand Quiz with prizes of chocolates and pound coins. It was fantastic.”

Altogether 1,418 boxes were sent to Lesotho. They were donated by children from 300 Welsh primary schools in 16 Local Education Authorities and shipped out in four containers.

Newspapers enjoyed thinking up a variety of headline puns as they reported on the different collections in different parts of Wales. “A new chapter for African children as books flow in” (Daily Post). “Booking a passage to Lesotho” (Cambrian News). “Children put action into words” (Daily Post). “Pupils’ books are bound for Lesotho” (Neath Guardian). “Youngsters book in to help others” (South Wales Echo). “Going by the book to help the Third World” (Chester Chronicle). Above a story about postmen from the Royal

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Mail helping to load 200 boxes onto a container in Pontyberem, the Llanelli Star had, “First class aid for Welsh children”.

It was not all without mishap and drama. In September 1998 military intervention by SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) troops from South Africa and Botswana was requested by the Government of Lesotho to help deal with a difficult internal situation. The operation was not managed well and parts of the capital, Maseru, were destroyed by fire. One building completely gutted was a new storeroom belonging to the School Supplies Unit which contained 400 boxes from Wales waiting to be distributed. “The children of Wales had meant them for our disadvantaged children,” said Mrs Keke Tsekoa, Vice-Chairman of the Link Committee in Lesotho. “They had given them with love. So much of the capital has been destroyed, but this factor makes the loss especially sad.”

The Schools Supplies Unit pleaded for even more books to be sent and, if possible, for those lost to be replaced. On hearing what had happened, Dafydd Wigley, the Member of Parliament for Caernarfon, got in touch. Was there anything he could do? Would Dolen Cymru like him to arrange a meeting with Clare Short MP, the Secretary of State for International Development?

Subsequently Dafydd Wigley accompanied Delyth and myself into our meeting with Clare Short where, over coffee, we told her what had happened. She listened intently, asking several questions about Dolen Cymru. She was intrigued to know how Lesotho had been chosen as Wales’ twin. She promised to see what she could do. In a letter sent to Dafydd Wigley the following March (1999), she said her department in South Africa had been in touch with the Lesotho Ministry of Education and confirmed the loss of the books, “particularly readers for primary school children”. She went on, “Our intention is to supply these items. Our order will cover the replacement of the 400 Welsh boxes destroyed and we will also supply an additional 400 library boxes – at a total cost of £120,000.” “You will see,” wrote the Department’s Pretoria-based Programme Manager, “that our contribution matches precisely the value of the original Welsh donation of books.” So, on this occasion, good came out of tragedy and second-hand books were replaced with new ones!

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In addition to sending reading books, the project enabled Dolen to supply key reference books to the value of £23,000. They were housed in the Education Resource Centre in each of Lesotho’s ten Districts. Items provided included atlases and dictionaries and some books especially useful for teaching the new subjects that had been added to the primary curriculum – Music and Physical Education and Health. For example, each of the ten District Centres received 60 copies of Funway Theory of Music and 30 copies of A-Z of Health and Safety.

The idea of producing teaching material by using inter-active ‘working workshops’ was the novel concept in the three-year Lottery-funded project. It was certainly appreciated by the Basotho teachers who took part. The pattern developed was to invite two key figures in the process to come to Wales for a short study visit prior to holding the workshop in Lesotho. During this preparatory time in Wales, suitably qualified facilitators would be identified and invited to Lesotho. The same pattern would be used for the ‘training of trainers’ mental health workshops.

Music was chosen for the first year of the educational side of the project. Phatsa Motsoane, subject specialist in Music at the Curriculum Development Centre, and L G Makheri, District Education Officer for Qacha’s Nek and a keen musician, came to prepare the workshop. The two were eager to see how primary schools in Wales taught music. As the Welsh curriculum laid down three main components – composing, performing and appreciation – they visited a wide variety of schools to see these different aspects being taught. Many schools were then preparing for the up-coming Urdd Eisteddfod, so there was no shortage of performing talent on display. They were received at the School of Education at University College, Bangor and invited to attend a lecture given to students specialising in teaching music. They held talks with Music Advisers and choir conductors and sat in on a rehearsal of the Pontarddulais Male Voice Choir. They formed a strong bond with Gwynedd Music Adviser Buddug Roberts, who accepted their invitation to be one of the facilitators of the workshop in Lesotho.

Toni Schiavone was Buddug’s co-facilitator. Toni’s expertise lay in the process, Buddug’s in the subject. The result of five full days of intensive work with 20 Basotho primary school teachers, plus input from Phatsa

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Motsoane, was the draft of a completely original handbook: Mino – Guidelines for Teachers and Pupil Activities. “Mino” is Sesotho for “music”. “This method of producing material is challenging enough in itself,” reflects Buddug, “let alone when those making up the working group are people of different colour, culture and background. Yet it worked! Teachers worked in groups to produce different pages of the book. It has turned out to be a collection of very interesting and original ideas.”

The following year it was the turn of PE – or rather Physical Education, Health and Sport. Spring visitors to Wales in advance of the summer (winter in Lesotho) workshop were Mrs Puisano Tsosane, subject specialist in Physical Education, and Letsoha Mantutle, Sports Organiser for the Butha-Buthe District of Lesotho. Starting with time spent at the Powys Health Promotion Unit, their study visit included discussions with PE lecturers and Advisers and visits to see how PE and Health Education were being taught in schools. We discovered that one of the main things on Letsoha’s mind was whether he might be able to see Manchester United in action! When his wish was granted on the final Saturday of his visit, he returned from the match saying, “I have been to heaven alive!”

Twenty Basotho PE primary teachers gathered for the five-day residential workshop. There they met the two facilitators from Wales, Dr Stephen Lloyd, Adviser on PE/Sport for Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, and Paula Thomas, PE teacher at Ysgol Penweddig in Aberystwyth. What really delighted the Basotho teachers were the 20 sets of simple equipment – bean bags, hoops, balls and rackets – that Stephen and Paula had thoughtfully arranged to be presented to them. Different days saw Gymnastics, Games, Dance, Athletics and Health Education all covered in imaginative ways. “There was lots of laughter,” recalls Paula. “Each day a prize was given for the best ‘pupil’. If they have been able to pass on their enthusiasm for learning with us in the way they now teach, it’s safe to say that the standards of fitness and health in Lesotho can only improve.”

Running in parallel with the education workshops were the ones aimed to build capacity in Lesotho’s resource-starved Health Service. The aim was to address a need identified by two specialists from Powys Health Care NHS Trust who both spent time in Lesotho between 1996-7. Mary Browning, a

92 Wales’ African Twin psychologist, and Dr Andy Scrace, a psychiatrist, discovered that the rudimentary training provided to the key Village Health Workers had up to now not included any element concerning mental health. The ‘training of trainers’ workshop would attempt to address this deficiency.

The advance guard that came to Wales to prepare for this workshop were Mrs Makapasi Possa, Matron of the Mental Illness Hospital at Mohlomi and Mrs Agnes Lepotha, Senior Community Training Officer. Mainly based in Powys, they experienced how mental health services are organised and delivered, from health promotion and provision through to diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation. The two singled out Christine Gittoes, Head of Health Promotion in Powys, to facilitate the workshop in Lesotho.

Those present at the Lesotho workshop –”Training the Trainers in Community Mental Health” – included community health workers, mental health nurses, mental health service providers and nurses from the School of Nursing. “My main role was to facilitate their training and skill development,” says Christine Gittoes. “I soon found that the workshop members were keen to learn and ‘have a go’. We covered health promotion, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation. There were special sessions on depression, epilepsy and alcohol and drug abuse.” The inter-active nature of the workshop was something the Basotho warmed to immediately. This was a relief as it contrasted with the didactic approach normally seen in training programmes in the country.

One fruit of the workshop was a Mental Health Training Handbook which was printed in Sesotho. Simple to understand and user friendly, it is widely used in village-level training programmes. Rural workshops, run by those who had been trained, were held in four pilot Districts – two highland and two lowland – Mokhotlong, Tebellong, Roma and Mafeteng. Each of these was attended by up to 30 Village Health Workers many of whom walked for hours to participate and all for no financial recompense.

Another need that was voiced from many quarters, especially as the scourge of AIDS began to make its impact felt, was for some training in basic (generic) counselling skills. Mrs Lebaka, a psychiatric nurse trainer, came to Wales to see what help might be available. She wanted to learn about different approaches to counselling and psychotherapy. After talks with several experts,

93 Wales’ African Twin two potential facilitators were identified to lead a workshop back in Lesotho. They were Dr Jane Gilbert, a Clinical Psychologist from Penrith, who specialised in cross-cultural approaches to mental health, and Jody Mardula who was training counsellors in North Wales to work with those who had drug or alcohol dependency.

There were 30 participants in the eagerly-awaited residential workshop. It was held in the Blue Mountain Inn at Teyateyaneng. “It was an ideal setting,” remembers Jody, “with spacious gardens where we had barbecues and our coffee breaks were held in the warm winter sun. I knew a lot I had brought to Lesotho was new and of interest to those taking part, but also so much of what they brought to the workshop was new to me – a joint learning experience.” Jane and Jody left behind them a counselling training programme that could easily be used to train others.

The project’s monitors at the National Lottery Board (by then the Community Fund) professed themselves more than satisfied, both with the results achieved and in the way their grant had been accounted for. In signing off the three- year project, Melanie Ogle, International Grants Officer, wrote, “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dolen Cymru for its commitment to the project. From the file I can tell that other Grants Officers also appreciated your thorough and transparent reporting. I am pleased with the progress made on tasks and benefits. I was especially impressed with the links made with other NGOs during the project and the participatory approach to monitoring the project.”

Despite these accolades, a bid for further funding to widen and extend the work of supporting Lesotho’s efforts in health and education on the lines pioneered in the project, through submitting a “development re-application”, was unsuccessful. Sadly, Delyth had to leave her post. As they warn, you can’t win every time! It was time to move on.

Another hiatus followed. This time, having had a taste of Delyth Lloyd as a full-time Project Manager, the void was even greater. Something had to be done and done urgently to ensure the momentum of development was not lost. Approaches were made to the Department of Education, Training and Lifelong Learning in the National Assembly and advice sought. The words,

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“Dolen has always been good news to this office since its inception” clearly left an impression and we were encouraged to submit a formal proposal for funding. This was to prove successful and a crucial point in the way ahead.

It was April 2002 when the Welsh Assembly Government announced their three-year grant to fund a Director of Development for Dolen Cymru. “This funding will help build on the links already established between Wales and Lesotho,” said Minister of Education and Life-Long Learning Jane Davidson in a press statement. “I very much hope they will flourish further. It will benefit teaching and learning in both countries.”

Dolen had begun its life in two separate offices in Wrexham prior to settling in an excellent voluntary sector location in Bangor. With the need to appoint a new Director and appreciating the increasing impact of the National Assembly on Welsh life, an important decision had to be made. Where to locate the new Director? Should Dolen move to Cardiff, where so many of the voluntary sector organisations involved in development were based? Such a move would also assist with the need to ‘network’ with the new generation of politicians in Cardiff Bay. Following much agonising, it became clear that only one decision was possible and Dolen made its move to an office at the Exchange in Mount Stuart Square.

Dyfan Jones joined us as the new Director. With a background in public relations and politics with NUT Cymru (National Union of Teachers, Wales), he had many attributes which could be employed effectively in the new role. Under his leadership, the teacher exchange programme gathered pace and in 2005 the Minister extended the Assembly Government’s core funding for another three years. In addition generous separate funding was given, not only to continue the regular exchanges of teachers in linked schools, but also for a new scheme of longer teacher placements in Lesotho. The British Council offered additional support for this programme. Under the terms of this project teachers would spend six months teaching and also give training in Lesotho. “Besides the experience this will give to Welsh teachers, it will make a significant difference in Lesotho,” commented Dyfan. “The introduction of free primary education has seen pupil numbers rocket. The Teacher Placement Programme will help address this issue as well as assist with the training of

95 Wales’ African Twin teachers in Lesotho.” A total of 24 teachers will be involved over a three- year period.

The 2006 programme was evaluated and proved highly effective for all parties. The experience will be repeated over the three-year period. There was, however, great sadness for all when, at the end of the first sixth month period, one of the teachers collapsed and died as she arrived back at Heathrow. Her death was not directly related to her experience in Lesotho, but the incident brought into sharp focus issues of health and safety for those spending time in the country under the aegis of Dolen Cymru.

Dyfan left in the autumn of 2005 to spend time in South America before working for a civil rights organisation in Bolivia. He was followed as Executive Director by Cathrin Daniel. Before taking up her post with Dolen, Cathrin had plenty of international experience, first with UNA Exchange and then with VSO’s World Youth Programme in Nigeria. Dyfan’s experience with Dolen and involvement in Lesotho was to re-emerge in 2007 when he was appointed as a UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Support Specialist drawing together the HIV responses of the National Assembly and the Senate. He has remained a useful ally in the field offering support and advice on a regular basis.

96 Wales’ African Twin 12. “A deeper relationship” Links between the Churches

The fact that the former Archbishop of Wales, the Rt Rev Dr Gwilym O Williams, helped to found the link and became its first President, ensured that the churches would always play a significant part. “We want our link to be of benefit to Lesotho, especially in fostering friendship and understanding, without which material aid can be condescending and hurtful,” he wrote in a message printed in Dolen Cymru’s first Newsletter. “But from the start we have seen the link as necessary for Wales. We have a fine tradition of care for other small nations and need to build on this so that, whatever our own difficulties and differences among ourselves, we can make our proper contribution to the family of nations and further our own development within one interdependent world.”

The Archbishop’s vision was both for Wales as a whole to make a particular international contribution in its own right and also for the part the Welsh churches could play in such an endeavour. An early ally in this was Bishop Graham Chadwick, then living in St Asaph where he served as Assistant Bishop. It was Bishop Chadwick, with his long first-hand experience of Lesotho, who made the first introductions to the Anglican Bishop of Lesotho, Philip Mokuku.

The response of Bishop Mokuku, who turned out to be Secretary of the Lesotho Heads of Churches, was immediate and warm. “News about the Lesotho- Wales Link is very exciting,” he wrote in July 1985. “The Heads of Churches in Lesotho, with whose consent I am writing, ask me to express their appreciation for the information. They further wish me to say that they would be happy to support the link at all levels in whatever ways they could.” He noted with appreciation that Bishop Chadwick was a member of the link Committee in Wales. “Since he knows us so well, he will no doubt be a source of inspiration and encouragement to all concerned.”

Bishop Mokuku’s care to write specifically as Secretary of the Lesotho Heads of Churches showed the importance he placed from the start on the ecumenical

97 Wales’ African Twin aspect of the link. “You help us as churches in Lesotho to come closer together,” he was to write later in this context. The ecumenical emphasis was also reflected by the wholehearted support of the Council of Churches for Wales (later Churches Together in Wales or CYTUN) through its General Secretary, the Rev Noël A Davies. “Let me assure you of the Council for Churches in Wales’ support,” he wrote in May that year. “The Executive Committee has been asked to investigate the possibility of direct links between the Council of Churches and any similar body within Lesotho and has agreed also that we should seek to find ways of encouraging the churches at national, regional and local level to foster links with similar church groups within Lesotho.”

It was during his brief visit to Lesotho in February 1986 that the Rev Davies took the opportunity to invite the Chairman and Secretary of the Christian Council of Lesotho to come to Wales. They were invited particularly to participate in a workshop on the link and its potential at a major festival being organised by the Welsh churches. The day-long event, “Teulu Duw” (God’s Family), was held in the grounds of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show at Llanelwedd. Guest of honour was Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

After taking part in the well-attended workshop, chaired by Dr Carl Clowes, the guests (Rev Daniel Senkhane, Chairman, and Rev Michael Worsnip, Secretary, of the Christian Council of Lesotho) spent a few days in North Wales conferring with Bishop Gwilym Williams and other Dolen officers. Possible future links were discussed, including one between the Anglican Chaplaincy at Bangor University and the University Chaplaincy at Roma. The visitors took time out to visit the Urdd National Eisteddfod at Bethesda, where they received a welcome from the Eisteddfod stage. One result of the chaplaincy link was that a Bangor theology student, Wayne Crocker – later to become Dolen’s Chair – went to spend a year working with the Anglican Church in Lesotho, based at the theological Seminary in Roma.

Taking advantage of the attendance of Bishop Mokuku at the Lambeth Conference in the summer of 1988, Bishop Chadwick and Rev Noël Davies invited him to make a ten-day stop-over in Wales. It proved to be an important time, when understanding was established and the basis of a lasting friendship laid. “We are a poor country, but as a sister nation you make us aware of our

98 Wales’ African Twin own riches and the things we have to contribute,” he said during an address delivered at Bangor Cathedral. “You say to us, ‘You are not as poor as you think.’ For us in Lesotho linking with Wales can be a healing thing.” Writing after his return home he said, “It is my intention to disseminate information about the Wales-Lesotho link at every available opportunity. My visit to Wales, especially my meeting with the members of the Dolen Cymru Committee, has equipped me for this task.”

It was during this time that the seeds were sown for a visit to Lesotho by senior representatives of the Welsh Churches. It was agreed that a delegation of three would be ideal, so that the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Free Churches could all be represented. The date was set for February 1990. The three to represent all the churches were Bishop Roy Davies of Llandaff (Church-in-Wales), Bishop James Hannigan of Wrexham (Roman Catholic) and Rev Dafydd Owen, President of the Free Church Council of Wales (who was also General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Wales). As they made their preparations, Bishop Mokuku was encouraging. “News of your planned visit has been received here with enthusiasm,” he wrote, “and the visitors will be welcomed with great joy and cheers. We consider the coming of this delegation as an invitation to the Lesotho churches to be actively involved in the link.”

“I cannot forget the experience of blessing hundreds and hundreds of children and young people, particularly when I remember the shortage of children and young people in our own congregations,” wrote Bishop Davies in the diary that he kept of each day’s activities. It is worth quoting at some length from a passage in this diary where he describes what happened on his first Sunday in Lesotho. “If you want to see a cross-section of the population, what about going to church? In Lesotho that is just the place to do it.

“I began by preaching at the eight o’clock service in the Cathedral. Although this service was in English, there were only black faces to be seen all around. There was just five minutes breathing space before beginning again at nine- thirty – with a service in Sesotho. The church had been full at eight, but now it was overflowing. I presented a letter from the Archbishop of Wales to the Bishop of Lesotho. This was the official greeting from the Church-in-Wales. I also presented him with a copy of the new Welsh Bible, a symbol of the

99 Wales’ African Twin firm link that connects us to our path. Light was the theme of my message – it was the ceremony of Candlemass – with Christ the light of the world in the centre of everything. My message was translated sentence by sentence. After the communion it was the children’s turn – so there I was joining the other two bishops in blessing the children – hundreds of them in my reckoning. Some very young ones came on their mothers’ backs, or on the backs of other children.

“After three hours of services it soon became apparent that there was to be no let up in our programme as we, together with the church leaders who had welcomed us to the country, were to have lunch with the King. It turned out to be on the Palace lawns in a spot without any shade at all. I was at the Crown Prince’s table. He had been educated at Ampleforth (the Catholic school in England) and we talked to the sound of three choirs which had been invited to entertain us. The King took pity on those of us who were suffering from the heat and had large umbrellas placed at each table. That certainly was an improvement.”

The Rev Dafydd Owen recorded similar experiences. Besides preaching in an over-flowing LEC (Lesotho Evangelical ) church in Maseru, he took part in two huge outdoor services. One, on a Thursday morning, was in the hill town of Mokhotlong. The other, on the last Sunday of the visit, was at Mafeteng in the lowlands. “As there was no building large enough in either place for the hundreds who were expected, both services were held in the open air. Choirs from the main denominations took part, dressed in their contrasting, colourful costumes. In Mokhotlong all the schools were closed for the day in order that the children could be present. So hundreds came.

“On both occasions ministers and priests from all of the local churches were present, as well as the Principal Chief representing the King and the District Military Officer. Both services were extremely lively and happy affairs with much singing and dancing, everyone being thanked and welcomed and consequently both lasting over three hours. The two vast congregations had come together to celebrate, to worship and enjoy themselves and it was as if time did not matter at all.”

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Bishop Hannigan, like the others, was struck by the number of links with Wales they kept coming across. “It was almost like being home in Wales. And everywhere we went we had choirs!”

There is no doubt that the visit made a very deep impression. In a letter from Bishop Mokuku shortly after the delegation’s return, he described their time in Lesotho as “enriching in every way”. He went on, “It cannot be measured in terms of cash, because its spiritual dimension has been truly invaluable. Their message and loving concern are here to stay, now and always. We have seen Dafydd, James and Roy as messengers and true apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Good things are going to happen as a result of the visit.”

It had repercussions in Wales too, as the three reported back – both to the Council of Churches for Wales and to their own churches. Later that year the Governing Body of the Church-in-Wales, meeting for its conference in Lampeter, decided to send all the collections taken at Eucharist services through the week (£1,000) to the Anglican Diocese of Lesotho. Bishop Hannigan agreed to be part of a new Dolen Cymru Churches Sub-Committee to help take things forward in an energetic way.

This Committee began meeting in the home of the Bishop of St Asaph, the Rt Rev Alwyn Rice Jones, who agreed to chair proceedings. At this first meeting Bishop Hannigan gave a full account of his visit to Lesotho. Those present were immediately inspired to begin planning a return visit of Lesotho Church leaders to Wales. By the time of the Sub-Committee’s next meeting in early January 1992, Bishop Alwyn Rice Jones had been elected Archbishop of Wales. He nevertheless continued as Chairman for the next five years. Like Archbishop Gwilym Williams before him, Archbishop Rice Jones had a personal appreciation of the deeper significance of the link for the life of Wales and in the wider world. “I see the link, in its endeavour to bring two peoples and cultures together, as part of a mission God has entrusted us with,” he said in an address to Dolen’s 1996 AGM in Llangefni. “As we strengthen the relationship between us, it is part of His general work of reconciliation in the world. Building community is part of God’s commission. We want to give dignity to the people of Lesotho, just as they can give new unity and dignity to us. This in its turn is part of the transformation of society, which is at the heart of the Gospel and in which we are called upon to be engaged.”

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The return visit was planned jointly with the Welsh Church Leaders and CYTUN (Churches Together in Wales). A delegation of four arrived in May 1993 and their visit proved to be seminal for the future of church linking. The delegation was headed by Bishop Mokuku in his role as Secretary to the Lesotho Heads of Churches. With him was the Catholic Bishop of Leribe, Paul Khoarai, the Rev Gilbert Sibolla, President of the Lesotho Evangelical Church, and Miss Seeng Ntsaba, Youth Coordinator for the Christian Council of Lesotho.

The four were welcomed in Cardiff at a reception for ministers, priests and clergy from all over South Wales, hosted jointly by the Archbishop of Wales and the Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff. After a few days in Cardiff the group divided into two to cover as much of the rest of Wales as possible. Between them they participated in services in 22 churches or chapels as well as attending smaller meetings and receptions. “They were warmly received wherever they went,” recorded Noël Davies. “They made a considerable contribution to mutual understanding between churches in Wales and Lesotho.”

The visit concluded with a session of planning for the future, chaired by Archbishop Alwyn. There were two main suggestions – to inaugurate a series of ecumenical church youth exchanges and to seek ways in which Wales could cooperate with the Lesotho churches in the field of AIDS education. The two priorities identified set the agenda for the immediate years ahead. One by-product of the time the visitors had spent together in Wales was a strengthening of friendship, understanding and cooperation among themselves. “Though we often met in formal settings when representing our churches, we had never spent so much relaxed time in each other’s company as we have in the past two weeks,” they said.

“The message of the link has been received here with great enthusiasm,” reported Bishop Mokuku on his return. “I had immediate opportunities to share my experiences in Wales with large crowds, with groups and with individuals. We feel God has given us and our people a second home.” In Wales, Archbishop Rice Jones commented that the visit had touched many sectors of Welsh life that had not been exposed to the link before. “It has

102 Wales’ African Twin strengthened our resolve to carry on. The relationship should continue as an ecumenical endeavour. It can help cement our own concept of CYTUN.”

One connection it was decided to develop immediately was a link through prayer. Already Rev E H Griffiths, Methodist Superintendent Minister in Rhyl and a member of the Dolen Cymru Churches Sub-Committee, had written an ‘official prayer’ for Dolen Cymru. It offers thanks for “the special bond of friendship” that has been forged between Wales and Lesotho and asks that “the spirit of unselfish care for one another may penetrate every aspect of the life of both our countries”. It ends, “We pray for peace, justice and prosperity within our borders, that this unique bridge across the continents may be the means of helping both our small nations to contribute towards building a better world.”

On their return the Basotho Church leaders worked on an ecumenical prayer calendar which listed one prayer request for each day of the month. The Welsh churches responded, entrusting the task of writing the Welsh prayer requests to the Rev Gwilym Ceiriog Evans, who was then Warden at the Presbyterian Centre in Trefeca, Powys. The joint Ecumenical Prayer Calendar was printed in three languages and published by CYTUN and Dolen Cymru. In a short introductory note, Rev Noël Davies wrote, “Congregations and individuals in both countries are invited to use it regularly. We believe that it is through such shared prayer for each other that we will grow into a deeper relationship.”

Interestingly, on Day 26 the prayer request was for the AIDS Education Unit at the Christian Council of Lesotho. In August 1994, in response to the request made by the Lesotho Church leaders the previous year, Dr Heather Snidle from Cardiff University’s Centre for Social Work Studies, and Father Paul Kinsey, the Archbishop of Wales’ Adviser on AIDS, travelled to Lesotho to assess what support was needed for education and care needs relating to the onset of AIDS. They reported that the church leaders were keen to involve their clergy and congregations in AIDS education and in the development of home-based care. Would facilitators from Wales be able to help run a series of workshops?

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The first workshop was organised in September 1995. This time Dr Snidle was accompanied by Rev David Yeoman. It was to be the first of nine successive annual workshops facilitated from Wales. “Our course aimed to give an understanding of what AIDS is and how it is transmitted,” said Dr Snidle. “We looked at testing, pre and post test counselling and the effect on the family. Workshop members came from five of the main churches and from the Christian Council of Lesotho.” Drawn from both urban and rural environments, they included clergy, teachers, nurses and church community and youth workers. “Now we will be able to educate the youth in our churches,” said one participant. “The church has yet to play its proper role to help those suffering with AIDS.”

The following year’s workshop was prepared particularly for the church leaders. The facilitating team was expanded to include the Rev Martin Wilson of the Roman Catholic Church in Wales. “We saw the process as one of learning together,” commented Dr Snidle. “They had to decide what was applicable to Lesotho.” At the conclusion, the 24 church leaders committed themselves to better cooperation among themselves and closer cooperation with the Ministries of Health and Education. They resolved to form an inter- church AIDS Forum and to look at ways of sharing educational materials. “You have really opened our eyes,” said one. “Thank you for coming and for your love.”

The other strand suggested when the Lesotho church leaders were in Wales – exchanges between young people in the churches – similarly received prompt attention. By September 1994 five young Basotho, representing the Catholic, Anglican, Lesotho Evangelical and Methodist churches were in Wales for three and a half weeks. “We are going back full of determination that this programme must continue,” said Makomosala Qhobela (later to become Chairman of the Lesotho-Wales Link Committee in Maseru). “We came here as pioneers of these youth exchanges. The future of this programme is in our hands.”

The return visit took place in January 1996. Six took part – all youth leaders or youth workers in their respective churches. “It was a revelation to me,” said Sioned Vaughan Hughes, who represented the Presbyterian Church of Wales. “I realised for the first time how fortunate I was to live in a developed

104 Wales’ African Twin country with all the conveniences of life. Seeing such liveliness among the Basotho Christians has helped me not to become down-hearted at the state of the churches here in Wales. It has given me a new challenge and a new energy to keep going.” “The way they structure youth work ecumenically in Lesotho is something we could well work on in Wales,” observed Ioan Rhys Jones from the Union of Welsh Independent Churches. “We are forming a Dolen Cymru Youth Network out of the group that went. Our first task will be to plan the next in-coming visit of young people from the Lesotho churches.”

Members of this Youth Network worked together on a statement of their aims. This read, “To serve Jesus Christ by developing an active partnership between young Christians in Lesotho and Wales in order to generate mutual friendship, love, compassion and understanding, and develop the ability of the churches in both countries to minister to young people.” The Network duly planned the programme for, and then hosted, ten youth leaders from the Lesotho churches over Easter 1998.

Two from the Network acted as leaders for the next Welsh contingent of nine, drawn from six denominations, which travelled to Lesotho the following year. Ioan Jones was one of them. “Although we went as individuals,” he said, “we also went as representatives of the youth of Wales to show concern, solidarity and understanding for the people of our twin country. The welcome was overwhelming – whether at formal church meetings or when we joined in a football game, or on the roadside as we went from place to place.” “At the airport a whole crew from the Christian Council Youth Committee was up on the balcony to welcome us,” added Harriet Williams from the Church- in-Wales. “When we came out of customs they all surged around us.”

Although it would have been possible to continue with this pattern of youth exchange visits, the Churches Sub-Committee began to ask whether it might be more helpful to the development of church youth work in Lesotho if fewer came for longer, with a more focused agenda. As a start, the Christian Council of Lesotho was asked to select two who could spend a month to six weeks in the Autumn of 2001 shadowing the work of church youth officers in Wales.

The two who arrived were Seabata Makoae, National Organiser of the Student Christian Movement (SCM) in Lesotho, and Mojalemeng Khomari from the

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Methodist Church of Southern Africa. “We hope our visit will help strengthen the vital youth work in both our countries,” said Seabata. “In different ways we both face a huge challenge.” After working with several church youth officers and attending a number of week-end conferences and courses, they asked for help with leadership training in Lesotho. They pointed out that young people make up 65 % of the population but there were hardly any paid posts in church youth work. “Africa’s greatest hope is our young people,” they said. “Lack of relevant leadership techniques and inadequacy of professional youth work training are hindering the service of youth work. Leadership development is vital.”

One of those they talked to about this was Dafydd Owen, Youth Officer for the Bangor Diocese. With the backing of his Bishop, the Rt Rev Saunders Davies (an enthusiastic member of the Churches Sub-Committee) Dafydd agreed to undertake a fact-finding mission to see what was needed and what could be offered. As part of his visit he was asked to address a national youth conference organised by the SCM. He travelled all round Lesotho meeting youth groups and youth officers. “It was a real morale-booster for those in the Christian youth work field that Dolen Cymru and the Welsh churches were taking sufficient interest in their needs to sponsor my visit,” he said at the time. Sadly, Dafydd has since died of cancer.

The result of all this was a workshop held in Morija in October 2004 where two Welsh facilitators were able to deliver a training course on leadership. The two who went from Wales were Rev Nan Wyn Powell-Davies and Rev Aled Davies. Nan Wyn had much earlier spent six months in Lesotho, living and working at the Lesotho Save the Children Village for orphans and handicapped children. She had also been back in Lesotho to evaluate the first church youth exchanges. Now a minister, she has had much experience of youth work in the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Aled Davies was General Secretary of the Council for Sunday Schools and Christian Education in Wales. Twelve Basotho were trained (the numbers were disappointing as many more had been expected from different parts of the country) at the workshop, using the course, “What every youth leader should know”. “Nine seminars were compressed into three very busy but worthwhile days,” reported Nan. Three regional workshops, using the same material, were subsequently conducted by the SCM to hand on the training to many more.

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One initiative of the Churches Sub-Committee under the chairmanship of the Bishop of Wrexham, Edwin Regan was to invite Bishop Mokuku, by now retired as Anglican Bishop of Lesotho, to undertake a lecture tour of Wales. The November 2000 tour – five lectures delivered in Wrexham, Bangor, Aberystwyth, Carmarthen and Cardiff – was billed as the Churches Lesotho Millennium Lectures. Bishop Mokuku’s theme was, “Our experience of Christian Unity in Lesotho”. The churches in Lesotho have played a strong mediating role nationally, particularly making their reconciling voice heard during the turbulent transfers of government into and out of military rule.

During a sermon in Bangor Cathedral, Bishop Philip spoke of “the ever- increasing dimensions” of the link between Wales and Lesotho. “It helps both our small countries become outward-looking,” he said. “This is essential to a healthy life. You have to breathe in and breathe out.” He in turn was impressed with the ecumenical sprit he encountered everywhere he went in Wales. “I feel inspired and ‘anointed’ to do my best to strengthen our response in Lesotho on my return,” he said.

Perhaps because of the strong emphasis on the ecumenical nature of the links between the churches in the two countries, the history of individual (one-to- one) church links is patchy. There is great untapped potential here. Churches are small communities which can both give and receive a lot through the process of linking and exchange. There have been very good one-to-one links – sometimes in unexpected quarters. For example, the Carmelite Sisters at Dolgellau, a closed contemplative order, have stayed in contact with two sister orders in Lesotho. These are the Anglican Sisters of the Precious Blood in Masite and the Catholic Community of the Holy Family in Roma. “Like us, the Sisters in Masite live on a hillside with wonderful views, but they have no electricity,” wrote the Dolgellau Sisters. “We were able to share in their celebration of a golden jubilee and we will share with them a celebration of a 90th birthday and our Novice’s first vows.” A few years later Sister John Baptist, the Prioress at Dolgellau, wrote, “We have felt our spiritual horizons stretched to new limits with this link. We share our joys and sorrows. We thank God for this friendship which supports us in our intercession for the world.” Another community in Wales, the Tÿ Mawr Convent in Monmouth, have their own link with the Sisters in Masite.

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One early link was that between the Church of the Resurrection in Ely, Cardiff, and the Church of the Resurrection in Maseru. When Bishop Roy Davies was in Lesotho he took with him the Christmas offering from the Cardiff church as a gift to its link church, along with presents for the priest, Mothers Union and children. There was, too, a great welcome for the Rev Bob Morgan and his wife Elaine when they visited their sister church two years later. Rev Morgan was Vicar of the Church of the Resurrection in Ely. He was in Lesotho on an official visit as Chairman of South Glamorgan County Council.

One example of a long-running link is that between St John’s Methodist Church in Bangor and the Methodist Church in Mafeteng. The link includes the Circuits of both churches. As St John’s has a small trust fund at its disposal, it has, exceptionally, been able to offer some very practical support over the years. The Mafeteng Methodist Circuit is responsible for one secondary and four primary schools. One of the first ways the Bangor church helped was to respond to a plea from the Headmaster of the secondary school, Matsepe High School, for help with his new science laboratory. He had an empty shell – a brand new building – but no furniture or equipment for it. In 1997 £7,000 was sent to get the new lab up and running. When it was discovered that there was no electricity in the school a further £5,000 was sent to enable the school to be connected to the grid. In its autumn 1999 edition the school Newsletter ran a story under the heading, “High School Lights Up”, illustrated with a row of light bulbs. “New lights have been seen in the sky over Mafeteng,” it read. “They are the lights of our school campus. Electricity has at last come to our school. Thanks to the generous donation of the Bangor Methodist community, teachers and students are now enjoying its benefits.”

This perhaps explains the warmth of the welcome given to Rev Christine Dybdahl of Bangor when she visited in February that year. Her welcome at the school went on all day! During the three weeks she was in Mafeteng she preached in different churches, led days with the Manyana (women’s society) and visited all of the Circuit’s schools. “Most of the children had never seen a train,” she recalls. “When I gave the children at one primary school tea towels with Welsh trains on them, there were gasps of delight.” She was determined to stress that the link was about more than money. “It’s about connecting people. Among the pictures I took with me were several of the

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Menai Bridge which I used as a symbol of the bridges of friendship we hope to build. I want the relationship to be one of giving and receiving on both sides.”

In early 2004 Rev Mokgethi Dietsiso and his wife Suzan from Mafeteng Methodist Church spent ten days in Bangor preaching in the church and getting to know people around the Circuit. “Your visit has brought the link to life for all of us,” said Rev Peter Brant. “We feel we have been enriched.” Practical support for Mafeteng has continued, firstly with start-up help for an income- generating poultry project run by the Circuit and secondly through a three- year scheme to support the four primary schools in securing basic classroom and sports equipment.

In South Wales, the churches of Penarth decided to make a street children project in Maseru the beneficiary of their Millennium Year appeal. Over the years visitors from Wales have supported (and even stayed at) this project which is run by the Lesotho Girl Guides. Just before the Penarth churches became involved the Women’s Mission of the Presbyterian Church of Wales had sent a gift of £1,000. Churches Together in Penarth set out to raise £2,500 though a whole series of events. Having achieved their target, the churches decided to look at longer-term links and sent out a team of three to explore possibilities of linking up with the churches of Teyateyaneng (TY). The group, headed by Rev Peter Cox, first visited the street children project and then went to spend time in TY, staying in homes and meeting church and regional leaders.

In Cardiff, Tabernacl Baptist Church has developed a vibrant link with Sefika Evangelical Church in Maseru. Tabernacl members Gwenallt and Non Rees were able to visit Sefika Church twice (in 2003 and 2004) and on both occasions felt overwhelmed with the warmth of the welcome they were given. Looking for practical ways to express its concern, Tabernacl decided to support a three-year project to help AIDS orphans. The Sefika Church Support Group helps 61 orphans and children from severely affected families. It provides food, school uniforms and, importantly, money for school fees. By the autumn of 2006, financial support for a school and the development of a clinic at Ha Tsiu village had also been forthcoming from Tabernacl.

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In 2002 a further round of church leaders’ visits was initiated by Bishop Edwin Regan. He has chaired the Churches Sub-Committee since 1997 and had received an invitation from the Catholic Archbishop of Maseru to visit Lesotho. Rather than go alone, he proposed an ecumenical delegation that could represent all the churches. He hoped that a high level visit would re- focus the attention of the Welsh churches on the Lesotho connection. The Bench of Bishops of the Church-in-Wales nominated Bishop Carl Cooper of St Davids and the Free Churches proposed Rev Adrian Williams, the President of the Free Church Council of Wales. They flew out to Lesotho on 23 September 2003.

The “three wise men”, as they were dubbed, obviously enjoyed their visit and each others’ company. “During our ten-day stay,” reported Bishop Cooper, “we felt we had identified a sound basis for future cooperation. A spin off for us was that we felt drawn together with a much deeper sense of fellowship between the three of us and our churches.” They were impressed with the way their host, Archbishop Bernard Mohlalisi, made himself (and his car and driver!) fully available throughout their visit. They found the way the different church leaders accepted each other, and each other’s authority, “fresh and a delight”.

On the Sunday each took part in two church services – one in their own tradition and a second in a different one. For example Bishop Regan officiated at the Mass in the Catholic Cathedral and then addressed the congregation (which included the Prime Minister) at the Lesotho Evangelical church across the road. Adrian Williams told one congregation, “I want to take you all back to Wales with me to teach us how to worship.”

They had two round table meetings with the Lesotho Heads of Churches and with many other individuals and groups, including a packed meeting with church youth leaders chaired by the Archbishop. They were received by King Letsie III and took time out to visit the Royal Village of Matsieng which has special ties with St Davids. They visited schools and AIDS-related projects and were interviewed together by Radio Lesotho. Bishop Cooper emphasised the “horrendous problems” of poverty, hunger and AIDS which the churches were grappling with. Signs of the toll that AIDS was taking were everywhere, noticeably in the number of funerals being held each Saturday.

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At their final meeting with the Lesotho church leaders the three issued an invitation to their Basotho counter-parts to visit Wales in 2005. Four leaders duly arrived, led by Archbishop Mohlalisi. The others in the party were the Anglican Bishop of Lesotho, Joseph Tsubella, the Rev Daniel Rantle of the Methodist Church and Rev John Mokhahlane representing the Assemblies of God. They were welcomed to Wales at a reception hosted by the Archbishop of Wales and the Archbishop of Cardiff, along with the General Secretary of CYTUN.

In Cardiff they were able to meet with both the Dolen Cymru Churches Sub- Committee and the full National Committee. They were received at the National Assembly for Wales by Presiding Officer Lord Elis Thomas, before being welcomed formally at a plenary session. They visited Carmarthen, St Davids, Bangor and Wrexham before attending a large festival day (Y Gymanfa) organised by CYTUN in the grounds of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show at Llanelwedd. It was the scene of that first visit by the Chairman and Secretary of the Christian Council of Lesotho all those years ago in 1986.

111 Wales’ African Twin 13. The Queen, the lifeboat and a new penfriend!

Lesotho is a constitutional monarchy where the king has influence but not power. On independence from Britain in 1966, the line of Paramount Chiefs, going back to the founder of the nation, Moshoeshoe I, adopted the title of King. Traditionally the Paramount Chief had been the centre of power and the transition to a purely constitutional role has not always been easy or straight forward.

When Dolen Cymru was established in 1985 Moshoeshoe II was King, enjoying an uneasy relationship with the dominant and dominating Prime Minister Chief Jonathan. In fact, ever since 1970, when Chief Jonathan had undermined Lesotho’s fledgling parliamentary democracy by annulling elections that seemed to be going against him, there had been not-too-well hidden tensions between him and the Palace. I had met the king when we were both students in Oxford in the late 1950s. We were at different colleges, but had common friends and played tennis together, as well as holding deeper discussions about the meaning of life and where the world was going! My friends and I knew him as Constantine Bereng Seeiso and had heard vaguely that he was a prince somewhere in Africa. I had of course no idea then that our paths would cross much later, when he would be living in temporary exile in London.

The advent of military government, with the overthrow of Chief Jonathan, put the King in a different position. The new Military Council, keen to give itself greater legitimacy, wanted to govern – at least on paper – through the King and his office. They never intended to give him real power and the two sides soon fell out. By early 1990 he had been exiled to the United Kingdom. At first his wife, Queen ’Mamahato Bereng Seeiso, acted as Queen Regent. With mediation by the Lesotho Church leaders, the King’s exile was nearly ended in November 1990. The then High Commissioner, Kenneth Tsekoa (whose task it was to look after the King while in London) rang us with some relief to say that arrangements had been made for the King to fly home with the Bishops, who had come to London to broker an agreement. The very

112 Wales’ African Twin morning of the flight news came that he had been deposed and his son, King Letsie III, installed in his place. Moshoeshoe II never accepted that this was legal, but it was not until January 1995 that he was finally reinstated as King.

I had first met Queen ’Mamahato at a lunch hosted by Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Lynda Chalker, at Lancaster House in London in May 1988.The Queen was on an official visit to the UK to look at projects relating to children’s welfare and special needs provision. Others round the table were the Lesotho High Commissioner, Dr John Kolane and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. As the representative of Dolen Cymru, I was able to present the Queen with a copy of the newly-produced Lesotho- Cymru record with its impressive cover. It was much admired all round! A large part of the conversation was about the link with Wales.

The following year, Ysgol Morgan Llwyd, the secondary school in Wrexham which had an active link with a school in Lesotho, started celebrating Lesotho’s national day, Moshoeshoe Day (11th March), in a novel fashion. The school had learned that a few miles away, across the border into Shropshire, was the grave of a former member of the Lesotho royal family. Jeremiah Libopuoa Moshoeshoe was a younger son of the first King of the Basotho and founder of the nation, Moshoeshoe I. It seems that in 1861 four of the most promising pupils from the Zonnebloem Missionary School in Cape Town were sent for further training at St Augustine’s College in Canterbury. Jeremiah was one of these. He often spent his holidays with friends, usually in Herefordshire. In 1863 the Vicar of Welshampton invited the young prince to the consecration of his refurbished church and to stay on in the Vicarage for a few days’ holiday. One day he had gone out for a walk in the rain and caught pneumonia. He died on 26 August 1863 and was buried in the Welshampton churchyard, 6,000 miles away from his home in Basutoland. He is remembered in a stained glass window in the north-east corner of the church. It is known locally as the window of “the black prince”.

As Moshoeshoe Day was so close to St David’s Day, the custom was begun for a party of pupils from the Wrexham school to travel to Welshampton and pay their respects by laying daffodils on the grave, while learning something of the history of the Prince and about Wales’ link with Lesotho. On the first occasion in March 1989, photos of the children laying the daffodils on the

113 Wales’ African Twin grave were taken by Mrs Helen Adamson of Ruthin. She was about to travel to Lesotho and a few weeks later she presented copies of the photos to King Moshoshoe in Maseru. The next year the Lesotho High Commissioner and his wife, His Excellency and Mrs Kenneth Tsekoa, participated with the children in the graveside ceremony. In July King Moshoeshoe, by now in exile in London, came to the churchyard in the border village to see the grave for himself. He was accompanied by other members of his family – Chief Jeremiah Libopuoa, along with the Chief’s sister and niece. They laid their own flowers on the grave. In a brief speech the king spoke of the ties between Wales and Lesotho and of his deep appreciation of the link. He expressed special thanks for the way the Wrexham school and Dolen Cymru had revived, and was honouring, the memory of the forgotten prince.

Nine years later, his widow, Queen Mother ’Mamahato, was to stand at the graveside with their second son, Principal Chief Seeiso Seeiso. After the laying of flowers, there were songs in Sesotho and prayers by the royal party. With them were the Headmaster of Ysgol Morgan Llwyd, Edward Williams, the school’s Head of Humanities, Glyn Owen, officers from Dolen Cymru and – from Welshampton – the Church Warden and a local historian who had written a paper on “the black prince”.

Whilst, in early February 1990, King Moshoeshoe had entertained the three Welsh Church leaders who were visiting Lesotho to lunch on the lawns of the palace in Maseru, by the end of the month he was in exile in London. He was to stay there for two years, during which time, as has been seen, he was temporarily deposed as King by the Military Council. During his enforced stay in London we met on three occasions and corresponded quite a lot. He was forthright in his view of the Military Council and the illegality of their “so-called” deposition of him. He always wanted to know what was happening with the link with Wales. “How kind of you to write on the occasion of Moshoeshoe Day. I was deeply touched,” he wrote (12 March 1991). “It is good to hear that the school in Wrexham is still continuing its association with Prince Jeremiah’s grave at Welshampton. I would be interested to know what the current programmes/agendas for the Lesotho-Wales Link are.” In our conversations he always emphasised that any help Wales was able to give to Lesotho should not neglect the most vulnerable, particularly those with handicaps and special needs. “In our country at the moment we just do

114 Wales’ African Twin not have the facilities, like you do, to provide adequately for the blind, the deaf, the physically handicapped and those with learning difficulties,” he would say. They were largely left to be cared for in the community – as best the community could manage.

During 1990-1991 the King’s niece, Mabatho Seeiso, did a two-year course in Economics and Marketing at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. “I have gained a lot from my years in Aber, not only educationally, but as a person,” she wrote. “Since it is quite a small place, I have made many more friends than I would have, had I been at a larger, more impersonal university. I have found both the students and the town people to be very friendly. All in all, Aber and Wales have been home away from home.” She found time to join other Basotho and Welsh young people at a special weekend organised by Dolen Cymru in Bangor, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

Meanwhile in Lesotho Queen ’Mamahato kept meeting visitors from Wales. In April 1990, with her husband in exile and acting as Queen Regent, she invited the Welsh choir, Cantorion Coedpoeth, to give a special gala performance at the Palace. In March 1992, as Honorary President of the Lesotho Homemakers, she was fully involved with the visit of Mererid James and Ifanwy Williams of Merched y Wawr. In the same month she welcomed the Rev Bob and Elaine Morgan at her home in Matsieng, the traditional royal village. The Cardiff couple were representing South Glamorgan County Council and Cardiff City Council on an official visit to Lesotho. Elaine was also Chairman of Dolen Cymru. It was at this meeting that the Queen first asked if Matsieng could be linked with a village or small town in Wales. Thought was given to this back in Wales, but nothing was done at the time.

It was not until Dolen’s Director of Development, Delyth Lloyd, and I met her – also in Matsieng – in December 1997, that the idea surfaced again. This time it was raised in a fashion that could not be ignored. “Everyone,” the Queen Mother remarked, only half jokingly, “seems to have been invited to Wales except me!” It was high time that a suitable Welsh twin for Matsieng was found. Launching such a link, we perceived , might provide the occasion the Queen Mother was looking for to visit Wales! We recounted our conversations to the British High Commissioner, Peter Smith, who gave his full support to the twinning idea and encouraged us to move energetically ahead.

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It should be said that her Majesty was now Queen Mother because her husband, King Moshoeshoe II had died tragically in a car accident the previous year and been succeeded by their elder son, Mahato, who became (for the second time) King Letsie III. The accident happened just short of a year since Moshoeshoe II had been finally restored as King in January 1995. Elaine Morgan as Chairman of Dolen Cymru, and I as Secretary, represented Dolen Cymru at a Memorial Requiem Mass for him held at St Mary’s, Cadogan Street in Chelsea. It was presided over by Cardinal Basil Hume, who had taught the young king-to-be at Ampleforth College. During our time with her at Matsieng the Queen Mother had been very moved to see photos of her late husband taken at Welshampton.

Back in Wales, the Dolen Cymru National Committee decided to approach St Davids about the Queen Mother’s request. Its status in Wales, as cathedral city of our patron saint – and its size – made it eminently suitable. Both small communities live on farming, tourism and the selling of crafts. There was an added advantage that Rev Bob and Elaine Morgan had gone to live in St Davids – Elaine’s original family home – on their retirement after many years in Cardiff. Elaine could provide a key link with the Dolen National Committee. The proposal was submitted to St Davids City Council and received an immediate and enthusiastic response. It was decided that the Mayor would write to the Principal Chief of Matsieng, Prince Seeiso Seeiso, to propose the twinning. The position paper that had gone before the St Davids City Council, after stressing the educational benefits to local schools, spoke of the overall value of such a link to the whole community. “The idea of standing alongside another village as it struggles to develop would add a new dimension to the lives of the citizens of St Davids. It would give them an opportunity for outreach which can only be of benefit for both partners,” it said.

In his reply to the Mayor of St Davids’ proposal, Prince Seeiso wrote how thrilled he was “that the twinning of St Davids and Matsieng, which a few months ago seemed like a pipe dream, is turning into a reality. The proposal for the twinning has long been accepted by us. We expected your [positive] reaction and had our fingers crossed… We are committed to the new link wholeheartedly.” With this encouragement, a Charter for the link was drafted and approved by both sides. The link was, the document said, “a permanent

116 Wales’ African Twin expression of the historic connection between our two towns”. It ended on a note of vision. “May we be guided in all we do together, so that the people of Matsieng and St Davids begin an association that will grow and so give an international legacy of cooperation for all of our children.”

It was agreed that a personal invitation should be given to the Queen Mother to come especially to St Davids to inaugurate the twinning. The delivery of the invitation was entrusted to Dr Clowes who, along with myself and Dolen Director Delyth Lloyd, was visiting Lesotho in January 1999. British High Commissioner Peter Smith (who couldn’t have been more helpful throughout the whole process) hosted a lunch for the Queen Mother where Dr Clowes was able to read out and then hand over the letter of invitation. The Queen Mother indicated that, although everything would have to go through ‘the proper channels’, she had every intention of accepting!

So it was that a royal party of six arrived at Cardiff Airport, having flown from Lesotho via Zurich and Amsterdam. It consisted of the Queen Mother, Prince Seeiso, Deputy Palace Secretary B Qhobela, an official from the Ministry of the Interior, a bodyguard from the Lesotho Defence Force and a lady in waiting. Because of the quick transfer, the suitcases of the Queen and one or two others were left behind in Amsterdam, but they cheerfully brushed aside this minor inconvenience! The bags caught up with them a day later in St Davids.

“The royal visit to St Davids proved a great success,” reported the County Echo. “There was much enthusiasm by both guests and hosts. The Queen Mother and her party soon put everyone at their ease.” There was no doubt how much the Queen Mother enjoyed her four days in the small community of St Davids. Her sense of fun was typified by the pictures of her in the press and on TV on board the local lifeboat, valiantly descending down a steep slipway into a very choppy sea. Her programme included a visit to a farm and to a primary school, a memorable singing festival at Tabernacl Chapel, a special Evensong at the Cathedral, a day out hosted by Pembrokeshire County Council and of course the all-important twinning ceremony itself.

This took place before a packed audience in the City Hall. The Lesotho High Commissioner, His Excellency Benjamin Masilo, and his wife had driven from London to be present. Dolen Cymru President Dr Carl Clowes

117 Wales’ African Twin represented the wider, national link. On the platform were the Lord Lieutenant of the County, representing Queen Elizabeth II, the Chairman of Pembrokeshire County Council, the Mayor of St Davids, the Dean of the Cathedral and City councillors and officers. The twinning charter – especially printed in Sesotho, Welsh and English – was duly signed.

The visit was covered in great detail by the local and national press. “African Queen Mum takes tea and a boat trip” was the headline for one story in The Western Mail. “Scene set for visit by African Queen”, “Queen Mother enjoys a bumpy ride” (story on the lifeboat trip) and “Royal visit ends on a high note” were offered by the County Echo. The Western Telegraph had, “Cathedral City plays host to royal visitors” and “School’s royal welcome”, whilst The Independent in London featured a large portrait photo of the Queen Mother beside a boat in Solfach (Solva) harbour.

From St Davids the visitors moved on to Cardiff, where they stayed at the Mansion House as guests of the Lord Mayor. Their programme in the capital included a formal civic lunch and a tour of Cardiff Bay, with tea on the Lightship – the churches’ floating ecumenical centre. It was then north to Ruthin for a lunch hosted by Denbighshire County Council and the opening of the Annual General Meeting of Dolen Cymru. The High Commissioner, Benjamin Masilo, had expressed doubts whether it would be appropriate for Her Majesty to attend an AGM, but the Queen Mother had no such inhibitions. She found it absorbing and had to be dragged away half-way through to be taken on a scheduled tour around Ruthin.

A highlight of the time in North Wales for the Queen Mother was attending the Pentecost Sunday Mass at Wrexham Cathedral. It was celebrated by Bishop Edwin Regan, who was Chairman of Dolen Cymru’s Churches Sub- Committee. This was followed by lunch at Bishop’s House, from where the party were driven to Welshampton to see the grave of Jeremiah Moshoeshoe. The visitors stayed two nights in Bangor, which afforded plenty of opportunity for talks on a more informal level about the working and future direction of the link. On the Queen Mother’s final evening in Wales, Carl and Dorothi Clowes hosted a party at their home, Y Wigoedd, for Committee members and friends of the link, with their families, to meet her and Prince Seeiso. It was a relaxed evening with plenty of songs forthcoming in both Sesotho and

118 Wales’ African Twin in Welsh – and of course the obligatory farewell speeches. At one stage in the evening, seven-year-old Manon, daughter of one of the Committee, captivated by the Queen Mother’s relaxed manner (and her dancing), asked whether she could write to her as a penfriend. When that was agreed between them Manon, not wanting to lose the opportunity, ventured, “Where should I write to?” There was some hesitation as the Queen Mother began to appreciate Manon was in earnest. “Try the Royal Palace,” came the reply!

“Our visit to Wales has left an indelible mark on our minds,” wrote the Queen Mother to the Mayor of St Davids on her return home. “Our stay in St Davids was beyond our expectations. As it was said, this is the beginning of yet another historic friendship. Pass on my gratitude and sincere appreciation to all.” To Dr Clowes she wrote, “It was an exercise that went so smoothly that I was amazed – a dream come true. Travelling between St Davids, Cardiff, Ruthin and Bangor made us see and observe the beauty of Wales and the determination of the Welsh people to survive. That made me proud that Lesotho has an association with the Welsh people. I am still proud, even now.”

Later in 2001 she sent, via the twinning representative she had nominated, a list of ideas and principles for taking the twinning forward. “More than anything else,” the letter concluded, “she cannot wait, like everyone else in Matsieng, to witness the success of the mission.” One strong link that emerged was between the St Davids primary school, Ysgol Bro Dewi, and St Louis Primary School in Matsieng. In February 2002, Ysgol Bro Dewi’s Head Heacher, Raymond Griffiths journeyed to Matsieng to spend time with the staff and pupils of St Louis. He took gifts and greetings from St Davids City Council. While in Matsieng, Mr Griffiths, along with other teachers from Wales who were also visiting their sister schools in different areas, was entertained to tea by King Letsie III, who wanted to be brought up to date with all the various links.

Less than a year after the Queen Mother had returned home from her visit to Wales, a delegation of six from the City Council (three officers and their wives) – as well as Dr and Mrs Carl Clowes representing Dolen Cymru – were in Lesotho at her invitation to attend the wedding of her son, King Letsie III. Also in Lesotho at that time – and invited to the celebrations –

119 Wales’ African Twin were the President and former President of Merched y Wawr. “We were welcomed and treated handsomely,” recalls Dr Clowes. “For three of the nights Dorothi and I were there as full guests of the Government.”

The wedding celebrations moved from Maseru to Leribe and on to Matsieng. The Rev David Menday, Clerk to St Davids City Council, sets the scene. “There were Kings and Presidents. As one motorcade swept in, a wave of recognition passed through the crowd. Everyone stood, clapping and cheering as Nelson Mandela emerged into the heat of the day. The force of 400 voices in a massed and very cheerful choir and hundreds of children singing and dancing filled the arena. There was a reception for 500 guests, at which we were honoured to meet the King. Memories of these three days include the sight of 200 horsemen in their colourful blankets and traditional Basotho hats, escorting the King from his home in Matsieng.” David Menday concluded that “three days of wedding, even as a guest, is hard work – and a day after that without wearing a suit in 30 degree plus heat was blissful!” The wedding gift from St Davids was a cut glass bowl engraved with the city shield.

At the time of writing the Principal Chief of Matsieng, Prince Seeiso Seeiso, is serving as Lesotho’s High Commissioner in London. So the St Davids- Matsieng link can move forward in the knowledge that his advice and support is close to hand.

The Queen Mother died unexpectedly in 2003. In June 2004 Dolen Cymru Chairman John Ellis organised a special Memorial Service at St Davids Cathedral to celebrate her life and work. The packed service was attended by Lesotho High Commissioner ’Me Lebohang Ramohlanka and members of the embassy staff, City Councillors and Committee members and officers of Dolen Cymru. In his address the Bishop of St Davids, the Rt Rev Carl Cooper, spoke of his own visit to Lesotho the previous year and of the importance of the link between the two nations. Taking part with him in the service was the Catholic Bishop of Wrexham, Edwin Regan and the Rev Adrian Williams, President of the Free Church Council of Wales – both of whom had been in Lesotho with Bishop Cooper. Dr Clowes paid tribute, on behalf of Dolen Cymru, to a wonderfully accessible and perceptive Queen who had become such a friend of Wales.

120 Wales’ African Twin 14. Health links

Chapter 6 referred to the early involvement of the Health Service in Wales, the sending of medical equipment to Lesotho under the auspices of Y Gymdeithas Feddygol (Welsh Medical Association) and how a succession of Welsh medical students opted to serve their ‘elective’ training in Lesotho hospitals.

In Lesotho half of the hospitals are government-run and half are owned and run by the different churches. The church-run, or private, hospitals are grouped together for some purposes under the umbrella of PHAL – Private Hospital Association of Lesotho. The country’s main (government-run) hospital is the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Maseru. Reporting back from our initial visit in 1987, Dr Clowes had observed, “There are probably no more than 80 doctors employed in health care in Lesotho. A large percentage of those employed in the hospitals are expatriates, either from Europe or from other countries in Africa.”

At that time he also reported that “gastro-enteritis and tuberculosis were the main problems witnessed”. (The coming AIDS pandemic was still around the corner.) All the hospitals outside the capital had very large catchment areas with rural clinics an important point of reference. In the villages, volunteer Village Health Workers represented the front line in detecting and combating illness and disease. There was just one psychiatric hospital for the whole of the country, the Mohlomi Mental Illness Hospital on the outskirts of Maseru.

Nearby was Botsabelo, a leprosy hospital which in 1987 had 40 long-stay patients and housed the National Leprosy Research and Assessment Unit. Intriguingly, on the old site (the hospital was in the process of being moved to a brand new site) was a rondavel – the typical Basotho thatched round house – that had originally served as a therapy workshop. On the wall near the door was a plaque which read in Sesotho, “A gift from girl students in Wales, August 1936”. Despite persistent enquiries in the press and elsewhere, we failed to uncover the story behind this.

121 Wales’ African Twin

In 1988 Dr Clowes, in consultation with John Wyn Owen, the Director of the NHS in Wales and others, was actively looking for ways in which Wales could be usefully involved in the World Bank’s plans for up-grading health care in Lesotho. When an ODA (Overseas Development Administration) advert appeared looking for four individual specialists and managers, Dolen saw an opportunity. Could we engineer it in some way that the four came from Wales? Dolen invited the ODA to consider this, knowing that this would make for continuity and take advantage of our special relationship. The visit of Health Minister Dr Makenete in May of that year to view the medical equipment being sent to Lesotho by Y Gymdeithas Feddygol, afforded an opportunity to discuss the World Bank’s wider plans from the Lesotho Government’s perspective. Another came with a one-week visit to Lesotho that August by Dr Olive Frost, then Vice Chairman of Dolen. There she met the Chief Health Planner at the Ministry of Health and fed back on useful talks with the Lesotho Medical Association. Finally, as a result of various deliberations, the Government of Lesotho saw the merits in the argument and added its weight to the case being made to the ODA for Welsh involvement.

In Lesotho Margaret Thomas, a Welsh lady working on the World Bank projects, proved a helpful and encouraging link as was the new Lesotho High Commissioner in London, our old friend Kenneth Tsekoa. Both the Welsh College of Medicine in Cardiff and the Mid-Glamorgan Health Authority submitted bids to be part of the work envisaged. “If either of these succeed,” Dr Clowes told Dolen Cymru’s AGM in Caernarfon (March 1990), “it will entail an increased exchange of personnel between Wales and Lesotho and thus a further strengthening of the link.” He also reported to that AGM, at which High Commissiner Kenneth Tsekoa was present, that Y Gymdeithas Feddygol had purchased, and dispatched to Lesotho, a further consignment of ophthalmic equipment.

In the event, the bid from Mid-Glamorgan Health Authority was the one that succeeded. The contract secured was to review and re-configure health service management structures and provide staff training. It was very ‘people centred’ and heralded a widespread exchange of personnel. Dr Clowes was invited to be present when Dr Moji, Director of Health Services in Lesotho, came to

122 Wales’ African Twin

Mid-Glamorgan to discuss the project. The two-year contract – through the UK Department for Overseas Development in conjunction with the World Bank – was worth £500,000.

Mr Bryn Davies CBE, Chairman of Mid-Glamorgan Health Authority, travelled to Lesotho with his General Manager and key staff to assess the work ahead. “We are committed, not only to developing links between our Health Service and the Health Service in Lesotho, but this is also an opportune time to explore cultural links,” he said. “I very much hope, as a result of opportunities provided by the contract, that we will see the first fruits in the form of new links – particularly between the communities of Mid-Glamorgan and the communities of Lesotho.” Later he described how the project had been of direct benefit to the Authority’s own employees. “It has given our staff the opportunity to use their skills and experience in new ways which would be of benefit to developing countries and also for themselves as individuals in their career development.”

In August 1990 the new Lesotho Minister of Health, Abel Thoahlane, was in Wales with the Acting Principal Secretary at the Ministry, Teboho Kitleli. The Minister revealed that he had been in Wales before, having obtained his law degree at the University of Wales, Cardiff. He formally unveiled a plaque – written in Welsh, English and Sesotho – at the Health Authority headquarters, commemorating the visit and the start of the contract. After a day of talks and a tour of the Authority’s different facilities, Mr Thoahlane commented, “There is a big difference between companies undertaking contractual work and those organisations that are really interested in the future well-being of the population of the country they are assisting. I am sure that only good can come from such arrangements as this.” This was exactly the response we had wanted. One response we had not expected however was the failure by Mid-Glamorgan Health Authority to honour an undertaking to Dolen Cymru for the payment of a facilitation fee for all its preparatory work in securing the contract. This became a salutary lesson for Dolen in terms of future practice.

The Ministerial visit was followed in October by one from the Head of Manpower Planning, Mr J K Thabane. He came to attend a special two-week programme organised by Mid-Glamorgan to look at issues of personal

123 Wales’ African Twin development and training. There were also social engagements, including receptions by three of the local Mayors – Ogwr, Cynon Valley and Rhondda. A highlight was attending a concert by the Treorchy Male Voice Choir. “People have been so very friendly in Wales,” remarked Mr Thabane. “Although I had not met most of the people before, it was as if I had known them all my life. It has been a wonderful time living and working in Mid-Glamorgan for two weeks.”

It turned out that Mr Thabane was an avid football fan. And it so happened that one of the Health Authority staff – Mike Lambert, a clinical specialist nurse in the Mental Health Unit – was Chairman of the Cardiff City Supporters Club. He arranged for the visitor to attend a game at Ninian Park between Cardiff City and their old rivals Wrexham. Mr Thabane was given full ‘honours’, watching the game from the Director’s Box and being received in the Boardroom after the game by the Chairman of the Club, where he was duly presented with a tie and badges. The result was a link between the Cardiff City Supporters Club and the Swallows Football Club, based at Mazenod, just outside of Maseru.

The link between the Cardiff ‘Bluebirds’ and the Maseru ‘Swallows’ flourished while Mike Lambert remained as Chairman of the Supporters Club. Football kit and club scarves were sent out to Mazenod and, in April 1992, Mike Lambert reported that his club had sent £100 to Mazenod “to be spent on football gear for the youth elements of the Swallows Club.” “The Supporters Club sees this development as an important move away from the traditional image of supporters clubs,” he wrote, “and more importantly from the public perception of football fans as ‘hooligans’. We consider that by encouraging links with football fans world-wide we could help to promote greater understanding and friendship.”

Mr Edward Lewis, a senior figure in the Health Authority with over-all responsibility for implementing the contract, described to Dolen Cymru’s April 1991 AGM in Carmarthen the work his Authority was doing in Lesotho. He said they were concentrating on advising with manpower planning and staff development and training at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Maseru. “One colleague is based there for the whole year, while others go out in teams for shorter periods, according to the needs and their speciality,” he

124 Wales’ African Twin explained. “We are not there to take over anyone’s work, but to develop the skills of our Basotho partners. We hope that we can leave better trained people behind when we go.” Involving the wider community of Mid- Glamorgan in the link was definitely a part of their agenda, he added.

Some of this involvement was on display when Lesotho’s Foreign Minister, the Hon Pius Molapo, took time out that summer from a busy schedule in London to meet Valleys groups that had linked with Lesotho. In Llwynypia Hospital he met Head Teachers from two schools that had made links – Gelli Primary School and St Mary’s Primary School, Bridgend, – the Parish priest of St Mary’s, Bridgend (who had made a parish link), the Chairman of the International Committee of Rhondda Rotary Club, the Principal of Rhondda College and the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress of the Rhondda. He was presented with a miner’s lamp to mark his visit. “I have been overwhelmed with the warm-heartedness of the people of Wales,” he responded. “When I return home I will tell my countrymen that I have found another country like Lesotho – and it is situated next to England!”

With the series – often of one-month visits – by professionals from Mid- Glamorgan Health Authority coming to an end, Dolen, unwittingly was about to embark on yet another key relationship in its development. A four-week study visit to Wales by an Adviser on Special Needs for the Lesotho Ministry of Education was arranged on the initiative of the Commonwealth Society for the Deaf. The specialist was ’Me Lineo Phachaka. In a report she made after a tour of Lesotho, Commonwealth Society for the Deaf officer Anne Hewitt wrote of Mrs Phachaka, “She is the Co-ordinator and the key person upon whom success or failure of the Lesotho Ministry of Education’s integration programme for special needs children depends. She would greatly benefit from the opportunity to observe and discuss at first-hand the difficulties encountered by others working in a rural setting. She would get an in-depth look at the administration and practical application of services for statemented children in rural Wales.” The Society undertook to meet Mrs Phachaka’s travel costs, while Dolen Cymru looked after her stay in Wales and arranged her programme. Mrs Phachaka was later to become the Director of the Lesotho-Wales Link and, for countless numbers of visitors from Wales, the ever-welcoming presence in the link office in Maseru.

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During her study visit (April 1993) Mrs Phachaka spent time at special clinics, hospital departments and at nursery and primary schools. She met with Social Service workers and saw both Local Government and voluntary sector schemes in action in Dyfed, Powys, Gwynedd and South Glamorgan.

In the Spring of the following year Lesotho’s new Minister of Health, Dr Khauelo Raditapole, was invited to visit Wales by the Powys Health Care NHS Trust, where Dr Clowes was now Medical Director. She was accompanied by the Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Mr Lefu Lechesa and Chief Nursing Officer Mamoruli Tiheli. “This visit reinforces health links between our two countries,” said Dr Clowes. “Our Trust is actively looking for ways that we can engage with Lesotho.” A full programme enabled the Minister and her team to view progress being made in the provision of community care for those who were handicapped or suffered from mental health problems. The party also met senior health officials at the Welsh Office in Cardiff as well as calling on South Glamorgan Health Authority and Rhondda Health Care NHS Trust. But it was, in her words, in Powys that she felt a particular affinity as the scale of the ‘extended’ community hospital model was something she could identify with.

In the spirit of the link there was the usual plus factor of social events. Dr and Mrs Clowes hosted a week-end visit to Ynys Môn, the highlight of which was an evening in their home in the company of several Basotho students who were studying in Bangor. The evening ended with all the Basotho forming themselves into an impromptu choir and presenting a round of songs from their country. On the final evening of the visit the then Powys Health Trust Chairman, the Hon Lindy Price CBE, hosted a farewell dinner in her home near Crickhowell.

Once back in Lesotho Dr Raditapole was keen to follow through on some of the possibilities that had been talked about in Powys. “It is my firm belief that our visit has established links between Powys Health Care NHS Trust and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Lesotho,” she wrote to Dr Clowes. “What remains now is for us to move quickly to make the health link operational. Through the Office of the Permanent Secretary we will link with your office for follow up action. And we look forward to hosting you in Lesotho in the very near future.”

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Carl Clowes and his wife Dorothi were able to take up this invitation in March 1995. Fortuitously, the mainly health-related visit also provided the occasion to celebrate ten years of the link, launched as it had been in March 1985. “We visited clinics and hospitals in the Highlands and the Lowlands, both Government and those owned by the churches and belonging to the Private Health Association of Lesotho (PHAL),” recalls Dr Clowes. “At different stages we had the help of a Ministry car, a four-wheel drive vehicle and a helicopter to fulfil our engagements.” Dorothi, a speech and language therapist, concentrated on visiting centres caring for the handicapped and the disabled. “I visited the School for the Deaf and the Resource Centre for the Blind,” she says. “Also the newly-formed Society for Mentally Handicapped Persons. I met the Government’s Social Welfare Rehabilitation Officer and of course (close to my heart) the only speech and language therapist in Lesotho.” There was the intention to develop an on-going relationship with the therapist but, in common with so many other professionals, she became a casualty of the ‘brain drain’ in health – an issue of which Dolen is acutely mindful.

It was in 1996 that secondments began between Powys NHS Trust mental health services and the mental health sector in Lesotho. First to go from Powys was Mary Browning, a clinical psychologist. She spent three months between August and October based at the Mohlomi Mental Health Hospital. It is the only hospital in the whole country specialising in mental illness. “Many travel for up to two days just to attend appointments,” she reported. “The hospital is in a bad state of repair and there is a shortage of rooms, so privacy is rare. There is a Flying Doctor Service that reaches the remotest mountain villages, using the tiniest airstrips. The clinic I work in sees many women who have been the victims of domestic violence, who suffer from anxiety and depression – much of which is caused by the pressures of the Basotho extended family system.” One urgent need she identified was for better training to be given to the volunteer women health workers in the villages in recognising mental health problems.

Mary Browning’s visit was followed by one from Psychiatrist Dr Andy Scrace in January 1997. Two psychiatric nurses, Morwyn Dixon and Carol James, accompanied her for the initial two weeks of her six-week secondment. Dr Scrace found “a distressing contrast between visiting clean, well-built

127 Wales’ African Twin peripheral mental health units with conscientious and capable nurses – and the Mohlomi Hospital where troublesome patients were in concrete cells, with no clear reason given and with no supervision facilities.” She describes her “most difficult moment” as “sitting in the Ministry of Health with my generous hosts from the mental health service, presenting a thoroughly critical report about them!” Although it was hard, she felt that straight talking was necessary if she was to be taken notice of and if things were to have any chance of changing for the better. To her great relief her mental health counterparts did invite her to come back to Lesotho! – an offer which she took up.

These two timely secondments from the Powys mental health services laid the ground for the three-year National Lottery project described in chapter 11. This had two main components: firstly to enable those responsible for Village Health Workers (VHWs) to provide these key volunteers with appropriate training in basic mental health skills and secondly to pass on generic counselling skills to nurses and other health professionals having to deal with the tide of AIDS. One key person from the Dolen Cymru Health Sub-Committee and also the National Committee who went out (July 1998) to Lesotho take part in one of the courses for Village Health Workers and to evaluate the whole process was Dr Anne Evans. Dr Evans was then Deputy Medical Director at Powys NHS Health Care Trust. She was later to become Medical Director for the Rhondda and Merthyr Trusts and also Vice-Chairman of Dolen Cymru. “The country is beautiful,” she reported, “as are the people who made me feel as if I were at a ‘home from home’. The poverty is shocking, but the people’s resilience and good spirit is impressive. Although I had to work very hard – it was an experience of a lifetime. The images will stay in my mind for ever. When can I go again?” Recalling the evaluation visit he made with Dr Evans to St Joseph’s in the Mokhotlong District, Dr Clowes describes how 20 or more VHWs walked into the clinic, sat down and, at the command of the specialist nurse, all took out their mental health handbook and waved them excitedly in recognition of Dolen’s contribution to their production. Each was happy to testify to its usefulness in their everyday work. In some of the remotest communities in Lesotho, Dolen’s impact was being felt for the good.

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In August 2000 a link was formed between MENCAP Cymru and the Lesotho Society for Mentally Handicapped Persons (LSMHP). “MENCAP in Wales recognises that the lives of people with learning disabilities can be geographically limited,” said Wayne Crocker, Policy and Communications Officer, when launching the link at the National Eisteddfod in Llanelli. “Many people have little experience of life outside their own communities.” Such links, he said, would give people with a learning disability, as well as their families and carers, real scope for personal development. Wayne was the ideal person to co-ordinate the link with Lesotho as he had lived and worked there, based at the National University in Roma, in 1987-88.

In March 2001 Wayne led a five-strong delegation from MENCAP Cymru on an introductory visit to Lesotho. Two “Gateway” members (with learning disabilities) – Stephen Rose and Jackie Jones – were accompanied by Director of MENCAP Wales Howard Sinclair and his National Assembly Liaison Officer Mary Oliver. “We wanted to develop the link we had begun and to learn more about the lives of people with learning difficulties in Lesotho,” says Wayne. “We spent valuable time with a wide range of LSMHP members, from young children with learning disabilities to elderly carers looking after their grandchildren in difficult circumstances.”

The British High Commissioner hosted a special reception for the visitors from Wales and their new LSMHP friends. “One of our reasons for coming was to help the LSMHP develop its lobbying and campaigning skills,” said Mary Oliver. “The reception gave its members the opportunity to meet with high-powered politicians in both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education.”

The whole visit was voted an incredible experience by the two Gateway members. “Both Stephen and Jackie fulfilled their role as ambassadors with dignity, patience and a great deal of humour,” records Wayne. “For Stephen the highlight of the visit was talking to school children and for Jackie it was the journey high into the very heart of the mountains (over 10,000 feet) to visit rural groups.”

“One of the most interesting aspects which I took home with me,” said Howard Sinclair, “is that the worries and concerns of people with learning difficulties,

129 Wales’ African Twin their families and carers in Lesotho are the same as those of their peers in Wales. We are all concerned about services, proper health care and opportunities for work and leisure.”

The following June (2002) saw a reciprocal visit by three members of the LSMPH. The party included the Society’s Chairman and Co-ordinator and a member of its Advocacy group who himself had a learning disability. They saw services run by MENCAP Cymru in Bangor, St Asaph, Llanfyllin and in the Ammanford and Gwent Valleys. At a meeting in Cardiff City Hall to celebrate National Learning Disability Week they met First Minister Rhodri Morgan and Health Minister Jane Hutt.

In February 2002 two doctors, Graham Thomas, a General Practitioner, and Dyfed Huws, a trainee in Public Health Medicine, visited Lesotho, consulting with doctors, nurses, hospital matrons, health planners and officials from the Ministry of Health. Their aim was a health needs assessment – and what help might appropriately come from Wales. “Staff in Lesotho are stretched to breaking point every day,” explained Dr Thomas. “They have to cope with the results of violence, poverty and killer diseases like AIDS and TB.”

In a report on their visit, the two doctors listed several areas where support from Wales would be warmly welcomed. These included HIV (health education and training in counselling), mental health, further training of Village Health Workers and training in general medical skills and dispensing.

An early volunteer was Maria Moore, a nurse working in Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor. In the first part of 2003 she spent three months at Machabeng Hospital in the mountainous south of Lesotho. After a week’s induction facilitated by Skillshare International (including learning some basic Sesotho) she set out on the six-hour journey to Qacha’s Nek. “It is a spectacular journey,” she says, “through increasingly mountainous terrain, including a 60 km stretch of un-tarred road that tested even the toughest suspension.”

Although initially proposing to undertake a largely training role with her experience in an Accident and Emergency (A&E) unit, the demands of the service were so great that she spent most of her time working in the out- patient department of the hospital. “The levels of poverty and disease soon

130 Wales’ African Twin became apparent,” she says. “There was a steady stream of severely malnourished children. I was distressed to find there was no regular feeding programme in place for these children, five of whom died as a result of malnutrition in the space of one month. Also during my stay two babies were orphaned as their parents died in hospital from probable AIDS infection. The disease is frequently complicated by pulmonary tuberculosis of which there were many new cases each day. Although there is free testing and treatment for TB, there is currently no testing available in Machabeng Hospital for HIV/AIDS.” In fact while Maria was there, no anti-retroviral treatment was available (even for HIV-positive expectant mothers) in the whole of the Qacha’s Nek District.

“Despite some quite difficult experiences,” she concludes, “I would definitely recommend a period of voluntary work in Lesotho. People are friendly, welcoming and genuinely pleased that you have come so far to their ‘Kingdom in the Sky’ – so often hidden in the shadow of South Africa.”

In October that same year a group of 12 Welsh health-worker volunteers set out for Lesotho. The party included a dentist and dental nurse, mental health practitioners (who were able to take part in National Mental Health Awareness Week), general practitioners and nurses. They divided into four teams – two “general”, one mental health and one dentistry.

One of the 12 was Judith Stammers, a mental health social worker and counsellor from Bangor. She and Psychiatrist Dr Andy Scrace (who was making a return visit) undertook to give further training to Village Health Workers based on the Mental Health Booklet that had been produced in 1998 as part of the National Lottery-funded project. “On our arrival in Maseru,” records Judith, “we arranged for a further 1,000 copies of the booklet to be printed and began organising workshops in different locations.”

One series, conducted mainly in Sesotho (with translation provided to enable the visitors to follow and to intervene) was held in the Thaba Tseka area, one in Paray Hospital and two in out-lying clinics in this very mountainous area. “Each session started with prayer and usually ended with singing and dancing – much enjoyed by the Welsh visitors!” Another two-day workshop was held at the Mental Observation and Treatment Unit in Mohale’s Hoek.

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Counselling workshops were also much in demand. Judith conducted one three-day workshop for 23 nurses in TY Hospital. “After some initial reticence the nurses took part enthusiastically in exercises and role plays,” she says. “In these they were able to discuss situations they met and dealt with in work. One day was devoted to learning stress management and relaxation techniques. The participants rated these highly on their evaluation forms as being relevant both for the patients and themselves.” Judith was called to give further stress management seminars at the Nursing School in Paray and to 40 nurses at the Mohlomi Mental Illness Hospital. Elsewhere Dr Scrace was giving liaison psychiatry lectures and seminars, lecturing on epilepsy and designing a worksheet to introduce the topic of mental health to schools.

In October 2004, Dr Clowes, conscious of the growing urgency of the AIDS crisis in Lesotho, led a small team of experts to see where Wales could most effectively make a contribution. With Dr Clowes were Dr Humphrey Birley, a Consultant in Sexual Health in Cardiff and a leading expert on the transmission of HIV/AIDS and Dr Kay Richmond, former Principal Medical Officer at the Welsh Office and a Consultant in Public Health Medicine. The team was particularly looking at where help might be needed in supporting the Government of Lesotho in its national HIV/AIDS strategy. They decided to focus on one particular district of Lesotho, that of Quthing in the mountainous south-west. Whilst the proposal the team developed has been accepted in principle by the Ministry of Health, the failure to secure supportive funding highlights a problem faced repeatedly by Dolen – lack of capacity on Lesotho’s part to respond even to the most dire of situations. At the time of writing funds are being sought so that this vital project can begin. Dolen was, however, able to support another visit by Dr Birley and colleagues in the summer of 2006 when a team of five health experts from Cardiff worked alongside Dr Mosotho, the Medical Superintendent at QEII Hospital. In a project funded by the Association of Physicians, they worked to establish a paediatric HIV/AIDS surveillance unit and general support for HIV work in the hospital where 80% of patients admitted are affected with the virus.

In 2005 and 2006 three more Welsh medical students completed their five- week elective placement in Maluti Hospital – as medical students from Wales have been doing consistently over the last 20 years. Dr Wilbert Hurlow, the

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Medical Superintendent at Maluti, has been highly co-operative in taking Welsh students during this time and Dolen was particularly glad to be able to reciprocate by arranging short periods of training for him in Wales in 2005 and 2006.

In May 2005 plans were presented to the Welsh Health Minister, Dr Brian Gibbons, to establish a Health Professionals Placement Programme. Dolen developed the programme to reflect the successful pattern adopted for teachers, so avoiding the need for the ad hoc approach up to now seen in the health field. Support was forthcoming from the NHS Confederation in Wales, the BMA and the RCN, all of whom are anxious to see the proposal come to fruition. Following much internal discussion within the Welsh Assembly Government and public consultation, an International Sustainable Development Framework for Wales was introduced in October 2006.

Dolen Cymru was successful in the first year in gaining funding for a ‘permanent’ health presence in Lesotho. The aim is to facilitate coordination, match skills and support exchanges of health professionals between our two countries. The first practical example of success with support from the fund came in August 2007 when Diane Kirkland, a public health nurse from Gwent, completed a qualitative analysis in Quthing on the level of understanding of opinion formers on HIV and AIDS. The outcome of this will enable Dolen and the Lesotho Wales Link to focus more effectively and target resources for training. In 2007, Goronwy Rhys Jones, a General Practitioner from Cross Hands, spent a month supporting the Lesotho Flying Doctor Service and two medical students undertook their ‘electives’ at Maluti Hospital. As we approach the end of 2007, the health profile of Dolen is probably greater than ever in Lesotho.

Another breakthrough came at the end of 2007 when the Government of Lesotho agreed to fund Bernie O’Hare, a Consultant Paediatrician with a special interest in HIV for a period of eight months commencing January 2008. She will be joined in February 2008 by Sian Smith, a Community Mental Health Nurse from Newport and in March and April by a Pharmacist and Dietitian with special interests in HIV.

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At the time of writing, Dolen has appointed a job-share partnership – Ian Stead, Human Resources Director for NHS Wales and Suzanne Penny, Human Resources Director for Powys Local Health Board – to undertake the role of Director, Health Development in Lesotho – our first ‘health presence’ commencing in May 2008. After many years of health-related activity, much of which developed on an ad hoc basis, Dolen is now able to embark on a programme knowing that the necessary support is largely in place for a much more structured and, ultimately, effective approach.

134 Wales’ African Twin 15. Enriching support

There can be no doubt that the success of the link, especially in its earlier stages, owed a very great deal to the support and encouragement of a succession of remarkable Lesotho High Commissioners (Ambassadors) in London. First and foremost among these was Mr O T Sefako.

We certainly could not have foreseen, when we first met him in his office at the High Commission in October 1984, what a firm friend he was to become. Then, it is fair to say, he was courteous but cautious. Later he was to become universally known in Lesotho as the ‘father’ of the link. Events admittedly played their part in enabling this transformation – notably the military coup of January 1986. By taking him right out of government and politics, it enabled him to give his time and considerable talent elsewhere.

We kept in touch in the difficult days and weeks immediately after the coup. During the visit that Dr Clowes and I made in February 1987 he was beginning to be able to move around more freely. In fact he was the one who was at the airport to meet us. From 1989 until his sudden death in 1998 he was Chairman of the Lesotho-Wales Link Committee in Maseru.

When, as High Commissioner, he came to Cardiff to inaugurate the link, he had that twinkle in his eye with which we were to grow familiar. It was the same playful humour that was in evidence when he used to insist that if Dolen’s Director, Delyth Lloyd, wanted to have her surname pronounced as “Lloyd” in Lesotho she would have to start spelling it with one “l” only! It was at the launch of the link at the Welsh Office in March 1985 that he predicted that the grassroots link between the two small countries could pave the way for “a new system in international relations”. He always insisted that the link must be built on the rock of friendship, or it would have no future. “Each visit,” he would say, “strengthens our friendship.”

He was in his element when he came to Wales (November 1991) to give a special Dolen Cymru Lecture in Mid-Glamorgan County Hall at Cathays Park in Cardiff. He said he was “proud and pleasantly surprised” to have

135 Wales’ African Twin been invited. The lecture itself was a well-attended occasion, with several Cardiff dignitaries, including the Lord Lieutenant of South Glamorgan, expressing how taken they had been by the evening. Mr Sefako was guest at Mansion House for two nights, was given a special lunch at City Hall and attended a banquet organised by Cardiff Chamber of Commerce. He much enjoyed visiting linked schools in Wales and was greatly touched to receive the cheque for £20,000 from Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin (the Welsh Nursery Schools Association) to help with early childhood education in Lesotho. “The significance of this generous contribution to early childhood education in Lesotho cannot be over-emphasised,” he said, promising to take personal responsibility to ensure it was wisely spent. He attended a meeting of Dolen Cymru’s Churches Sub-Committee in the St Asaph home of its Chairman, Alwyn Rice Jones, Archbishop of Wales at which Bishop Hannigan of Wrexham was also present. Above all he enjoyed a whole day in Machynlleth with Dolen’s National Committee, where nuts and bolts issues of the link could be freely discussed.

When Delyth Lloyd and I were in Lesotho for three weeks in November 1997 he rarely left our side. Over a long career he seemed to have served at some time or another in almost all the government departments and every door was open to him. When his ancient Mercedes, lovingly kept going since he retired as a diplomat, proved inadequate for some of our longer journeys, he still accompanied us everywhere in the chauffeur-driven four-wheel drive kindly made available by the Government Secretary. His programme planning for this and other visits from Wales was so professional that the British High Commissioner (only half jokingly) offered him a job to do the same for his official visitors! “Tell them we did our best,” he said simply as we were leaving.

The last of many visitors from Wales to experience his comprehensive hospitality was Christine Gittoes, Head of Health Promotion for Powys NHS Healthcare Trust. “He came to see me off at the airport,” she recalls. “He was in good spirits and high hopes. He was due to go into hospital [for an operation on a brain tumour] the next day and wanted to let his friends in Wales know that he was looking forward to being fully well again.” Sadly he never recovered from the 12-hour operation. “We who knew and worked with him are saddened indeed and the impact of his sudden death has left us

136 Wales’ African Twin weak,” wrote Cabinet Secretary Kenneth Tsekoa, on behalf of several Basotho friends. “He ran his lap so well for the sake of the link.”

Dr John Kolane came to London to take up the post of High Commissioner after his previous job had been abruptly terminated by the military coup. Before that he had been the widely respected Speaker of the National Assembly, Lesotho’s Parliament. He was a flamboyant, larger-than-life figure, well versed in literature, who quickly formed a real attachment to Wales. In a message for Dolen’s 1986 Newsletter, written very shortly after his arrival in London, he described the link with Wales as “one of the best things to happen to Lesotho in many years”. He recounted how he had briefed himself fully about the link before coming to the UK. He had taken time to have a long talk with his predecessor, Mr Sefako. “He was absolutely enthusiastic about the link. He assured me of his unfailing moral support for a twinning whose future is full of tremendous potentialities for both Wales and Lesotho.” Although, Dr Kolane added, Wales and Lesotho were “thousands of miles apart, distance is irrelevant in matters of this nature.”

Dr Kolane greatly enjoyed visiting the National Eisteddfod each year. His first experience was at Fishguard in 1986 – an Eisteddfod blighted by unprecedented mud. Nothing, however dampened his spirits and his enthusiasm for the event. He was in Wales again a few months later to open the new Dolen Office in Wrexham. Typical of Dr Kolane’s oratorical style was the opening paragraph of a message he sent in August 1987 on the occasion of the National Eisteddfod in Porthmadog. It reads, “On behalf of the Kingdom of Lesotho, also known as the Mountain Kingdom or Kingdom in the Sky, I doff my diplomatic hat to the gallant Welsh people for their indomitable spirit in preserving their beautiful language, customs and traditions in the face of difficult and almost insurmountable odds throughout centuries of their sparkling history.”

During one of his many visits to Wales Y Gymdeithas Feddygol invited him to address their Annual Conference. He arrived in good time and began to socialise. However, when the Chairman came to convene the gathered doctors for dinner, there was no sign of the High Commissioner. Everybody looked high and low, joking that he might have taken ‘fright’ and left in his diplomatic car. Just when there seemed to be no solution to the mystery, a chance visit to

137 Wales’ African Twin the hotel’s toilet revealed a loud banging. He had locked himself in and was only released with the help of a screwdriver from the hotel’s reception staff! It had elements of a diplomatic incident in the making, but he took it all in good spirits.

He was called back to Lesotho in August 1989 to prepare the way for a return to democracy. He decided to pay two farewell visits to Wales – one to the north and one to the south. The North Wales visit included a reception by the Leader and Chief Executive of Wrexham Maelor Borough Council and a day at the Llanrwst National Eisteddfod. He also paid his respects at the grave of Prince Jeremiah Moshoeshoe in Welshampton. At the Eisteddfod he launched the cassette recorded at the Sain studios by the Teachers Choir of Maseru while they were in Wales. The launching occasion was shown on HTV’s English language evening news programme. After witnessing the Crowning ceremony, he was received for tea by Eisteddfod President Professor Bedwyr Lewis Jones. There was then a farewell dinner and party at the home of Carl and Dorothi Clowes.

In Cardiff he was received at Mansion House by the Lord Mayor of Cardiff and the Chief Executive of the City Council. He met the Bishop of Llandaff, the Rt Rev Roy Davies, who was shortly to visit Lesotho. And it was fitting that he called on former House of Commons Speaker George Thomas (by then Lord Tonypandy) at his home in Heath Park. They doubtless had much to talk about.

“I miss the United Kingdom very much indeed,” he wrote from Maseru in August 1990, as President of the newly-opened National Constituent Assembly. “What I think about most of the time are my visits to Wales and the incredibly nice Welsh people that I used to meet all over your beautiful country – with which Lesotho has been so fruitfully linked. I read the Newsletter you sent me over and over again to remind myself of Wales and the wonderful people I worked with for three years as High Commissioner.” He said that no two days were the same as he presided over the House. “Today may be nice and peaceful, but the next wild and rowdy as members get frightfully heated in debates.” “But,” he added, “I have known most of the members for many years, so I have no problem in controlling them!”

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Whenever any of us went to Lesotho there would be a warm welcome from Dr Kolane in his Speaker’s Office or around the National Assembly.

Dr Kolane was followed by Kenneth Tsekoa. He was already a committed friend of the link. He had visited Wales some years earlier in his capacity as Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education. Not only that, but he had attended a meeting of the Dolen National Committee where he showed considerable knowledge of, and appreciation for, the educational links that were being formed between the two countries. He was the longest serving High Commissioner we knew and worked with. He took up office in the Autumn of 1989 and was called back to Lesotho to serve as Cabinet Secretary in December 1995. It was during his term of office that King Moshoeshoe II spent two years of exile in London.

A measure of Kenneth Tsekoa’s appreciation of the link can be gauged from a speech he made at Dolen Cymru’s 1990 AGM in Caernarfon. “Even before I was appointed High Commissioner I was already aware that Wales was our second home,” he said. “Of all countries outside of Lesotho we feel at home here. The link is a source of hope for the people of Lesotho. It is an example of how the peoples of the world, regardless of the distance separating them, can cooperate for mutual development and support. It is an unprecedented example of how meaningful links can be – between individuals, groups, towns, cities and sectors. Given our location and smallness, there is a need to hold another hand, however far away, to help make us feel we are truly part of the world, part of the international community.” He went on to say that a lot had been accomplished in five years, “But in one way five years is a very short time and the next five years can be even richer, particularly as we in Lesotho play our part more fully.”

As it turned out he was still in post five years later and gave his evaluation of developments in a message to mark the tenth anniversary of the link. “The spirit of brotherhood between our two nations,” it began, “as well as the level of commitment on the part of the national committees that have led the link over the past ten years, have made it possible for the people of Lesotho to benefit in many ways. There has been development cooperation in education, health, culture and women in development. Inter-country visits of youth groups, educationists, choral groups, medical personnel and religious leaders and

139 Wales’ African Twin groups have characterised the link’s activities. On behalf of the people of Lesotho I would like to express our deep sense of gratitude for the caring partnership demonstrated over the years by the people of Wales.”

Cardiff City decided to mark the tenth anniversary of the twinning by inviting Mr and Mrs Tsekoa to be guests of the City Council for two days. The visit began with a buffet supper at Mansion House, hosted by the Lord Mayor. There was a formal welcome at City Hall the next morning, followed by a tour of the National Museum of Wales and lunch at City hall. In the afternoon the guests were taken to see Cardiff Castle and the day ended with a Banquet arranged by the Welsh Livery Guild at City Hall.

Every year Mr Tsekoa would bring the entire embassy staff to Dolen Cymru’s AGM in different parts of Wales – establishing a tradition which other High Commissioners faithfully continued. It should be said that these occasions were hosted every year without fail by different Welsh Counties in a very supportive and generous fashion. We learned that the embassy staff, who rarely had much opportunity to get out of London, really looked forward to these visits to Wales, despite the long journeys involved. In 1994 Mr Tsekoa invited us to hold the AGM at the High Commission in London. “It is with pride and gratitude that we welcome you here,” he said. “Although we are in Belgravia it is as if we were in Lesotho.”

A thoughtful gesture that touched many in North Wales was his sending of a message of sympathy to the Mayor of Colwyn Bay on hearing of the flood disaster that struck Towyn in 1990. “Please accept the condolences of the people of Lesotho, through this Mission, to the people of Wales, particularly those who have been directly affected by the disaster,” it said.

In 1995, to mark the tenth anniversary of the link, the National Eisteddfod of Wales invited Mr Tsekoa to give a short address from the Eisteddfod stage. Eisteddfod officials felt the most appropriate occasion for this would be during the ceremony of Wales and the World. A letter of invitation was duly dispatched. I don’t know exactly when it was that the High Commissioner realised that the speech would need to be delivered in Welsh, but he seemed amazingly unperturbed! He started on a crash course to learn some basic Welsh, securing the help of a Welsh-speaking teacher in Hampstead to give him one-to-one lessons and also to draft and rehearse the speech. For some

140 Wales’ African Twin weeks he could be seen carrying a small tape recorder around with him. He is certainly the only African ambassador to have made a public speech in Welsh. His first sentence to the packed audience in the Eisteddfod pavilion, when it had taken in what he had said, was greeted by thunderous clapping. When he had finished the speech there was sustained and appreciative applause. The Welsh may not have been perfect, but it was a moment to be savoured.

Kenneth Tsekoa was a hard act to follow. The task of doing so fell to Benjamin Masilo. Mr Masilo had spent may years in exile as an opposition politician. We learned that he had lost a son in a raid by South African security forces. Before coming to Wales he had served as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly. He was a leading lay figure of the Lesotho Evangelical Church (LEC) and was African Vice-President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.

On the surface Mr Masilo was a harder man to get to know. He could be quite prickly at times. He could be very sensitive if he thought he detected any sense of slight or of being taken for granted. We definitely got the feeling that relations in the future would have to be conducted more ‘by the book’. Yet when he spoke at the AGMs and elsewhere it could be seen how deeply he was touched by what the link was doing and what it represented.

This became obvious when he attended his first AGM, at Llandrindod in May 1997. He heard eight people speak of their experience of being in Lesotho during the previous four months. They had been involved in education, health, soil erosion, disaster management and sport. “This is my first attendance at an AGM of the link and I am overwhelmed,” he said. “I have been at my job in London for nearly a year now and this is the first time I have heard people who say that Lesotho deserves to be supported. It is the first time I have met people who are willing to throw their weight behind my country.” He went on to voice his appreciation that the link had continued in the “dark years” of military government. “You continued with what you had started even when we were under a cloud of darkness,” he said. “You kept it up. Thank you for that. What we have heard today is a source of tremendous inspiration. There are ‘have-nots’ in your own country, but you have decided to share what you have with us – not just material things but your God-given talents. What you are doing is living the Commonwealth in practice.”

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Mr Masilo’s introduction to Wales had taken place the previous October, shortly after his arrival in the UK. It took the form of a day of welcome in Cardiff, starting with lunch at County Hall in Atlantic Wharf hosted by Council Leader Russell Goodway. From County Hall he went to the Welsh Office for a meeting with the Secretary of State for Wales, William Hague. “We appreciate and value the Wales-Lesotho Link and have given our support to it in the past,” he told Mr Masilo. “The Government of the United Kingdom will continue to support Lesotho and if we at the Welsh Office can give additional help on a smaller scale we will be happy to do so.” The next stop was at City Hall for tea with the Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Councillor John Phillips.

At the 1998 Carmarthen AGM Mr Masilo highlighted the fact that Welsh teachers had journeyed to Lesotho to assess the situation in the schools before it was decided to embark on the programme of sending thousands of English reading books for Lesotho primary schools. “You took the trouble to go to Lesotho and see for yourselves the desperate plight of our rural schools,” he said. “Your approach makes a world of difference because you deal with us as people. You succeed because you are not bureaucratic – you treat us seriously as partners. Because we don’t have natural resources, most of the international community see no value in us. But in Wales you see us differently. Your friendship and encouragement help us to face our problems.”

The Queen Mother’s visit to Wales, in the company of her second son, Prince Seeiso Bereng Seeiso, caused some anxiety for Mr Masilo. At the root of this, I think, was a fear that, because she was an African and not a ‘European’ Queen, she would not be treated with the full respect and honour which he rightly felt was due to her. As we have seen, he had doubts whether it was “proper” for her to attend the Dolen Cymru AGM in Ruthin Town Hall. He came to the AGM with his wife Carolyn and five of the Embassy staff. Again he was moved by what he saw and heard. “Very few groups we deal with have cared enough to come to Lesotho to see what happened. [In the previous September, there had been an armed intervention at the request of the Lesotho Government from SADC (Southern African Development Community) forces. It resulted in considerable destruction and loss of life.] You did that. You met our Prime Minister and tried to understand where we are. That shows me

142 Wales’ African Twin that you are real friends.” Significantly he added, “The way you have treated our Queen during her visit shows that you respect us as a people .”

Mr Masilo attended one more AGM – at Haverfordwest in June 2000 – before returning to Lesotho in July. He was succeeded by ’Me (equals Mrs/Miss/ Ms) Lebohang Ramohlanka. Remarkably, and as a sign of her intentions, ’Me Ramohlanka (who had previously been at the Lesotho Embassy in Denmark) took time out to visit Wales in her very first week in her new post. Starting work at her desk on the Monday, she was in Llanelli on Friday, to support the link stand at the National Eisteddfod.

Better was to follow. As the new High Commissioner reached the Dolen Cymru stand on the Eisteddfod field, a demonstration of Basotho dance for primary school children was in progress. Without waiting to be asked, she and her niece joined right in! Among the other stands she visited on the Eisteddfod field was that of MENCAP Cymru, which that week was launching its link with the Lesotho Society for Mentally Handicapped People. She also called at the Merched y Wawr stand where there was further news of the link with the Lesotho Homemakers Association. Writing after her return to London following her first ‘trip out’ as High Commissioner, she said, “This was my first experience with the type of development cooperation that directly benefits people who are already doing something for themselves. To my mind there is no better way of ensuring relevance, applicability and continuity. As I was going through the stands which have a connection with the link, I was struck by how much potential for expansion exists for the project and how much fertile ground there is for the learning process to flourish on both sides.”

’Me Ramohlanka was back the following March, this time in Cardiff Bay to open an exhibition about the link on display at the National Assembly for Wales. She was welcomed by a 50-strong children’s choir from St Fagans Primary School – which has its own link with Lesotho. Also on hand to greet her was First Minister Rhodri Morgan. The Assembly’s Presiding Officer hosted a lunch at which Welsh Health Minister Jane Hutt was present. ’Me Ramohlanka and First Counsellor Calvin Masenyetse were then guests of the City Council, staying overnight at Mansion House. The following morning, after a meeting at the Welsh Centre for International Affairs with Director

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Stephen Thomas, they were welcomed to a Civic Lunch at County Hall in recognition of the ties between Cardiff and Maseru.

It was when ’Me Ramohlanka was High Commissioner, and with her encouragement, that the Government of Lesotho decided to acknowledge the special relationship by appointing an Honorary Consul to formally represent it in Wales. Dolen Cymru nominated its Founder Chairman and current President, Dr Carl Clowes, for the honour. After consulting with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, the Lesotho Government duly appointed Dr Clowes. “It marks the dawn of a new era in relationships between Wales and Lesotho,” said ’Me Ramohlanka in announcing the appointment. “It is fitting that a founder member of an organisation that has helped to enhance relations between our respective countries has been nominated by the Link and been appointed by the Kingdom of Lesotho to make history as our first Honorary Consul in Wales.” Today, the Lesotho Consulate is in Dr Clowes’ home in Rhoscefnhir, Ynys Môn, and is the only example of a diplomatic mission of a developing country in Wales. An honour indeed!

In March 2002 the High Commissioner was in Bangor addressing a conference of sixth form pupils selected from schools all over North Wales. The one-day conference was arranged by Dolen Cymru and sponsored by the Commonwealth Institute under its “Spirit of Friendship” programme in connection with the Commonwealth Games being held in Manchester. The 50 pupils learned some of the secrets of diplomacy and how relations are conducted between Commonwealth countries. ’Me Ramohlanka was so impressed with the number and range of questions fired at her that she afterwards wrote asking if she could have a list of them – especially those she had not got around to answering.

In June she was in the Rhondda to attend Dolen’s AGM hosted by Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council. “Bringing a full complement of staff was the least I could do to show our appreciation of the link,” she said. “Each time I come to Wales, with its mountainous terrain and the warmth of its people, it is like coming home.” The following year she was in West Wales where the AGM was hosted by Ceredigion County Council and held in its new Headquarters in Aberaeron. She was to return to West Wales in 2004 to attend the Memorial Service for the late Queen Mother of Lesotho in St

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Davids Cathedral. She came there directly from Dolen’s AGM in Cardiff Bay, where Jane Davidson, the Education Minister, had been guest speaker.

At the time of writing the person filling the post of High Commissioner to the United Kingdom is Prince Seeiso Bereng Seeiso, younger brother of King Letsie III. He had visited Wales twice before taking up the post of High Commissioner. First he had come with his mother, Queen ’Mamahato, to the launch of the St Davids-Matsieng Link. He had come not only to accompany the Queen, but also in his role as Principal Chief of Matsieng. He was in Wales again in February 2002 as part of a small delegation of Senators invited over on a study visit by the National Assembly of Wales.

Prince Seeiso made his first visit to Wales as High Commissioner in December 2005. At the National Assembly he had meetings with First Minister Rhodri Morgan, Education Minister Jane Davidson and Health Minister Dr Brian Gibbons. He also met Mike German, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Assembly, who had just returned from a visit to Lesotho (under the auspices of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association) with fellow Assembly Member John Griffiths. Prince Seeiso was also able to visit St. Davids with the Princess and meet withWelsh teachers about to embark on six-month placements in Lesotho schools under the Lesotho Teacher Placement Programme. His current focus is on stimulating interest in Lesotho from the business community in Wales. Dolen has also been privileged to work with the Prince in his role as Patron of Sentebale, a charitable organisation established by Prince Seeiso and Prince Harry in memory of the charitable work of their two mothers.

So the tradition of whole-hearted support for the link from Lesotho’s representatives in London, started so memorably by O T Sefako in 1985, has thus continued unbroken for 22 years. Wales and Dolen Cymru have benefited from a remarkable succession of High Commissioners, each of whom had outstanding qualities and each of whom crossed the line of formal support to become our friends. Their warm encouragement has not only enriched the link, but perhaps also kept us going when the going seemed hard. “Yes, it is all worthwhile – you are on the right road – we genuinely appreciate what you are doing and share the vision” is what came across time and time again. At times, spelling out that vision for us seemed to act like sprinkling water on a parched garden. Our thanks go to them all.

145 Wales’ African Twin 16. Bridging continents

An early pamphlet, circulated even before Lesotho had been identified as Wales’ twin, attempted to spell out Dolen’s aims. It spoke in terms of constructing a bridge across a great divide – the widening gulf between the countries of the materially privileged ‘North’ and the developing countries of the ‘South’.

The bridge became one between two small countries, one on the western fringes of Europe and the other in southern Africa. We often wondered how such a long bridge could be sustained and asked ourselves what sorts of people, representing which areas of the national life of both our countries, would cross over it?

How the link sustained itself financially ‘with no visible means of support’ – or very little – is an amazing saga in itself. It was the case of a small grant here, a gift in kind there, generous hospitality on the part of individuals and organisations and a lot of unpaid work (including travel without travel allowances) by members of Dolen Cymru committees and others who caught the vision and wanted to help. Committees can often appear tedious, but in Dolen’s case the pattern that has been created of different sub-committees feeding into the governing National Committee has proved extremely beneficial – a source of enrichment and energy. Over the years the Health Sub-Committee, the Churches Sub-Committee (now re-named Communities of Faith Committee), Education Sub-Committees representing the four different corners of Wales and the Membership, Marketing and Fund-Raising Committee have been able to harness the commitment of a large number of talented and highly qualified people. These have included health managers and health specialists of different disciplines, Bishops, clergy of different denominations and church youth leaders, Head Teachers, Secondary and Primary teachers, Advisers and lecturers. The sub-committees are usually the place where current work is driven forward and where new initiatives and openings are proposed. The National Committee reviews all the different areas of linking and makes strategic decisions where necessary. A smaller

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Management Committee can take interim decisions and supervises the work of the paid officers.

Looking back, all of the different Treasurers who served the link at one time or another possessed two essential qualities – nerves of steel and great faith! Eventually Dolen benefited from a series of larger grants that enabled us to employ a full-time officer with part-time administrative support. As has been seen, these grants (which were not contiguous) came first from the Welsh Office, then the National Lottery and finally from the Welsh Assembly Government. Today the situation is much healthier, with the link benefiting from a second three-year grant from the Welsh Assembly Government through the Department of Education, Life-long Learning and Skills. The grant sustains a full-time Director and the link office in Cardiff. It also finances the programme of teacher exchanges, including the six-month Teacher Placement Programme in Lesotho and latterly funding under the Wales for Africa initiative has supported health developments in Lesotho.

Who would cross the bridge? Amazingly those who have done so – both ways – can be counted not in tens but in hundreds. They have included cabinet ministers, AMs, MPs and Senators, members of the Lesotho Royal Family, bishops and civic leaders, health professionals and medical students, lecturers and teachers, church ministers and church youth groups, choir conductors and whole choirs, officers of women’s organisations, youth volunteers and cyclists, artists and photographers, radio and print journalists. Indeed the hundreds of Welsh people who have experienced Lesotho (and vice-versa) become many thousands when the various exchanges, training programmes and teaching initiatives in education, health and the church are considered as they reach out to a wider audience.

A sign that the link has become embedded in the Welsh consciousness is seeing or hearing of initiatives unprompted by any Dolen officer or committee. One such was the bike ride around Lesotho. In September 2003, led and organised by Jenny Pye from Llanbedrgoch in Ynys Môn, eight riders and two support team from Wales – joined by 19 colleagues from the Lesotho Cycle Club in Maseru – cycled 575 miles around Lesotho, raising £13,000 for link projects in schools and hospitals. Each participant from Wales raised their own air fare, so that all the sponsorship money could go to the cause.

147 Wales’ African Twin

They took their own bikes plus one spare one (to be cannibalised for parts), plus copious supplies of spare break pads and puncture repair equipment. “The terrain in Lesotho was the most difficult I have ever encountered,” said Jenny, who had previously experienced cycling in the Andes and Patagonia. “Less than half was on tarmac roads. We crossed several passes at 10,000 feet and saw some breath-taking views. We used up all our break pads on the steep downhill descents!”

Shortly after the visit, the seriousness of the food situation in Lesotho became more apparent. There was wide-spread famine, particularly in the east of the country and an emergency food programme was established. An international appeal was launched by the Lesotho government and Dolen responded to their ‘friend in need’. A total of 140,000 Maloti (approximately £14,000) was collected following considerable publicity in Wales. A series of items by Heath Jeffries from HTV helped to publicise the plight. A cheque was formally presented to the Foreign Minister by Dolen’s President during a subsequent visit to Lesotho. Sadly, the food situation in Lesotho remains fragile to this day. A series of droughts, increasing soil erosion and the impact of HIV/ AIDS, are all combining to make the situation very difficult to combat and the United Nations World Food programme continues to operate in large parts of the country.

The following year, those who had taken part in the bike ride around Lesotho invited twelve members of the Lesotho Cycle Club to pay a return visit and cycle 500 miles around the coast of Ireland and Wales. In a reciprocal gesture, the Basotho cyclists joined in a 102 mile ride around Anglesey, organised to raise money for a skate park in Llangefni. It was all part of the adventure and fascination of the link.

Another such initiative is the link that has sprung up between Treborth Botanical Gardens in Bangor and the Katse Botanical Garden in the Highlands of Lesotho. It brought Mr Tau Mahlelebe, Curator of the Katse Gardens, to Wales for a special Open Day at Bangor University to celebrate and publicise the link. The Treborth Gardens has over 40 species of Lesotho flora and is aiming to increase this, says Curator Nigel Brown.

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In 2005, Urdd Gobaith Cymru also re-engaged with Lesotho when a group of young people from a school in Pembrokeshire, under Eirith Evans’ guidance, spent time working in tandem with Basotho youth building village latrines. This was a remarkable development opportunity for each of the seven youngsters and three leaders from Wales as well as for the youth of Ha Ramichini village who worked with them. “It wasn’t only about building toilets; it is about building lasting friendships,” said Llinos Roberts, Urdd Youth Development Officer.

As 2005 represented the 20th anniversary of the link, Dr Carl Clowes agreed to lead a Cultural Visit to Lesotho in his role as Honorary Consul. Fully aware that tourism in Lesotho remains very under-developed, a party of 15 took up the challenge. With three highly-experienced drivers in four-wheel drive vehicles and Thato from the Lesotho office, they absorbed everything that was thrown at them – not least a broken axle in the dark on the mountain road from Thaba Tseka to Khatse! This was essentially an opportunity for those who might otherwise never have the chance to visit Lesotho by virtue of the various technical and professional exchanges. Tourism may be undeveloped, but the party were able to stay in some good lodges and in people’s homes. “The opportunities for the future are clearly endless,” said Dr Clowes. Since that visit, the High Commissioner in London has made contact with Jonathan Jones, Head of Tourism in the National Assembly, to explore how Lesotho’s National Tourist Authority might cooperate with ours. In a similar vein Wales Trade International made a brief visit to Lesotho in 2005 and the current Minister in the Welsh Assembly Government with responsibilities for economic development is anxious that opportunities are explored further for trade in both directions.

The BBC Africa week in July 2006 created yet another opportunity. BBC Wales felt that Lesotho presented an ideal focus and sent a team which reported regularly and covered a wide variety of topics, mainly based on areas where the link was active. The interest has become on-going with yet more exchanges of personnel and this, hopefully, will become a permanent feature. This is particularly encouraging for us because in the early years of the link there was active interchange between BBC Wales and Radio Lesotho. The then Controller of BBC Wales, Gareth Price, made two special trips to advise on improvements to radio broadcasting and on the new television service that

149 Wales’ African Twin was about to be developed. After the first visit he decided to send the editor of Radio Wales, Gareth Bowen, to spend a month in the newsroom in Maseru, training radio journalists and producers. After the second journey, where he saw the first television outputs, he arranged for further training of Basotho staff by the BBC, both in London and in Cardiff. Gareth Price continued to help Basotho journalists when he moved to the Thomson Foundation as Director of Radio Broadcasting.

New links are always forming in new areas of life. Recently there has been cooperation between Wales and Lesotho in exploring ways to strengthen civil society. In 2005 Dolen Cymru Director Dyfan Jones led a Welsh group to attend a Governance conference in Maseru, which Dolen had organised in cooperation with the British Council in Wales. With Dyfan were Dr Rachel Jones, Special Adviser at the Welsh Assembly to First Minister Rhodri Morgan and Education Minister Jane Davidson, Rhys Williams from the National Union of Teachers, Wales, and Andrew Templeton from the British Council. The conference, which looked at issues of advocacy, the role of women in politics and developing transparent committee systems in elected institutions, was hugely appreciated by the more than 50 trade unionists, voluntary sector leaders and MPs who took part.

In May 2003 a delegation of four, consisting of two Lesotho Members of Parliament, an official from the Lesotho Electoral Commission and a radio journalist came to observe the elections to the Welsh National Assembly. They wanted to see how our political parties campaigned and how voluntary organisations seek to influence decision makers. Both National Assemblies have similar voting systems, employing a mixture of ‘first past the post’ and proportional representation, using an area list system.

Of considerable significance, in October 2005 two Welsh Assembly Members – John Griffiths (Labour, Newport East) and Mike German (Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the National Assembly) – visited Lesotho as representatives of the Welsh branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). “The Speaker and the Clerk of the National Assembly in Maseru made it clear that they would welcome a Parliamentary dimension to the link between Wales and Lesotho,” they said in their report. “We hope that Wales can play its part in a range of international assistance being provided

150 Wales’ African Twin to Lesotho and help build the capacity of the Basotho in order that they can better help themselves.” This link between the two National Assemblies bore practical fruit in the summer of 2006 when members of the Clerk’s Office in Maseru spent time in Cardiff learning about different aspects of Wales’ National Assembly and studying our practices. Reference to the importance of the link between Wales and Lesotho has been heard in the Assembly chamber on several occasions since. Further exchanges between the CPA and the Clerk’s Office took place in 2007 and there is now a real commitment to focus on this link to foster good governance in Lesotho.

Ian Lucas, the Wrexham MP, began to take a particular interest in the link following a public meeting held in Wrexham in October 2004. By 2006 he had succeeded in stimulating sufficient interest among other North Wales Labour MPs that a fact-finding mission in the name of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association visited Lesotho from Westminster. Subsequent meetings have been held with Dolen’s Director to encourage further links in the north Wales region. One project that emerged from the activity in Wrexham was the re-engagement of NEWI when UNESCO agreed to fund a research programme on “Risk Behaviours for HIV in Lesotho” led by Professor Odette Parry of the Institute.

When the link began there was no National Assembly for Wales and no immediate prospect of one. As a result Dolen’s all-Wales National Committee drew on the good will of individuals, organisations and institutions throughout Wales to sustain the link and make things happen. There was occasional encouragement and support from the Welsh Office, but no sustaining commitment or leadership. As was seen in the last chapter, Dolen Cymru did its best to engage with the official representatives of the Lesotho government and “speak for Wales”. This beginning at least ensured that the grass-roots ethos of the link has become firmly embedded. But the coming of devolution has changed the landscape. The National Assembly for Wales has now given Wales a representative voice.

In a speech given to Dolen’s 2001 AGM in Caernarfon, the Rt Hon Dafydd Wigley AM acknowledged this and stressed that the time had now come for the National Assembly to become much more involved. “Over the last 16 years you have succeeded in raising consciousness of Lesotho – and with it

151 Wales’ African Twin of the international world – among Welsh people,” he said. “Dolen Cymru has helped the Welsh, as Welsh, to give service to the rest of the world. You are more than a movement. You have succeeded in creating connections between people in so many fields. This enriches both our societies. In the past there has been very little encouragement from Westminster for the link to do this. But now we have our own Assembly which gives us new opportunities. We can now welcome people from overseas and take international initiatives. There is a place for Wales, as Wales, to play its part in the world. We need to feel a sense of responsibility world-wide – and not just when involvement might be of benefit to our own pockets. There has been too much of that. Your work is showing the way in the voluntary sector of what can be done to help Wales play its part in the wider world. The National Assembly can and should take a lead in this.”

It does seem, and is greatly to be hoped, that this is beginning to happen. In a speech during a special debate to mark Commonwealth Day 2006, John Griffiths spoke of the new international opportunities open to the Assembly. “One important aspect of devolution,” he said, “is that it has made Wales much more of a world citizen. It is allowing us to help Commonwealth countries and others by being more engaged with them, by building stronger links and by adding value to the UK’s international development work.”

Without taking away from Dolen Cymru’s voluntary ethos or weakening its firm roots in all areas of Wales and in all aspects of Welsh life – in fact reinforcing and sustaining these – the Welsh Assembly, as the recognised voice of the Welsh people, can now give a lead in the future growth of the link.

Are there wider implications in what Dolen Cymru has pioneered? In a speech given in 1994 Lesotho High Commissioner Kenneth Tsekoa (later his country’s Foreign Minister) asked the same question. “It is very uncommon to have two nations extending the hand of friendship in a link such as we have,” he said. “I feel a similar kind of link could benefit other countries. The world is full of examples of strife between nations. Linking affords two countries, which may be quite different in many ways yet are at peace, to address things that are in their common interest. It is one of the best ways in which the world could build on and consolidate peace.” It might also be a good way

152 Wales’ African Twin to ‘do’ development assistance – bringing in groups and organisations not usually involved. It is interesting to note that the Scottish Parliament has decided to focus its main development support on Malawi, with which it has historic links. Perhaps there will be other small country twinnings as the global village becomes more of a reality.

Looking back, much has happened. Some things we hoped for did not materialise, while things we never planned took shape. It is quite true that more could have happened, given better support and more secure funding. Many good projects, that took hours of work and careful coordination, have remained on the shelf because hopes of funding them were never realised. But the link has gone on and grown and has kept involving more and more people.

The Chair of Dolen until his retirement in 2007 was John Ellis from Llanddarog. In many ways he is typical of the way Dolen’s outreach has grown from the early small roots. Visiting his son Geraint, who was working in Lesotho in the mid ’80s, John, who was then Director of Education for Dyfed County Council, became enthused and thereafter was increasingly involved with the link. In the Chairman’s article in Dolen’s Winter 2005 Newsletter, John, noting all the activity and growth of the previous few months, said that perhaps it was timely to reflect on the basic aims and objectives of the link. There were, he said, four stages:

™ Establishing a relationship of friendship and understanding between Wales and Lesotho. ™ Promotion of awareness of each other’s aspirations. ™ Identifying common areas of concern and potential collaboration between our communities. ™ Identifying and assisting bodies, organisations and individuals in Wales to establish contacts with their counterparts in Lesotho.

“The key word in our philosophy is understanding,” he continued. “Through understanding comes friendship and involvement. Involvement leads to collaboration, where links by individuals, organisations and establishments, both in Wales and Lesotho, lead to common action that benefits communities in both countries.”

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This approach and these values have held firm over 23 years of the link’s growth. They have under-pinned a unique Welsh experiment in conducting international relations.

Many Welsh men and women, especially those privileged to visit Lesotho in one capacity or another, have found it has been for them a transforming experience and has become an indelible part of their lives. Equally, as has been seen, many Basotho have talked of Wales having become their second home. Many have indeed stayed in Welsh homes and witnessed the white man in a different light for the first time.

So what is the essence of the link? Perhaps it is best portrayed in a series of snap-shots – pictures that stay in the mind and tell a story better than paragraphs of print. The images are varied but equally vivid:

™ two Principal Chiefs of Mafeteng, doing what they have known since childhood, horse riding, albeit along the beach on Ynys Môn ™ Welsh medical students alighting from an aircraft of the Flying Doctor Service onto a remote mountain landing strip – a far cry from our District General Hospitals ™ a Basotho church youth delegation trying out the dry ski slopes in Llandudno ™ the “Welsh” fire engine standing outside the police post at the gates of the Royal Palace in Maseru ™ the Anglican Bishop of Lesotho turned back by flooded roads between Machynlleth and Aberystwyth and joking that it was just like Lesotho ™ a Basotho choir entertaining tourists at Caernarfon Castle ™ Basotho visitors, complete with life-jackets, crossing over to Enlli (Bardsey) on a choppy sea ™ a senior member of Merched y Wawr squatting down on the ground to play with the Queen’s drummers at the royal home in Matsieng ™ the Vice-Chancellor of the National University at Roma helping volunteer Welsh teachers sort through piles of books destined for Lesotho primary schools ™ a mixed cultural evening in Menai Bridge with Dawnswyr Môn, where singing to the harp alternated with Basotho dances and song

154 Wales’ African Twin

™ Wrexham school children laying daffodils on the grave of Prince Jeremiah Moshoeshoe in Welshampton ™ a visiting Basotho conductor being handed the opportunity to conduct a 70-strong Anglesey male-voice choir in rehearsal ™ and, not least, a performance by Basotho on their home-made instruments (catgut, horsehair, oil drums and old wooden stakes) to an audience at Glaslwch school, Newport, mesmerised by their talents

Others will have their own images equally poignant and impressive in their own way… But none can convey the warmth and generosity of the Basotho people which remains the overwhelming experience for all of us in Wales who have been involved with Dolen Cymru.

So much has happened in the first 23 years. So many opportunities remain!

155 Wales’ African Twin Index

Adamson, Helen, 6, 76, 114 Commonwealth Games,144 African National Congress, 49, 50, 53 Commonwealth Parliamentary Anderson, Donald, MP, 50 Association, 145, 150-1 Anglesey County Council, 85 Commonwealth Society for the Deaf, 125 Archbishop of Cardiff, 37, 102, 111 Commonwealth, The, 60, 66, 68, 78, 144, Arian Byw, 55 152 Arid Zone Unit, Bangor, 22, 74 Cooper, Bishop Carl, 110, 120 Arnot, Dr D G, 17, 21 Côr y Traeth, 60 Ashton, Sian, 89 Cox, Rev Peter, 109 Crocker, Wayne, 5, 98, 129 Bakers Lane Primary School, 77 Crompton, Gareth, 30 Bardgett, Ronald, 41 Bates, David, 38 Daily Post, 16, 31, 57, 60, 86, 89 BBC Wales, 7, 30, 59, 61-2, 149-50 Daly, Barbara, 76 Birley, Dr Humphrey, 132 Daniel, Cathrin, 96 Bisto, Connie, 74 Danswyr Môn, 154 BMA Wales, 133 Davidson, Jane, AM, 73, 75, 80, 95, 145, Bond, John, 19 150 Bonner-Steel, Ann, 71, 75 Davies, Rev Aled, 106 Botsabelo Leprosy Hospital, 121 Davies, Bryn, 123 Botswana, 17, 19, 20-21, 57 Davies, Ceinwen, 67 Bowen, Gareth, 30, 60, 150 Davies, Rev Noël A, 36, 98, 102-3 Brant, Rev Peter, 109 Davies, Bishop Roy, 99, 101, 108, 138 Brewer, Mari, 83 Davies, Bishop Saunders, 106 British Council, 7, 11, 18, 22-7, 30, 36-8, Davies, Sylwen, 70 60-1, 71, 74, 88, 95, 150 Dialogue on Wales’ role, 9-11 Brown, Nigel, 148 Dietsisio, Rev M, 109 Browning, Mary, 85, 92, 127 Dixon, Morwyn, 127 Dybdahl, Rev Christine, 108 Cantorion Coedpoeth, 58, 73, 115 Cardiff City FC, 124 Early Childhood Education, Lesotho, 66 Cardiff City/County Council, 66, 115, Edwards, the Rt Hon Nicholas, 29-30, 37 136, 140, 144 Elliott, Tony, 75 Carmelite Sisters, Dolgellau, 107 Ellis, John, 4, 47, 120 153 Chadwick, Bishop Graham, 23, 28, 97 Ellis, Tom, MP/MEP, 13 Chalker, Linda, MP, 51, 54, 113 European Union/EEC, 56, 72-3 Chapman, Jessica, 75 Evans, Dr Anne, 128 Chiddick, Sophie, 43 Evans, Eirith, 149 Christian Aid, 11, 14, 77 Evans, Rev Gwilym, 103 Christian Council of Lesotho, 35-7, 104-5, Evans, Dr Gwynfor, 9, 13, 23-4 111 Churches Together in Wales, 36, 98, 102- Frost, Dr Olive, 21, 122 3, 111 Churches Together, Penarth, 109 Geer, Dr van de, 77 Cledwyn, Lord of Penrhos, 24, 50 George, Ela, 65 Clowes, Dorothi, 120, 127, 138 Geldof, Bob, 55 Clwyd Fire Service, 46 German, Mike, AM, 145, 150

156 Wales’ African Twin

Gibbons, Dr Brian, AM, 133, 145 Jones, Dyfan, 95-6, 150 Gibson-Watt, Lord David, 24, 46-7, 84 Jones, Elenid, 77 Gilbert, Dr Jane, 94 Jones, Professor Gareth Wyn, 22, 74 Gittoes, Christine, 93, 136 Jones, Goronwy Rhys, 133 Glaslwch School, 155 Jones, Ioan Rhys, 105 Goodway, Russell, 142 Jones, Jackie, 129 Griffiths, Rev E H, 103 Jones, Jonathan, 149 Griffiths, Eleri Non, 70 Jones, Mair Penri, 70 Griffiths, Joan, 43 Jones, Dr Rachel, 150 Griffiths, John, AM, 145, 150, 152 Jones, R H, 29 Griffiths, Owen, 18, 25-6 Jones, Sally, 77 Griffiths, Raymond, 119 Griffiths, Stephen, 18 Katse Botanical Gardens, 148 Guardian, The, 31 Katse Dam, 32, 74 Gwynedd County Council, 27, 57 Kent, Prince Michael of, 113 Kent, Princess Michael of, 113 Hague, Rt Hon William, MP, 84, 142 Khoarai, Bishop Paul, 102 Hain, Rt Hon Peter, MP, 89 Khomari, Mojalemeng, 105 Hannigan, Bishop James, 99, 101, 136 Khotso! Pula! Nala! work pack, 80 Harries, Sioned, 79, 84 Khotso! work pack, 79-80, 84, 88 Harry, HRH Prince, 6, 145 King Letsie III, 70, 110, 113, 116, 119-20, Heath, Rt Hon Edward, MP, 55 145 Hewitt, Ann, 125 King Moshoeshoe I, 28, 33-4, 59, 112 Honorary Consul in Wales, 144 King Moshoshoe II , 23, 28, 34, 37, 51, Hooson, Lord Emlyn, 25 57, 100, 112-16, 139 Howell, Dr Gareth, l8 Kinsey, Father Paul, 103 HTV, 7, 30 Kirkland, Diane, 133 Hughes, Cynrig, 74-5 Kiteli, Teboho, 123 Hughes, Gareth, 81, 85 Kolane, Dr John, 47, 113, 137-8 Hughes, Sioned, 104 Hume, Cardinal Basil, 116 Lambert, Mike, 124 Hunt, Rt Hon David, MP, 78 Lebaka, Mrs, 93 Hurlow, Dr Wilbert, 132 Lechesa, Lefu, 126 Hurst, John, 41, 45 Lekhanya, Major General, 37, 51 Hutt, Jane, AM, 130, 143 Lepheana, Josiel, 56, 58 Huws, Dr Dyfed, 130 Lepono, Angeline, 69 Lepotha, Agnes, 93 Independent, The, 56, 118 Lerotholi Polytechnic, 72-3 Idriswyn, Dafydd, 4, 81, 84-5 Lesotho Cycle Club, 148 Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, 22 Lesotho Evangelical Church, 26-7, 60, 100, 102, 110, 141 James, Carol, 127 Lesotho Flying Doctor Service, 42-3, 127, James, Mererid, 66, 68-70, 115 133, 154 Jane, Colonel A, 53 Lesotho Girl Guides Association, 35, 109 Jeffries, Heath, 148 Lesotho High Commission, 23, 25-6, 52, Jonathan, Chief, 33, 35-6, 49-52, 54, 112 135 Jones, Archbishop Alwyn Rice, 62, 101-2, Lesotho Highlands Water Project, 72 136 Lesotho Homemakers, 59, 64, 69-70, 143 Jones, Professor Bedwyr Lewis, 138 Lesotho Medical Association 44, 122 Jones, Beryl, 12, 14 Lesotho Music Society, 59, 61 Jones, Dr Dafydd Alun, 9, 11-12 Lesotho National Council of Women , 35,

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45, 64 Merched y Wawr, 25, 45-6, 64-70, 115, Lesotho Save the Children, 35 120, 143, 154 Lesotho Society for Mentally Handicapped Mid Glamorgan Health Authority, 78, 122- People, 127, 129, 130, 143 3, 125 Lesotho Teacher Placement Programme, Miles, Dame Margaret, 21 83, 95, 145, 147 Milner, Annis, 22 Letsie, Colonel Sekhobe, 54 Milner, Prof Cedric, 22, 73-4 Lewis, Colin, 59, 73 Mockatse, Armstrong, 77 Lewis, Rev Dewi Lloyd, 11-12, 14 Mofolo, Rafiloe, 66 Lewis, Edward, 124 Mohlalisi, Archbishop , 110-11 Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll Primary School, Mohlomi, Hospital, 121, 127-8, 132 81-82, Moji, Dr, 122 Llangollen International Eisteddfod, 57-8, Mokete, Dr, 43 61-3, Moklahlane, Rev, 111 Llanishen High School, 30 Mokokoane, ’Malikeleli, 38, 64, 66, 69-70 Lloyd, Dr Stephen, 92 Mokuku, Bishop Philip, 37-8, 97-9, 101-2, Lloyd, Delyth, 86-8, 90, 94, 115, 117, 107 135-6 Molapo, Pius, 125 Lucas, Ian, MP, 151 Moletsane, Professor, 74 Moore, Maria, 130 Machabeng Hospital, 130 Mopeli High School, 41-2, 57 Machai, V P, 35-6, 38 Morgan, Rev Bob, 108, 115-6 Madog-Jones, Dr Chris, 44 Morgan, Elaine, 4, 19, 108, 115-6 Mafeteng Methodist Church, 108-9 Morgan, Rhodri, AM, 130, 143, 145, 150 Mafisa, Benedict, 60-1, 63 Morris, Dr Hywel, 44 Mahlelebe, Tau, 148 Morris, Roy, 73 Mahlone, Mrs, 82 Moshoeshoe, Prince Jeremiah , 113-4, Makenete, Dr, 37, 44, 122 118, 138, 155 Makheri, L G, 91 Moshoeshoe, Rosa, 83 Makoae, Seabata, 105-6 Mosotho, Dr, 132 Makumane, Thato, 88 Motloung, Molefe, 63 Maluti Hospital, 132-3 Motsoane, Phatsa, 91 Mandela, Nelson, 120 Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin, 63, 136 Mantutle, Letsoha, 92 Mardula, Jodi, 94 Nant Gwrtheyrn, 8, 57 Marshman, Graham, 58 National Assembly of Wales, 6, 10, 94, 51, Masenyetse, Calvin, 143 152 Maseru Teachers Choir, 33, 47, 56-8, 62, National Botanical Gardens, 80 138 National Curriculum Development Maseru Vocal Waves, 62 Council, 87 Masilo, Benjamin, HE, 117-8, 141-3 National Lottery, 7, 81, 84-6, 94, 128, 131, Masite Sisters, 107 147 Masoabi, Mohai, 65 National Union of Teachers, Wales, 95, Mathews, David, 89 150 Matsepe, High School , 108 National University of Lesotho, 23, 37, Matsieng, Royal Village of, 59, 110, 115- 74-5, 129, 154 7, 119, 120, 145 Nau, Mpho, 83 McBryde, John, 40 NEWI, Wrexham, 7, 11, 13, 47, 71-3, 78, Mencap Cymru, 129-30, 143 151 Menday, Rev David, 120 Noakes, Bishop George, 24 Mendus, Gwen, 19 Normal College, Bangor, 9, 27,

158 Wales’ African Twin

Nthyna, Emma, 74 Raditapole, Dr K, 126 Ntlaloe, Karohano, 60-1, 63 Ramabitsa, Rose, 45 Ntsaba, Miss Seeng, 102 Ramohlanka, HE Lebohang, 120, 143-4 Nyenye, A P, 27 Rantle, Rev Daniel, 111 Rees, Gwenallt, 22, 75, 109 ODA, 122-3 Rees, Non, 109 O’Hare, Bernie, 133 Regan, Bishop Edwin, 107, 110, 118, 120 Oliver, Mary, 129 Rethabile, 79 Owen, Aneurin, 55 Richmond, Dr Kay, 132 Owen, Dafydd, 106 Roberts, Buddug, 91-2 Owen, Rev Dafydd, 99-101 Roberts, Llinos, 149 Owen, Glyn, 78, 114 Roberts, Mair Carrington, 58 Owen, John Wyn, 30, 122 Roberts, Rev Roger, 10, 12 Owen, Leah, 56 Roberts, Sir Wyn, 66, 80 Owen, Rhys, 47 Rose, Stephen, 129 Oxfam, 18 Rosling, Peter, 38, 47 Royal College of Nursing, Wales, 133 Parri, Meurig, 17, 21-2 Royal School of Music, 61 Parry, Andrew , 47, 77-8 Parry, Professor Odette, 151 S4C, 55, 68 Penny, Suzanne, 134 SADC, 90, 142 Phachaka, Lineo, 88, 125-6 Sain Records, 55, 57-8, 62 Phillips, Prof Glyn O, 11-14, 21, 23, 47, Salmon, Hugh, 24 65, 72-3 Sankomota, 55, 57 Phillips, Councillor John, 142 Schiavone, Toni, 79-81, 85, 91 Phillips, Rhiain, 13, 65 Schools Partnership World-wide, 78 Plumber, Howard, 17 Schools Supply Unit, Lesotho, 87, 90 Pontarddulais Male Voice Choir, 91 SCM, Lesotho, 105-6 Poole-Hughes, Bishop John, 17 Scrace, Dr Andy, 93, 127, 131-2 Possa, Makapasi, 93 Seeiso, Mabatho, 115 Powell-Davies, Nan Wyn, 106 Seeiso, Prince, 114, 116, 120, 142, 145 Powys NHS Trust, 85, 92, 126, 128, 136 Sefako, Innocentia, 38, 64 Presbyterian Church of Wales, 99, 106, Sefako, O T, 5, 25-6, 28, 30, 36, 38, 49, 109 52, 54, 64, 135, 137, 145 Price, Gareth, 30, 149-50 Sefika Church, 109 Price, the Hon Lindy, 126 Sello, Molefe, 59-60, 62-3 Pritchard, Alun, 82 Senkhane, Rev Daniel, 36-8, 47, 98 Private Health Association of Lesotho, 35, Sentebale, 145 44, 121, 127 Short, Clare, MP, 90 Pye, Jenny, 147 Sibolla, Rev Gilbert, 102 Sinclair, Howard, 129 Qhobela, B, 117 Sister John Baptist, 107 Qhobela, Makomosala, 104 Skillshare International, 130 Queen Elizabeth II, 118 Smith, Peter, 74, 85, 115, 117 Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, 43, 121, 124 Smith, Sian, 133 Queen ’Mamahato, 23, 59, 68, 70, 87, Snidle, Dr Heather, 103-4 112-9, 132, 142, 144-5, 154 Sole, Masopha , 54 South Africa, 18, 32-3, 35-6, 48-53, 56, Radio Cymru, 28, 56 75, 90 Radio Lesotho, 51, 60, 110, 149 South Glamorgan County Council, 57, 66, Radio Wales, 28, 30, 56-7, 66, 150 78, 108, 115, 142

159 Wales’ African Twin

South Wales Echo, 31, 89 Wales Young Farmers , 25 St Davids, 24, 62, 110-11, 116-20, 145 Weil, Dr van der, 77 St Fagans Primary School, 143 Welsh Assembly Government, 7, 83, 95, St Johns Methodist Church, Bangor, 108 133, 147, 149 St Mary’s, Bridgend, 125 Welsh Assembly of Women, 66 Stammers, Judith, 131-2 Welsh Centre for International Affairs, 11, Stead, Ian, 134 14, 18-19, 24, 30, 143 Steel, Professor Robert, 22-3 Welsh Council for Voluntary Action, 84 Swallows FC, 124 Welsh Development Agency, 44 Welsh Office, 7, 29, 79-80, 84, 126, 132, Tabernacl, Capel, Cardiff, 109 135, 142, 147 Templeton, Andrew, 150 Welsh School of Medicine, 43 Thabane, J K, 123-4 Welshampton, 113-4, 118, 138 Thipa, Bernadette, 88 Western Mail, The, 16, 19, 28, 31, 50, 52, Thoahlane, Abel, 123 57, 60, 62, 118 Thomas Elfyn, 42 Wheatly, Gareth, 72 Thomas, Lord Elis, 51, 111, 143 Wigley, Dafydd, MP, 51, 86, 90, 151 Thomas, George, 135 Williams, Rev Adrian, 110, 120 Thomas, Geraint, 13-4, 19-20, 26, 28 Williams, Edward, 41, 57, 114 Thomas, Dr Graham, 130 Williams, Elin, 80, 82 Thomas, Margaret, 122 Williams, Bishop Gwilym O, 10-12, 14, Thomas, Og, 55 24, 30, 40, 50, 97-8, 101 Thomas, Paula, 92 Williams, Gwyn L, 61, 63 Thomas, Stephen, 144 Williams, Harriet, 105 Thompson Foundation, 150 Williams, Ifanwy, 45, 65-9, 115 Tiheli, M, 27, 37-8, 72 Williams, Rhys, 150 Tiheli, Mamoruli, 126 Williams, Robert, 56, 79 Tomos, Bryn, 75 Williams, Wendy, 80 Treborth Botanical Gardens, 148 Wilson, Rev Martin, 104 Treorchy Male Voice Choir, 124 Women’s Institute, Wales, 25, 46 Trinity College, Carmarthen, 22, 71, 75 Women’s Royal Voluntary Service, 45-6, Tsekoa, Keke, 88, 90 65 Tsekoa, Kenneth, 8, 62-3, 72, 112, 114, World Bank, 122-3 122, 137, 139, 140, 152 World Health Organisation, 8, 10 Tsotsane, Puisano, 92 Worsnip, Rev Michael, 98 Tsubella, Bishop, 111 Tutu, Archbishop, 98 Y Cymro, 16, 28, 31, 47-8 Y Faner, 8-10, 16, 58 UNICEF, 18, 19 Y Goleuad, 51, 53 United Nations, 8, 18, 33, 49, 88, 148, 151 Y Gymdeithas Feddygol, 44, 121-2, 137 University of Wales, 25 Y Wawr, 65 University of Wales, Bangor, 40, 73-5, 91, Yeoman, Rev David, 104 98, 148 Ysgol Bro Dewi, 119 University of Wales, Swansea, 22 Ysgol Cae Top, 40 Urdd Gobaith Cymru, 41, 60, 149 Ysgol Morgan Llwyd, 41, 57, 78, 113-4 Urdd National Eisteddfod, 59-60, 91, 98 Ysgol y Borth, 81 Ysgol y Garnedd, 40, 43, Village Health Workers, 85, 88, 93, 128, Ysgol y Wern, 29 131

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