Lesotho, Basotho, Mosotho and Sesotho!

The country is called Lesotho. The people are called Basotho, one person is called a Mosotho, and the language is called Sesotho!!!

The Kingdom in the Sky

The name of our webpage ‘His Kingdom in the sky’ comes from the fact that Lesotho is referred to as ‘The Kingdom in the sky’. Lesotho in its totality is more than 1000m above sea level. And although that is a fact we do refer to the west side of Lesotho (and Maseru as its capital) as the lowlands. Compared to the mountain ranges in the East and South of the country.

Maseru is the capital of Lesotho. It is a growing city with more and more ‘luxuries ’for the richer Basotho and the foreigners. There are two malls in which you can do most of your shopping. But keep in mind that you are still in Africa, which means that things are still not as much organized and fast as in the Western world.

Rural and slowly

As we said earlier. Rural life in Lesotho is still very slow going. Infrastructure is often a struggle, the best way to travel in the mountains is on horseback. Most people have their own fields which they plant with maize (staple food), sorghum or beans. The Basotho love their maize pap (called papa) and eat it every day. Most known vegetables are rape, cabbage or spinach. They also love meat, but for most people this is still a treat.

Winter cold

Because of its altitude Lesotho can be quite cold in winter. We often see snow on the mountain tops and sometimes it falls also in our valley. The coldest months of the year are: June, July and August. In springtime we experience some heavy wind and the summers are hot and wet. The rainy season is in summer and after some heavy rains everything is muddy.

AIDS related problems

AIDS is a devastating disease killing a lot of people every day. It is still uncommon for people to share their status with others, as there is a lot of fear around the disease. Due to the fact that a lot of people die of Aids or Aids- related diseases, there are a lot of orphans in Lesotho. Together with the fact that a lot of Basotho men (and women) are working in South Africa, we see that the rural areas consist mostly of old people and children. Unemployment is high, so people look for a better life by trying to find a job in South Africa.

Basotho and their religious life

Most Basotho people are ‘Christians’. We have different churches; Roman Catholic, LEC (Lesotho Evangelical Church), Anglican, Zionist etc. These churches are mostly traditional compared to the (what people call here) Born Again churches. These last churches preach a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. A big ‘problem’ in Lesotho (and maybe throughout Africa) is the fact that people don’t do what they preach. The actual discipleship or doing what Jesus did, is often not seen. In a lot of the ‘traditional churches’ Christianity is still mixed with traditional beliefs of the Basotho. For example, practices are done to honour the ancestors.