News & Events

The Household Cavalry team with King Letsie III and Prince Seeiso. Photo: Ed Lane Fox.

Sentebale's plans with the Ministry of Education to transform the Thuso Centre into a National Referral Assessment and Teaching Centre of Excellence for the North of Lesotho are well under way. The Centre has been in a poor state of repair but the first 12 week phase of developing and improving the Centre is now well underway. The focus of Phase I is a refurbishment of existing buildings and upgrading of the infrastructure.

This work has been kick started by a generous donation of both money and man power from the Burnaby Blue Foundation. This unique charitable donation was made to Sentebale through a financial contribution, as well as three weeks of work by soldiers from the Household Cavalry taking part in the latest Burnaby Blue expedition to southern Africa as part of their adventure training.

The kitchen before work was done at Thuso.

Working alongside the local contractor, soldiers, including Sentebale's Patron Prince Harry, did a tremendous job during their three weeks on the site. There is now a security fence around the Centre which is providing much needed protection for Thuso's vulnerable children, and a pathway and ramps have been installed to offer vital access and independence for the children. Existing buildings have been refurbished including the dining room, kitchen and a classroom; they are now well insulated and better equipped and decorated.

King Letsie III, Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso. Photo: Ed Lane Fox.

A playground has been built and with extra fundraising we hope to install specialist equipment as part of the next phase, provision of new toilets and washing facilities, as well as site preparation for the next phase has also been completed.

All of this work has contributed to a dramatic improvement here already and we could not be more grateful for the support of the Burnaby Blue Foundation and the hard work of all of the Household Cavalrymen involved in the expedition. Life for the children at Thuso will be much more comfortable, and importantly they will have greater independence with access to buildings and around the centre.

The new playground. Photo: Ed Lane Fox.

The completion of this work was celebrated with a visit by King Letsie III, who joined his younger brother, Sentebale Patron Prince Seeiso, on a visit to Thuso to see all of the work and improvements.

Two Doctors from the Burnaby Blue expedition carried out a programme of medical assessments and vaccinations on all current pupils at the Centre while they were there.

Prince Harry and Thuso's Principal, Me 'Mamanoku, by the new security fence. Photo: Ed Lane Fox.

The next phase of work at the Centre will involve the building of an assessment and training centre with accommodation for staff and volunteers, as well as for parents. Plans for this phase have recently been boosted as this project has been selected to be a charitable cause to be supported by this years ICAP Charity Day in December.

We are committed to providing long term management support and funding to Thuso by working with the Ministry to create a new Board, recruit a General Manager and put into place a strategic service development plan including the hiring of specialist staff.