Contextualising the journey
CHAPTER 1 The Journey begins
1.6 The research setting
1.6.5 Basotho and religion
The Basotho people have always been a religious community, with deep beliefs in the supernatural and the presence of an almighty Molimo (God) who provided for everyone, with the assistance of the Balimo (gods, ancestral spirits). Basotho people believed in their spiritual healers being able to communicate with departed spirits on their behalf and pass on their requests for health and a better life. If the Balimo were said to be angry then they had to be appeased by the slaughtering of an animal. A ritual celebration was performed to honour them and all the food prepared, especially meat and alcohol, were said to be lijo tsa Balimo (food for the ancestral spirits) (Guma, 2001; Sekese, 2002).
Basotho people also believed in the after-life and thus they believed that the Balimo felt cold and needed blankets. Thus the skins of the animals which were slaughtered for the Balimo were said to be blankets which they can use in the after-life. Basotho people prepared their corpses for another life. A male corpse would be buried holding some seeds in one hand and fighting tools in another, so that he would be able to defend himself along the way and to have seeds to plant when he got into the after-life. The corpse was sent off with the words: “Tsamea o ee ho re lokisetsa...” (Go and prepare the place for us). Thus, according to Sekese (2002) the Basotho way of life prior the arrival of the missionaries was guided by their beliefs in Molimo and Balimo.
The arrival of the missionaries in Lesotho in 1833 brought with it several changes to the traditional Basotho way of life. The missionaries brought with them Christianity which had its own ways of being and doing things which were in opposition to traditional
Basotho ways of being. The one thing which was common to both ways of life was the subordination of women (Epprecht, 1993; Makoa, 1997; Mokobocho-Mohlakoana, 2005). The influences of the two cultures in the lives of Basotho are so inextricably interwoven that it is difficult to separate them.
Because of the missionaries, Lesotho is now predominantly Christian. The major denomination is the Catholic Church which also owns the majority of schools and health facilities. The gender order of the Catholic Church, which is patriarchal, is reflected within the church‟s institutions and schools (Bhattacharyya, 2002). Basotho Catholics are guided by the doctrines of the church such as prohibiting the use of contraception and condoms. On the other hand, Basotho people also hold on strongly to the dictates of their culture and traditions which also prohibit the use of contraception and free sex talk. This means that religion and culture are influential in shaping gender and sexual identities for the Basotho.
The arrival of formal education through the missionaries created challenges for the traditional Sesotho education, as carried out in the initiation schools, to continue.
Christianity and formal education undermined the traditional education and regarded it as paganism. Due to the fear of burning in hell that Christian religion has instilled in Basotho people, the traditional initiation schools have declined in number and are now only practised in the remotest rural parts of Lesotho. Most of the Basotho nation does not want to be associated with the supposedly pagan and heathen practices of their culture (Polonyana, 1993). Mission education was highly supported by the colonial rulers during Lesotho‟s term as a British protectorate. According to Polonyana (1993) the mission school teachers‟ first duty was being evangelists as most of them were the missionaries themselves. The teacher identity came second. Almost all the early preachers in Lesotho were known as the Reverend-teacher. Although there have been developments divorcing evangelism and pedagogy, in some situations the practice still persists. The above issues still have a bearing on how formal education is run in Lesotho today.
Lesotho schools today are still largely managed by the church (Catholic Church, Lesotho Evangelical Church, Church of England), while the Ministry of Education is responsible for determining the curriculum. The National Curriculum Development Centre together with subject panels develops the teaching and learning materials. The Ministry provides in-service training for school managers and administrators in order to improve their skills. The government, through the Teaching Service Department, pays the salaries of qualified teachers in government schools and in government approved mission and community schools. Unqualified and extra teachers within schools are paid by the proprietors.
Zapulla (1997) argues that education has always been a means of transmitting culture in a society. The role of schools for transmission of values is universal even though the values transmitted may differ from context to context (Cornbleth, 1990; Fullan, 1993). In the Lesotho context, the values and morality within schools are those identified, represented and approved by the church. The role played by the church in Lesotho‟s education context results in the protection and advancement of schools that view and advance issues of morality from the perspective of the church. The education system in Lesotho therefore continues to place value on the church‟s perspective of what is right or wrong, often with little regard given for Human Rights as a basis for morality. Even schools that are not owned by churches are strongly influenced by the practices of church-based schools.
The church‟s philosophy is that it is unacceptable for young people to be taught about sex because sex is only for marriage and procreation. The Catholic Church vocally prohibits the teaching of children about contraception and its usage as the church does not condone contraception among its members. Therefore pregnancy out of wedlock warrants punishment and this is done through expulsion from school, the church and sometimes from families. Most girls end up in forced marriages to guard against the disgrace of premarital pregnancy.