design; architecture; africa; lesotho; in loco

Breaking out of a cage

April 20, 2021By RISE INT0 comment

“You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that over yourself, the height of a man’s success is gauged by his self-mastery, the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment. He who cannot establish dominion over himself will have no dominion over others,” – Leonardo da Vinci. My name is Thato Nkikana, born and raised in Maputsoe, Lesotho. I am a Mosotho woman holding a Diploma in Architectural Technology from Lerotholi Polytechnic. As a fellow in rise’s in loco program, our 2020 cohort designed and constructed the Lesotho National Federation of Organizations of the Disabled headquarter offices at Ha Ts’osane Maseru, Lesotho. I was the Site Architect of this great project which we have successfully completed and now awaiting inauguration.

Thato preparing for placement of trusses

From my childhood, I was always fascinated by young and vibrant women who were classified as successful in their respective careers, this is where my aspiration to become a prominent career woman was birthed. With a great passion for architecture and construction, I decided that if I ever needed to, I would push and breakdown doors to bring about change and empower women in the built environment industry. I consider myself a supporter of well-being and employability for women in this sector and I firmly believe that entrepreneurship is the rightful path to our progression.

Educational institutions equip us with much needed theoretical knowledge, but in this field theory is only as good as the person practicing it. As a young graduate, I felt the need to join the in loco fellowship to gain practical experience in architectural design and construction. The “learning- by- doing” motto lured me into having interest in the program, and I am glad I gave it a chance because my life will never be the same again. Being a site architect in the project we just completed sharpened my eye on design correlating perfectly with actual construction work, it trained me on paying great attention to detail and making sure no stone is unturned when working in the field.

Thato operating transportation for bricklaying

The in loco fellowship improved my professional perspective and also contributed to my personal development. We create as a team, and this has shaped my soft skills. I can now communicate effectively and work well in a group of people, being a part of such a creative and forward thinking group challenged my abilities in a very positive way. Hence I am coming out more motivated and inspired to build a future for myself in the built environment industry. My creativity has reached beyond ordinary because I now take initiative and I am committed.

We were provided with business training sessions that refine well equipped entrepreneurs of the future; many skills which I did not have before the fellowship. I now have skills in market research, knowing how to grow my business through marketing, bookkeeping, and money management. I can draw a business plan from scratch and execute it meticulously, all credit to the objectives of the fellowship. The LNFOD project is one of its own kind in Lesotho. The building accommodates all Basotho with unique abilities by inclusive designs throughout the building. The project will benefit the community and LNFOD because they will generate income from renting out their boardroom to the community to secure economic sustainability of the building, it is truly heart- warming to have been part of creating such a life impacting structure in the country.

I am proud to have been part of rise international’s in loco fellowship, specifically the cohort of 2020. Through it, I have made bold moves. I established a start-up called Wom Designs & Construction, fully known as Women in Design and Construction. It provides architectural and construction services from project inception to completion. The mission of my company is to bridge the ever-expanding gender inequality gap in the built environment industry. I have become a woman who makes courageous moves to better myself, my community, and to do my part in solving the world’s problems of unemployment, gender inequality and exclusion of differently enabled people.

News

Young entrepreneurs rise to the Covid-19 challenge in Lesotho

December 17, 2020By RISE INT0 comment

Since the beginning of this year, countries around the world have been facing unbearable health and social emergencies due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. In the most vulnerable countries, millions of people do not have access to critical life-saving supplies and basic primary health facilities for hand sanitation. The Water and Sanitation policy of 2007 states that “all Basotho are entitled to have access to a sustainable supply of potable water and to the provision of basic sanitation services at an affordable cost.”

Standing by the policy rise was commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme to make 65 hand wash stations for the Ministry of Health and Maseru City Council to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Lesotho. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had learnt about the excellent work that had been done by our in loco alumni in making and distributing hand-wash stations earlier in the year when an NGO called Sepheo had commissioned rise to make and install 10 emergency hand-wash stations in the Motimposo communities in Maseru, Lesotho.

Ten in loco alumni who started their own company called xyz collaborative constructed and distributed 65 hand wash stations. Fifteen for Maseru City Council for both taxi and bus stop areas and 50 for the Ministry of Health which would be installed in clinics and hospitals all over the country.

**in loco alumni who have formed a company called xyz collaborative making the hand-wash structures**

This project was completed in just 5 months and the UNDP hosted a hand over ceremony in Maseru, Lesotho to recognise and appreciate the work of rise, and to introduce the use of these hand wash stations to the community.

**UNDP and rise team at handover ceremony**

Subsequently, UNICEF Lesotho commissioned rise to build another 40 hand wash stations for health clinics and facilities in all 10 districts of Lesotho to some of the most remote and hard to reach areas of the Mountain Kingdom.

2020

in loco Fellows 2020 Blog Series #1: Pieces of Me!

September 7, 2020By RISE INT2 Comments

This piece of writing will reveal everything about my experiences so far. It is sometimes very difficult to really tell everything about yourself but bear with me and I will try my best. My parents named me Motebang Ramafole, I was born in the early 90’s at Queen Elizabeth 2 hospital in Maseru. I am the 3rd and lastborn son in my family. I grew up as a toddler in Maseru Sea Point, a place that in those days was deemed very dangerous so my parents decided that maybe I should go and live with my granny in another district and town called Leribe Hlotse. And for this initiative I always consider myself an origin bred of Leribe. In a local statement we say “Ke Nare”. So, it is in this district that I gained my maturity from adolescence to a young adult.

I started my studies at Hlotse Primary School, a local school that has produced giants who are now making big differences in the country at large and I guess it will not be long before I am counted as one of those giants! Molapo High School became the next step I took in my educational journey. I enrolled with them for 5 years and I am pretty sure or rather proud that I left a significant mark at the school. Molapo High School has been a very helpful institute towards building who I am, who I am to be and the life goals I have. It molded me into becoming a very good problem solver, especially with technical problems. It also created an “idea machine” in me. They say an intelligent and creative person never has adequate brain rest because their minds are always full of ideas. I would agree with that statement but I would be blowing my own horn.

Talking of “idea machine”; I remember when I was in primary school, we had a Science Club where we would showcase our scientific ideas. We even went as far as the National Science Competition where I got the Second prize in the Technology category.

As it is any high school student’s dream I advanced my studies at Lerotholi Polytechnic in 2013, where I enrolled in the School of Built Environment studying Diploma in Civil Engineering. At this stage I met a whole new different set of friends who had almost the same vision as I had and I can’t say I didn’t like that because they challenged my intelligence most of the time and that drove me to be more creative. Whenever they wanted something or an idea that was out of this world I became their benchmark. After enrolling with Lerotholi Polytechnic I worked in South Africa; maintaining railways. That was a whole different experience in my life. There are no railways in our country, it was a really challenging task to work on something that I have never seen before and I am also grateful for that challenge. It taught me so many things; from patience, ram to travelling.

As I have revealed, I like challenges so sometime in March 2020 I saw a post shared by one of my friends on social media. It was rise International inviting newly graduates to apply for an in loco program. This was an opportunity I could not miss, so I applied and I was called for an interview. Surprisingly, it was not an ordinary interview where someone would be asking questions and I would be just there answering ordinarily. It was some sort of a challenge event where we scored points throughout that event. I think it allowed us to reveal our strength in the creative world, so I guess I was not going to be an outsider when we focused on creativity.

Ever since that interview event I have changed my view towards being creative. rise has shown me a wider view of the creative world, I have also learned that every human being is creative in their own way.

Motebang working on the power supply in the site office container

Through the in loco fellowship program I have learned to work as part of a team, give others room for their creativity and adding more towards my own creative world. Responsibility is one of the many lessons I have acquired as a fellow, sharing and distribution of different roles to different people.

In this fellowship I have also improved my entrepreneurial skills. As youths of a country with a very high unemployment rate, we tend to forget that there are other ways of making it in life and that is through business. Therefore, I did not want to lose out on this type of opportunity to gain skills in entrepreneurial skills because I also run a few small businesses in my neighborhood. The fellowship will help me greatly to grow and improve my vision towards entrepreneurship.