As the sun drops behind the central Lesotho mountains, two young men start their descent. Kabelo Mohai, 20, and Lepeli Maapesa, 23, work their way down steep, rocky paths that sit at close to 8,000 feet above sea level. Their wool blankets keep them warm against the cold. From up high, the villages look like small dots below. An hour and a half passes before the moon rises high, and then they see the lights of Semonkong.
Every evening, dozens of herders make their way down the mountainsides, chatting and singing together through the darkness, toward the Good Shepherd School. There, fluorescent lights mark the spot where more than 40 of them come together for night classes.
Mohai’s Long Day
Mohai started working with animals when he was 9. He finished primary school. At 15, he began herding full-time and moved into a cattle post — a makeshift hut high in the mountains — to live alongside his family’s flock of 155 sheep and goats.
A shelter made of rocks and branches houses a water can, a cast-iron pot, a bed formed from flat stones draped with a thin blanket, and a handful of shirts hung on sticks beneath the thatched roof. The man spends most days with his dog Balireng, whose name in Sesotho means “enemy.” — a loyal friend who shares his humble dwelling.
“It’s very nice most of the time, being up here among the animals. Nobody can tell me what to do,” Mohai says with a smile. Life in the mountains is hard. Lesotho is the only country in the world entirely more than 1,000 meters above sea level, earning it the nickname “Kingdom in the Sky.” Winter brings heavy snow; summers are scorching.
“Day or night, raining or hot, we have to look after the animals. And sometimes, it’s not good not to socialize,” he admits.
Three years ago, when he learned of the Good Shepherd Night School, he grabbed the opportunity to go back to the classroom. Since then, he has made it a habit to come down the mountain on weekdays after tending his flock, to sit through his Grade 7 class, and then scale back up to his hut just a few hours later.
“It’s very important for us to have some knowledge and learn,” he says. One day, he dreams of becoming a soldier. “I go to school so I can keep my ability to read and write. Maybe, in the future, I can be hired somewhere.”
The School That Keeps Doors Open
A convent belonging to the Good Shepherd Sisters of Quebec is where the night school began in 2003, and it was there that Sister Rosemary Mokebe first set up her teaching post. “We discovered that most boys in Semonkong could not read or write,” remembers the nun, now a 55-year-old woman of God, who has run the school ever since and teaches grades 6 and 7.
Each night of the week, classes meet for a couple of hours, with more than 40 students enrolled across three levels. The group includes people aged from 15 to 55.
“Shepherds are very important to our country. The economy rests on their shoulders,” Sister Mokebe says. Without the school, “they are sitting in the dark, because they may never know how to read and write,” she adds.
What the Students Learn
A humble education in reading, writing, and arithmetic is all the instruction on offer here. The institution fights to stay afloat financially, yet for countless pupils, it stands as their one hope of imagining a life beyond what they now know.
The room is full and dark by 8 p.m. Mohai and Lepeli sit at a desk in the corner, sharing it with two other students. Twenty-four boys fill the long tables around them, every one dressed in the same way: patterned blankets, hats and rubber boots. Their teacher, Sister Rosemary Mokebe, writes equations on the blackboard while they read aloud together.
Lesotho’s Herd Boys
The raising of livestock holds a central place within Lesotho’s economy and its social fabric. Wool and mohair together make up close to 60% of the nation’s agricultural exports, and they sustain a quarter of the rural population. Because of poverty and long-standing custom, young boys who should be in school instead are frequently asked to look after the flocks, remaining isolated in the mountains for months on end, separated from society.
A World Bank analysis of 2018 data found that nearly half of all boys in the country were engaged in some form of herding. For many, like Mohai, the work comes at the expense of schooling.
What the Government Supports
The Ministry of Education says there are roughly 155 of these schools across the country. They were initially backed by a variety of nongovernmental groups, though in recent years the ministry has gradually taken control, working to formalize the volunteer-run classes and give stipends to teachers in remote areas. Delays and administrative barriers have slowed that effort. When NPR went there in May, the teachers’ yearly contracts had not been renewed — and they remain unrenewed.
Requests for comment come from the government’s Non-Formal Education Department, which oversees the night schools, did not respond to NPR’.
Sister Patricia Neko has been teaching the first grade of primary school at the convent in Semonkong for more than two decades now. Today, she stands before a room full of young boys and weathered adult men while a low hum of voices rises from the other side of the classroom, reciting the alphabet.
The man sitting at the front of the classroom is in his mid-40s, and his face shows the strain of trying to read the large writing on the blackboard. His name is Motlatsi Monoana, and he cannot make sense of it.
What We Make Of It
One lantern-lit evening at a time, the herders are not being left behind — they are being pulled back into the classroom.
The school’s founders see the stakes clearly. “They are sitting in the dark, because they may never know how to read and write,” Sister Mokebe says.
Mohai believes the descent from the mountain will pay off for him. Reading and writing are what he desires most. A job is something else he wants. His aim is to build a life distinct from the one the mountains provided him.
The school exists because people believe that future is possible.
Comparison of Two Schools
| Detail | Good Shepherd Night School | Convent School |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Semonkong, Lesotho | Semonkong, Lesotho |
| Founded | 2003 | Not specified |
| Founder | Good Shepherd Sisters of Quebec | Not specified |
| Teacher | Sister Rosemary Mokebe (grades 6 and 7) | Sister Patricia Neko (first grade) |
| Age range | 15–55 | Young boys and adult men |
| Enrollment | More than 40 students across three levels | Not specified |
What the Students Learn
- Reading
- Writing
- Arithmetic
Key Facts
- Lesotho: the only country entirely more than 1,000 meters above sea level
- Wool and mohair: close to 60% of Lesotho’s agricultural exports
- Rural population sustained by livestock: a quarter
- 2018 World Bank analysis: nearly half of all boys engaged in herding
- Ministry of Education: roughly 155 night schools across the country
Source material: “Photos: These shepherds climb down a mountain to go to night school,” NPR.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.