Lesotho is a small landlocked country in southern Africa that is heavily reliant on its only neighbor South Africa. I always say that in my country, you can never know where the sky meets the land because of all the mountains. This is because Lesotho is an extremely mountainous country and is even famous for having the highest peak in the world. It gained the name “Kingdom in the Sky” as a result of the big, beautiful blue mountains that encircle it. As beautiful as Lesotho is, the sad case is that a lot of Basotho do not appreciate this beauty as much they ought to. Instead of keeping our environment clean enough to fully enjoy the beauty that the physical environment has to offer, the citizens of the country are infamous for being reckless with their waste.

Walking around the capital city, Maseru, one would be amazed of the fact that a country endowed with so much physical beauty looks and smells like a dump. On many street corners, streets children and adults suffer the worst impacts of bad waste disposal in the city and this is also reflected all over the country. Orphans, who have left their homes, lost them or for reasons beyond the context of this report, are not in orphanages, are surrounded by what I call the “life of garbage”. Banana peels, sewage and other such trash piles up on the streets of Lesotho and it seems that the citizens are indifferent about their own standard on living. True, the state has taken some efforts to higher individuals to clean road sides and some particular parts of the streets of Lesotho but these are in vain. I say this because the message of cleanliness is not being enforced or given to the public. For instance, a close acquaintance of mine at the National University of Lesotho resents the idea of throwing garbage only in garbage cans due to the understanding that “hired help will clean up my mess”.

Unfortunately, this sort of irresponsibility affects the individuals who are not important enough to society to consider as a part of them. The orphans and adults mentioned earlier are a part of this group of people, inclusive also of the mentally ill individuals who roam the country. Some of the mentally ill individuals still have places to call home but have been disowned due to their abnormal tendencies and situations. The reality of just how much society has tossed away these citizens can be fully comprehended at the local mental institution, Mohlomi. First of all, the building has a reputation that those who are enclosed within the walls of the hospital are the trash of the county. Secondly, the inside of the institution reeks of all sorts of bad odors. Thirdly, the rooms within are so filthy and full of stench that it begs one to wonder what sort of treatment is awarded to human beings who do not have a voice to fight for their own rights.

Lesotho is a beautiful country which has citizens who seem to have forgotten that the very first leader of our country was set on a mission to not only unite the people but also to set them on a course of closeness with each other. The legacy that King Moshoeshoe I has left seems to be lagging far behind selfish interests that are self-serving and not at all about societal needs. Different cases of street kids consuming poisonous foods and drinks that have been thrown away due to being expired are well known in the country but rarely ever surfaces on the media. Every day, these people who are faced with the brutality of not having a place to call a home sleep in the dirty street, eat and drink from the dirty streets and even worse, face e daily insults and offence from those who have economic safety. “Hired help who clean messes” are also a group that is treated unfairly, without dignity due to the fact that their jobs are lowly.

The beauty of Lesotho needs to spill into the people’s hearts so as to realize the kind of harm we are doing to our environment. The tragic ending will hit us worse than anything we have ever faced when we lose our beautiful country to the bad decisions we have been making. It is time to stop blaming the West for our problems and start working on solutions that will actually be good for both our physical environment and for society. When we blame others, the truth is that we tend to forget about the harm that our own hands are doing and we focus more on the illusive idea that pay back or karma will haunt our imagined enemies.