Lesotho

This mountainous country is uniquely positioned being entirely surrounded by South Africa. The present country of Lesotho was originally Basutoland, which first emerged as a nation in the early 1800’s. Surrounded by neighbors interested in expansion, the king’s concern for maintaining their country’s sovereignty motivated a request to come under British protection, which lasted until 1966. Lesotho remains a constitutional monarchy—one of three national monarchies remaining in Africa. It has not been without disruption, however, the exile of one king for a time, a military rule, protests, and mutiny has troubled the country.

Nearly the size of Maryland, this country is home to over two million Basotho. Due to many factors, the Kingdom of Lesotho is a poverty-stricken country with nearly sixty-percent of its citizens living below the poverty line. As the land is unsuited for much agriculture and internal opportunities are limited, a good portion of its workforce lives outside the country, supporting the country by remittances. The government has great control in businesses and is the country’s largest employer.

Although the country’s economy has much progress to make, their efforts in education have been much more successful: nearly eighty-percent of the country is literate. The official languages are English and Sesotho, but other languages are also spoken, including Zulu and Xhosa, which is one of the very few languages in the world that employ clicks in their phonetic structure. Nearly the whole country claims Christianity; however, it is far from being a Christian nation. The largest portions of society claim either Catholicism or a hyper-Pentecostalism, and the rest, in practice and doctrine, reflect one or both of these denominations. The Gospel and salvation, sadly, are missing in nearly every church the country can boast.

Missionaries in Lesotho:

Missionaries in Africa (listed with BIMI account numbers)