Barking Baptist Church   Sue Merriman - AIM in Lesotho 

My  links go back to BBT with my mother in law who married Bill Carter in ?1972. I married her son David Merriman and we went to S.Africa where he had a contract with an accounting firm and I worked as a nurse. However, within 3 years we divorced as he went off with another woman, he divorced her and was about to remarry again when he was killed in a motor accident. (I don’t think you need to put the gory details on the web!) 

Meanwhile I always kept in touch with Betty Carter as she is a lovely Christian lady and we still correspond regularly. She left Barking a few years ago after Bill Carter died and went to live with her daughter in Pembroke Dock. Whenever I returned to the UK I would stay with her in Barking for about a week and take a few meetings, including the Tab.

Here in Lesotho our team is involved in various ministries. As well as admin and missionary care, I also have a children’s Bible club each Monday afternoon, Bible studies with young people and adults on Tues, Wed and Thursdays, here and in Basotho homes. The Lord has sent a number of very influential Basotho into my sphere of influence – two university professors, a lawyer, the wife of the chief justice of Lesotho and up until two years ago we had Bible studies weekly at the palace with the Queen Mother – but she died suddenly. As well as this I am also secretary for the Bible Society Media Committee which produces the bible and other Bible learning activities on cassettes for the herdboys in  the mountains. I am also secretary for the Theological Education by Extension (TEE) Committee which is translating Bible study books into Sesotho. There is very little published in this language and the books are excellent for those with limited education. They will benefit church leaders with no Bible education, but whom are expected to lead services and preach due to a lack of pastors.  At present some of the teaching is very questionable!

The others on our team are as follows:

Merrill Short from South Africa who lives in the tiny village of Methalaneng in the mountains. She is involved in evangelism and Bible studies with village people and the older herdboys with whom she also conducts literacy classes. She has been here for 12 years. Merrill is a qualified radiographer but no longer practices.

Jo Fernandez used to work with Merrill but is now in Maseru and is seconded to YFC and has set up a Crisis Pregnancy Centre with ministry to unmarried young mothers and also education to school and church groups. Jo is a qualified para- legal and air pilot but is no longer involved in these and is from N. Carolina in the USA. She has been here 10 years.

August and Anita Basson live at Tebellong in the South of the country in the mountains. They are Afrikaans S.Africans. They have been here twelve years and have three children, August Jnr 13, Gustaf 11 and Anne 9. August is a Dutch Reformed Pastor and involved in the training of church leaders as well as having a big agricultural project (No-till farming) which goes along with evangelizing and discipling. His wife is an architect but no longer practices in that capacity but home schools and also trains pre-school teachers.

John and Shan Barry joined us having had to move from Mozambique last year due to their children’s  ill-health.  John now works with Scripture Union in the secondary schools and has been very well accepted. Both he and Shan are from the UK and are teachers. They have two children of their own, Themba 8 and Joseph 5 and recently adopted a Basotho orphan, Tsoarelo Michael 1yr who is fitting in very well.

Our last couple are Josh and Cathy Hooker from the UK with their 18 month old son Benjamin. Josh lectures at the Lesotho Evangelical Church seminary at Morija, about 50kms from Maseru. It is not an easy assignment as the church is no longer evangelical but we see it as an opportunity to shine for the lord in a dark place! (Be careful about what you write on the internet about this!) It is their first assignment. They have only been here for 17 months and are finding it hard. There is a lot of corruption in high places and they find the local people very distant and unwelcoming. Cathy is expecting their second child in March. Josh was a pastor before coming out and Cathy is a primary school teacher.

We used to have two doctors at Tebellong Hospital which is a Lesotho Evangelical Church Hospital but they left a few years ago and we haven’t found anyone to replace them.

As a team we are not planting new churches here. Lesotho has too many denominations already!!! We are trying to get along existing churches and bring them alive in Christ.Most Basotho would claim to be Christians but would go to church on a Sunday morning and have a feast to their ancestors (badimo) in the afternoon. They are very syncretistic. Funerals are huge, expensive ceremonies as people are afraid will come back to haunt them or cause problems, so this is causing further poverty. There is often no money for school fees but there is always money for big funerals and this is really crippling the country.

The population of the country (about the same size as Holland) is about 1.8 million. The death rate, due to HIV/AIDS has overtaken the birth rate. It is believed that a third of the population is HIV positive. It is a very poor country with about 8% of the land being arable. There is a lot of soil erosion when the wind blows and it rains and the soil is washed down the rivers into S.Africa!  Katse Dam and Mohale Dams were built by S.Africa and it buys water from Lesotho. Many men used to work on the gold mines of S,.Africa but many have been made redundant as S.Africa doesn’t have enough employment for its own people so this has added to the poverty here. Chinese garment factories employ Basotho and really exploit them, paying them about R700 (70 pounds a month!) for a 12 hour day and six day week! The government seems to turn a blind eye as it has no alternative employment.

Sue