Letter

I am a human rights activist living and working in Lesotho. For the past 15 I have been working effortlessly for the defence and promotion of Human Rights, to the extend that I have on the other hand become a referal point for foreign agencies on human rights issues in this country. Similarly I have become a dissdent, my government has done and is continuing to do everything to silence me. For ten years I have been running a weekly, vernacular newspaper which concentrates on Rights and Good Governance. In the past three years, we added a Community Radio Station to our activities. Unfortunately, up to now we have not been able to solicite any form of support from international, regional and local human rights organisations. Pressures of work, subsequent to the demands from the public, we are intending to open an Institution that will act as a community charge office, where people can come to report matters of human rights abuse for us to take action, even by way of private litigation. However, we are aware that we won't be able to make money out of this activity, it will become just an additional burden on our meagre resources. Please advice me on the organisations that may be approached for financial and other material resources.

WE REPLY: We can well understand the difficulties that you must be facing. You might like to get in touch with the Southern African Human Rights NGO Network (SAHRINGON). They may be able to help you identify possible sources of funding.