Missionary Trip to Lesotho -  Reported by Emil Hagamu, June 21-29, 2009.

Landlocked within South Africa, Lesotho, "The Mountain Kingdom," is a constitutional monarchy.  The vast majority of people speak Sesotho, while English, the secondary language, is widely used in government and commerce.  Most inhabitants live in rural areas with scattered, picturesque villages and clusters of huts. Lesotho has a population of 1.8 million, 68 percent of which is Roman Catholic. However, the influence of the Church is seldom seen in the daily lives of the people.

Lesotho is where I set off to break new ground for HLI and plant the first seeds of a pro-life movement in this country to protect its children from the impending culture of death that threatens to follow after the Maputo Protocol. 

In the capital city of Maseru, I met with the Archbishop, the Most Reverend Bernard Mohlalisi, who was very welcoming and cooperative. After reading my letter of introduction from Fr. Euteneuer, he opened the conversation by giving a brief description of the Church in Lesotho, which, as he described, has four Catholic dioceses and one major seminary.

The Archbishop was very impressed by HLI's mission. He promised to arrange a speaking engagement for me with the Rector of St. Augustine's Major Seminary and the Christian faithful during my visit to the country, and he requested that I return in November for another, even more thorough visit. For the November trip, he promised to arrange visits to other dioceses and, if possible, an audience with the Bishops' Conference. He particularly emphasized his desire that I meet with major seminarians for pro-life training.

Educating the Faithful

A major part of HLI's mission is educating the faithful on life issues.  We do this by 1) reaching out through mass media communication; 2) working with parishes; and 3) working with seminarians through our Seminarians for Life program, which trains future priests to faithfully shepherd their flocks. 

Radio is an extremely effective means of communication in Africa because of its wide availability, especially compared to that of television.  I visited the Catholic Radio Station and met with the director, a consecrated religious sister, who expressed her determination to combat the culture of death in Lesotho.  She assured me that she would use the airwaves to educate people about the dangers of the Maputo Protocol, especially pointing out how it leads to legalized abortion wherever it is ratified.  She asked me why I thought the government would ratify the Maputo Protocol without the knowledge and consent of its citizens, and I told her that evil programs are never revealed to the citizens of a country, and those carrying out the programs are generously compensated by those who promote them. HLI's timely intervention has been effective in stopping the governments of Mozambique and Tanzania from legalizing abortion, and we can do the same in Lesotho.

I met with a parish priest in Maseru and told him of the Archbishop's wish that I speak to his congregation at Mass about my pro-life mission in Lesotho.  Of course, he agreed, but he wondered how the congregation would understand, since many of them do not speak English.  So, I gave him my talk, and he said he would translate it and present it in their native language, Sesotho, at all the Masses he would be celebrating that Sunday and the next.  I also left him some pro-life material to assist him.

My visit to St. Augustine's Major Seminary was very quiet since the seminarians were still on summer vacation.  I met with a professor of moral theology for an hour, exchanging ideas on life issues. We discussed arranging a Seminarian Institute.  Father asserted that "pro-life training would empower seminarians to be able to teach ‘sound Church doctrine' during their priestly ministry."  He was very impressed with HLI's mission, and I left him pro-life material, including HLI's Seminarians for Life newsletter, which he said would assist him in his teaching.  He promised prayers for our mission and asked for HLI's prayers for his priestly ministry, as well. 

The Missing Children and Population Control

During my eight-day stay in Lesotho, I noticed that I did not see groups of children playing barefooted on muddy grounds, as I have in other countries.  This was a clear result of the relentless war on fertility that is being waged by the government and development partners with their message that too many children are an economic burden to the family. A combined campaign of contraceptive family planning and condom distribution promoted by the government, as well as by population control organizations like USAID, UNESCO, UNFPA, and UNICEF, has resulted in the childless population that now exists in Lesotho. The message is always the same: development will follow after limiting the number of children per family. It will not be long before we see Lesotho experiencing the problems that come with an aging population and a declining fertility rate.

Lesotho radio station, where Emil had a one-hour, live radio talk.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is also working in Lesotho under the name of the Lesotho Planned Parenthood Association. It works particularly with young women on cervical and breast cancer.  However, the organization does not reveal that cervical and breast cancer are the direct results of contraceptives and abortion, which this organization promotes widely - and which are also to blame for the missing children in Lesotho.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) continues to support government efforts to "improve" lives in the areas of reproductive health, population and development, and gender issues. But it seems that the government is not aware of the hidden agenda behind these activities, which includes abortion, abortifacients, and radical feminism opposed to traditional family, traditional marriage, and child bearing.

Combating AIDS with the Truth

I had an interview with the "health and gender" editor of the government newspaper, the Public Eye.  The interview touched on three key areas: HLI's mission, abortion as the major threat to human life -along with the Maputo Protocol as a means to carry out that threat in Africa-and the condom controversy.  Through her questions, I realized that the editor, like other members of the mainstream media, has been totally influenced by the culture of death.  My task, therefore, would be to prove to her that she had embraced the culture of death and to show her that this was not only foreign but also contradictory to her Catholic faith and the African way of life.

Emil Hagamu spreads the Gospel of Life throughout the Eastern (English-speaking) regions of Africa.

HIV/AIDS has had a huge impact on Lesotho's population, especially on the women and youth. According to UNAIDS figures, the country's HIV prevalence rate rose from just 4 percent in 1993 to 23.2 percent in 2008, the third highest in the world. Recent statistics estimate that there are 62 new infections and about 50 deaths due to AIDS-related illnesses everyday.  Condom distribution has become the one and only strategy for the prevention of HIV transmission.  I was told by some ladies in Maseru that the government is so determined to distribute condoms that they are found in many public places.  Washington-based Population Services International (PSI) has saturated the media with condom information.  Condom advertisements can be seen in stores and on streets posts. 

HLI's opposition to condoms is based on scientific and moral reasons, following the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.  When the editor of the Public Eye asked me my opinion of them, she brought up the argument used by many condom promoters: condom use would prevent pregnancy and thus reduce abortions.  So, remembering how Fr. Euteneuer would respond to this type of argument, I asked her if she would board a plane from Maseru airport to Nairobi if the pilot announced that the probability of landing safely was 80 percent? She strongly answered, "NO."  I pointed out that this is how condoms perform; whether used for prevention of pregnancy or HIV, the condom failure rate is between 10 and 20 percent, sometimes 25 percent.  I then asked her why we don't give people the truth about what will assure them 100 percent "protection" from pregnancy and/or HIV infection?  That is, abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage.  I gave her HLI's booklet, The Case Against Condoms, and emphasized that our fight against HIV/AIDS should be total risk elimination, as in abstinence, and not risk reduction, as in condom use.

I strongly believe that HLI's presence in this country will make a huge impact for good. Let me end by thanking HLI and all its donors for so generously providing the financial support for this first HLI missionary trip to Lesotho, which has opened the doors to further pro-life work. A follow-up visit, as recommended by the Archbishop, will see the birth of a strong pro-life movement capable of building the culture of life.