In Ha Chonapase, a rural community in Lesotho’s Leribe District, 78-year-old Michael Mosabala Leschibi raises his two grandchildren alone after their mother repeatedly disappeared and left the children without care. Five years ago, Michael took full responsibility for the siblings because, as he explains, “I didn’t feel there was anyone willing and able to support the children.” Today, the family survives almost entirely on his old-age pension.
The photographs follow daily life inside and around their household: the long walks to school, the sparse interiors of the home, domestic chores, moments of prayer, and the physical landscape that shapes the children’s lives. They also document the pressures faced by caregivers across Lesotho, where poverty, migration, illness and the wider impact of HIV/AIDS have left many grandparents raising children with limited support.
Michael’s granddaughter, Beauty, was able to remain in secondary school through support linked to Sentebale’s OVC programme, though ongoing disputes over school fees continue to threaten her education. The series centres not only on hardship, but on persistence: a grandfather determined to keep his grandchildren safe, in school, and hopeful about their future.
Children walk along the roadside outside Ha Chonapase in Leribe District, Lesotho. Michael’s grandchildren walk long distances to attend school because the family cannot afford daily transport costs. Secondary education in Lesotho often requires families to pay fees, uniforms and transport expenses that place enormous strain on low-income households.
A neighbour's child walks to school near Michael's home in Leribe District. Michael says keeping his grandchildren in school is his greatest concern as rising costs and disputes over bursary payments threaten his granddaughter's education.
Laundry hangs outside Michael’s home in Ha Chonapase. Michael survives on a monthly pension and says most of the household income goes toward school costs, food and basic living expenses for the children he now raises alone.
A narrow path runs between homes in the village of Ha Chonapase in Leribe District, where poverty and unemployment remain widespread. Michael says many children in the area are left vulnerable after losing parental care, often because of illness, migration or family instability.
Viewed through the doorway of the family home, a dog rests on the floor while Michael and a visitor speak inside. The household was referred to Sentebale’s OVC programme through local community structures after village leaders identified the children as vulnerable.
A basin sits in the kitchen of Michael’s home. Michael had been living alone before taking in his grandchildren, and says the children now help with household chores while he struggles to provide for the family on his pension income alone.
A dog rests on the floor inside the family home in Leribe District. The house is shared by Michael and his two grandchildren, who have lived with him since 2014 after instability within their immediate family left them without consistent care.
Michael bends over paperwork during a visit connected to school support and case management assistance. Through Sentebale’s OVC programme, Beauty was linked to government sponsorship support for school fees, though administrative disputes later placed her education at risk again.
Beauty holds a rosary while sitting beside her grandfather inside their home. Michael says he worries constantly about the children’s future and hopes they will continue their education despite the family’s financial difficulties.
Michael sits beside his granddaughter Beauty inside their home in Ha Chonapase. Michael says taking responsibility for the children felt like a duty because he feared no one else would care for them.
Calendars and community notices hang on the walls inside Michael’s home in Leribe District, Lesotho. Michael says access to education remains one of the most urgent needs for vulnerable children in the area.
Michael Mosabala Leschibi, 78, sits beside his granddaughter Beauty inside the family’s modest home in Ha Chonapase, Leribe District, Lesotho. The family home reflects the financial pressures faced by many grandparents caring for vulnerable children in rural Lesotho.
Michael Mosabala Leschibi, 78, stands inside his home in Ha Chonapase, Leribe District. He raises his two grandchildren on an old-age pension after taking them in when their mother repeatedly disappeared and left them without care.
Beauty, 14, holds a rosary. A deeply religious family, Beauty hopes and prays she will one day run her own business.