Moiloa

The man who assisted me to fulfil my dreams, Mr. Benedict Moiloa

I met ntate Moiloa when I joined Cenez High School in 1994 July. He was deputizing ntate Kanono, the principal. We were young, energetic and dreamers but did not compromise on our views. After the unfortunate death of Kanono in 1997, ntate Moiloa was promoted as the Principal of Cenez High and then I became his Deputy. A long road that we walked together, a team with a common vision and aim. We took Cenez High to a better level from about 300 students and about 12 teachers in 1996 to about 1000 students and more than 30 teachers in less than 10 years!

Ntate Moiloa went along with me though we fought, argued, and debated at times on almost everything under the sun. Cenez High was a secondary school when I joined the team, and I was desperate to upgrade the school. We initiated to start Form D in 1995, but there was no classroom. We had to accommodate the newly admitted Form D students in a multi-purpose hall. Our teachers were loaded with more teaching hours!

I came with the idea of seeking funds to build a classroom, and we were on road literally begging for money from street vendors, taxi drivers, grocery owners and so on. One day, we received M50 from a butchery as the first bulk of contribution compared to M5 and M10 that we received before that! On those days, such amounts meant a lot, when for less than M20, a bag of cement, and for M2 a bottle of cooking oil could be purchased! Together, we explored the town to gather more funds and even started cooking chips and makunya (fat cake) at school for our students, though the profit was not remarkable. We made it and our additional classroom was completed before winter started! I could proudly say that the determination and will power we had on those days made Cenez High to be what it is today, in terms of development.

We had challenges too, but we faced these together. What is making ntate Moiloa special? A pleasant guy, who is highly emotional and argumentative but gives freedom to a person once he is convinced that you are deserving. He enjoyed being bossy, an authoritative leader, but appreciated hard-work. He is a person who will not hesitate to extend an opportunity to others that comes on his way.

Our journey together was unique, exciting, and energetic at the same time challenging too. We both enjoyed this journey until he retired in 2017. He extended his vision to reach other teachers in Lesotho, and that motivated me to conduct various capacity building activities for Primary and Secondary school teachers in Lesotho. His contributions to education as a teacher, as a Deputy and as a Principal in a RCC School is marked in golden letters. He took me to heights that I could not climb, he introduced me to the leaders of the nation, and to various organizations. He took me to places which I could not reach, if travelled alone. He believed in me, confided in me, and shared his worries, dreams and secrets with me. At work, we complemented each other and progressed with same pace. I am where I am because of him, that I acknowledge at this moment with gratitude and appreciation. Thank you ntate Moiloa.