In 2015, The Ivory Foundation began supporting St Paul’s School in Hlotse, Lesotho, an institution dedicated to deaf and hard-of-hearing children, by establishing a pilot farm within the school. This initiative was led by an agricultural manager trained in sign language.
The objectives of the project were:
- To meet the needs of the school canteen by producing vegetables, eggs, milk and pork in a self-sufficient way.
- To train students, particularly the older ones, in practical skills to support their transition into working life. Six young people were trained in market gardening and livestock farming and also contributed to the life of the school.
In order to welcome more young people in the following years while offering opportunities to former students, The Ivory Foundation supported them in organising themselves and gaining independence. This led to the creation of the NGO Farming Our Future, whose board is entirely composed of former students from the school for the deaf and hard of hearing.
A plot of land was made available to the organisation by the St Monica diocese, about ten kilometres from St Paul’s School. A building on the site was renovated and converted into a dormitory to accommodate the young participants, funded by the Foundation.
After successfully testing their skills on this 3,000 m² micro-farm for more than two years, it became necessary to find a larger site to ensure the long-term sustainability of the project.
In this film, produced in 2020 by Alexandre Berger, Leepa Mosehle, farm manager at St Monica, explains how the farm operates and its objectives.
With financial support from The Ivory Foundation, the Farming Our Future organisation acquired three hectares of land in its own name at Levi’s Nek, located 10 km from St Paul’s School.
The site includes a double dormitory with bathrooms and a large kitchen to accommodate six young people, as well as a new group of six, bringing the total to twelve students. A second unit was built to host international volunteers contributing their expertise, while a third unit houses the centre’s director and office.
The farm combines organic vegetable production with the rearing of chickens, rabbits, sheep, pigs and cattle. In addition, the project promotes sustainable agricultural practices through educational programmes based on permaculture, agroforestry and circular economy principles.
To strengthen participants’ autonomy and equip them with diverse skills, some have also been trained in manual trades. As a result, a workshop dedicated to woodworking and metalwork has been built on site, enabling them to construct and maintain the necessary infrastructure.
The Levi’s Nek farm thus provides comprehensive agricultural vocational training, both in practical skills and economic management, with the aim of guiding deaf and hard-of-hearing young people in Lesotho towards independent livelihoods.
In 2025, three individual houses were built on the farm to free up space in the dormitory and offer the most committed and independent young people the opportunity to settle permanently on site, while maintaining the strong sense of community that has developed over time.
Indeed, around two-thirds of the participants are not able to manage an agricultural activity entirely on their own, but thrive within this collective model, where each person contributes according to their physical and intellectual abilities.
It was therefore important to enable the more independent participants to plan for the long term and, if they wish, to build a home on the farm.