Architecture & Construction Archives

Indoor Kitchen For an Orphanage in Pitseng Village, Lesotho

May 20, 2021By RISE INT

We have partnered with the non-profit Sentebale to design and build a much needed kitchen for the Phelisanong Centre for Children with Disabilities based in the beautiful rural mountainous town of Pitseng in Lesotho. Currently there is no kitchen and 200 meals have to be prepared in the outdoors come rain or sunshine starting at 4a.m with the collection of firewood as fuel for the outdoor stoves. The kitchen will not only impact the lives of the centre staff a lot easier but it will also enable the center to start offering catering facilities in the conference facility as part of their social enterprise activities. In addition we will be setting up a new water supply system so that the children can once again bathe in the bathrooms as opposed to wash basins since their pipes have been running dry ever since the main water supply has been cut off to the center almost two years ago. Phelisanong provides a home, family and community for orphans and children living with intellectual and physical disabilities, HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses. We will be working closely with the surrounding community in the implementation of this project.

Running Water Toilets, Kitchens, and Food Gardens for 5 Hub Schools in Lithabaneng Village

April 29, 2021By RISE INT

We are proud to have been recruited by Action Ireland Trust as their implementing partner to design and construct toilets as well as school kitchens, rain water harvesting and food gardens for 5 Schools in the Lithabaneng area in Maseru District. These schools have been identified by the Ministry of Education as top priority schools for assistance. We enlisted our in loco alumni from 2018 & 2019 to assist with this project. They have been doing an incredible job in conducting participatory design workshops with the school children, alumni, teachers, parents, board and surrounding communities because rise international believes in a community driven approach, in order to ensure local community ownership and engagement through community participation in all our projects from design through to inception. We believe that merely giving what you think will “help” may not help at all. Click here to watch

Conserving the Heritage and Historical Buildings in Morija

February 18, 2021By RISE INT

We have partnered with Seriti sa Makhoarane (SSM) Heritage & Tourism Initiative to carry out an architectural survey and to compile restoration plans for historic buildings in and around the Makhoarane Area about 40kms from the capital of Maseru, Lesotho. The SSM Initiative arises from a process involving Morija Museum & Archives, the Royal Archives & Museum (Matsieng) and key stakeholders in the Makhoarane Area. After the realization that preserving, presenting and managing our heritage assets more effectively can make a positive difference to the four historic communities of Morija, Matsieng, Makeneng and Phahameng as well as the surrounding region. Many of the heritage sites are deteriorating, the current volume of visitors and tourists is relatively low, and the infrastructure and amenities are inadequate if tourism is to grow meaningfully.

We built the capacity of local apprentices in their surveying skills and their abilities in the restoration of historical buildings. In partnership with Politecnico di Milano, Italy we trained and brought in Masters in Architecture students to spearhead the project. We held a first-of-its-kind Built Environment and Heritage Masterclass in Makeneng. This class was held at Makeneng (Matsieng), the royal village of Morena Lerotholi, the second-generation successor of Morena Moshoeshoe I. Architectural heritage spets Janine de Waal and Graham Jacobs facilitated the Masterclass and shared their knowledge on the conservation of heritage in buildings. Read more about the project here

Accessible Hand Wash Stations for Lesotho Towns and Health Centers

February 15, 2021By RISE INT

rise was commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to make 105 hand wash stations for the Ministry of Health and Maseru City Council to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Lesotho. These stations have been installed in all 10 districts of Lesotho at health clinics, hospitals, child care facilities as well as busy town areas.

UNDP and UNICEF had learnt about the excellent work that had been done by our in loco alumni, xyz collaborative, in making and distributing hand-wash stations earlier in the year when an NGO called Sepheo had commissioned rise to make and install 10 emergency hand-wash stations in the Motimposo communities in Maseru, Lesotho. This project continues to help many members in vulnerable communities who do not have access to running water thus are at the highest risk of contracting the virus.

Watch a brief documentary released at the 2020 Lesotho Film festival, illustrating not only how this hand wash station project has helped address the pandemic but also how it has helped create jobs at a time of a national crises with youth unemployment and poverty in Lesotho.

Day Care Centers Improvements

February 15, 2021By RISE INT

Quality affordable day care for low income earners, such as factory workers who earn less than $150 a month, is hard to find. For this reason, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) of Lesotho have partnered with rise to design a model day care center that would act as a benchmark for other day care centers to follow best practices and improve the quality of care of children. However, until funds have been raised to build the model day care center, CRS has commissioned rise to design low cost improvements for existing day care centers in Maputsoe, an industrial area 2 hours north of Maseru. This project was led by our 2018 alumni with the assistance of some 2019 alumni.

You can see the low cost improvement designs here

All-Inclusive Headquarter office for the Lesotho National Federation of Organizations for the Disabled

February 15, 2021By RISE INT

rise built a new all inclusive office in Naleli, Maseru the capital city of Lesotho for the Lesotho National Federation of Organizations for the Disabled (LNFOD). This building is the first one of its kind in the country catering completely for people with different disabilities. This project formed the 2020 in loco fellowship. We believe this kind of design will eradicate barriers that have created separation between people living with disability and those who are not. It will hopefully facilitate and enable equality and independence in the organization.

Mobile Shops for Energy Efficient Stoves

October 20, 2019By RISE INT

We are thrilled to announce that we are the winners of an EU tender and have been selected by the social enterprise Africa Clean Energy for the design of 19 mobile shops which will be placed in the deepest parts of rural Lesotho to distribute their state of the art energy efficient stoves. The mobile shops mean that more people gain access to these life changing integral solutions specifically designed for off-grid households and be able to cook faster, using less fuel and producing less or no smoke therefore creating a healthier environment.

We have now built 4 of these mobile shops enabling ACE to easily distribute their energy efficient stoves to hard-to-reach rural communities throughout Lesotho.

Learn more about ACE’s stoves by watching this brief video

Model Child Daycare Centre for low income families

October 20, 2019By RISE INT

In partnership with Catholic Relief Services Lesotho, we have been been trying to address the poor quality of childcare centers in Lesotho, where mostly single mothers (who earn less than $70 per month), drop off their babies as young as a 6 weeks, while they work in the textile factories for over 10 hours per day.

Learn more about the problem by watching this brief video produced by CRS.

Through a collaborative participatory design process, we have engaged with over 25 different stakeholders including factories, trade unions, day care opearators, parents, NGO’s, Government and others to try to find solutions including ways in which day care centers can improve their quality of care through low or no cost solutions which you can see here.

In addition we have developed a model day care centre which would act as a resource hub and training centre for other day care centers. The only thing left to do now is to raise the funds needed to build it! Donate here

Kick4Life: Stadium of Life

October 20, 2019By RISE INT

We are very excited to be partnering with the social enterprise Kick4Life based in Maseru who are committed to social change by tranforming lives through the power of sport.

Having been involved in the design and construction of Phases I & II of Kick4Life’s Football for Hope Centre and social enterprises No 7 Restaurant and Hotel & Conference, we are thrilled to have been chosen to design and construct the Stadium of Life.

An artificial 11-a-side football stadium which will be the world’s first football stadium purpose built for social change.

The Stadium of Life will include a range of facilities dedicated to enhancing the health, education and employment prospects of disadvantaged young people in Lesotho as well as integrating a number of unique environmental features.

Learn more about the project here

Ha Sekantsi Community: Construction of Footbridge

October 20, 2019By RISE INT

We are so excited to announce that we have partnered with Possible Dreams Foundation working with 300 community members of the beautiful Ha’ Sekantsi community to build a much needed footbridge over the Likolobeng river. Several people have died trying to cross the river over the years.

Watch this short video to understand why this bridge is so desperately needed by the community.

The bridge will enable year-round access for the children to get to school. At the moment they are at the mercy of the often impassable river and walk 4 hours to get there and back.

The bridge will also allow community members to access essential healthcare services and the market which they rely on in order to earn a living.

The bridge project is possible thanks to funding from J Portelli Projects.

We hope that once the bridge is successfully completed, if we are able to raise enough funds, the next project will be to build a community learning center that will include a pre-school, a night school for the herd-boys as well as an adult education centrer and medical outreach facilities. This will mean that the 43 children of the village can access their right to an education. Many children are not able to go to school as they have to look after the animals in the fields and those that do get there, are often unable to concentrate due to hunger and exhaustion.