Peg Herbert: Defining Heroism
by Linda Scales
Help Lesotho’s Granny’s Child Fund supports grandmothers by helping their orphaned grandchildren attend school.
DR. PEG HERBERT punctuates her sentences with the word “hero” to describe the many people — volunteers, donors and care recipients — affected by Help Lesotho (HL). She appears unaffected by the reality that she, herself, is their hero.
As founder and executive director of Help Lesotho, a small Ottawa-based aid organization, Herbert has become the backbone of positive change concerning HIV/AIDS and gender equity in Lesotho. This small Southern African country has the third-highest instance of HIV/AIDS in the world. The disease has orphaned more than 30 per cent of its children. For Lesotho’s people, Herbert and her organization represent hope for the future.
Tabaret spoke with Dr. Herbert recently.
How has your life changed since founding HL?
I’ve never allowed myself to get so deeply into the pain of another culture. It’s a big risk personally, but it has also allowed me to see the generosity of people.
What keeps you awake at night?
The workload. [laugh] I just can’t seem to keep up. And the sadness. As I watch the children grow, as the need is more evident to me, I find sometimes the sadness keeps me awake.
What have you learned since founding HL in 2004?
The power of doing what’s right, what’s good. It’s so remarkable! About 7,500 children benefit from our programs.
The power of one person?
Oh, I don’t think of it so much as one person as [it is] the idea. Canadians are one of the most educated populations in the world. Donors are quick to discriminate between what is good development and what isn’t. They want to do it right.
How does HL differ from other international aid organizations?
Our methodology is very particular. We come with four non-negotiables: gender equity, HIV/AIDS, financial accountability and the rights of women and children. Everything else is decided “on the ground.” We choose project leaders — often school principals — to become our liaisons. They define the needs.
Dr. Peg Herbert is founder and executive director of Help Lesotho, the aid organization she founded while teaching at the University of Ottawa.
What are the challenges?
Sexual violence against children and women is pervasive in a country where people have many myths and not a lot of power in their lives.We do a lot of leadership training with orphans, vulnerable schoolchildren and youth. HL is building two centres to address youth issues and gender inequity, and HIV/AIDS. There will be a special program for girls in Grades 6 to 12.
What has been HL’s biggest stumbling block?
The one that causes me the most stress is funding for infrastructure. It’s taken us three years to get a truck. Until now, we’ve delivered supplies for thousands on public transport! Also, being able to hire enough people. It was just me for so long.
One of Help Lesotho’s many programs is twinning Canadian schools with schools in Lesotho. Canadian students correspond with their Lesotho counterparts as pen pals.
What’s more important for Canadians wishing to help: their time or their money?
Their money. Child sponsorship is the single most beneficial [program] because it saves a child’s life. Every year you keep a girl in school she’s less likely to get pregnant, to get HIV/AIDS, less likely to get married …. About 85 per cent of our sponsored children are girls. Gender equity is not about one gender, so we have some good programs for boys. But we do focus more on girls.
What attracted you to the University of Ottawa?
I have two degrees from here. I was very keen to study cognitive psychology and Dr. Jean-Paul Dion was the foremost person doing it at the time, so I studied under him.
What has been your most instructive blunder since founding HL?
I’m surprised that we haven’t made more mistakes! I think we haven’t because we’ve really listened and have such good relationships with people in Lesotho…. Maybe my naïveté in not trying to get more staff right away. We’re very careful. We ask ourselves is this the right thing to do? Is this the right way to do it?
How often do you travel between Canada and Lesotho?
Last year, I spent five and a half months there. That was in three separate trips in seven months.
Do you have balance in your life?
It’s pretty hard to think that my personal happiness or relaxation is all that important really, in the short term. But I don’t have a balanced life right now. [laugh]
What has given you the most pleasure over the past year?
I’ve had so much joy. I get to see children going to school who know now that someone cares that they’re alive. I get to know that a grandmother looking after 12 kids has food and knows that there is some kind of future for these children. There are so many real heroes. I get a lot of wonderful things.
Linda Scales is the editor-in-chief of Tabaret. She sponsors a teenage girl through Help Lesotho.