Thato Chobokoane, who holds a degree in Linguistics and Literature, is in her second year as a community liaison officer for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Lesotho, where she is the problem-solving intermediary between beneficiaries and the WFP. She is also part-owner of Mamasianoke Communications. With this company, she started a project in the Lesotho correctional service, empowering female inmates by teaching them to produce luxury products, such as soaps and lotions, that are then sold. This project helps inmates earn an income while in prison and upon their release. She is a contributor to Public Eye, one of Lesotho’s widely read newspapers, where she writes for the Women’s Forum column. Thato is a poet and aspires to start a writing competition. She believes that folktales should be used to tell the stories of Africa today, improving the reading culture and the quality of education in Lesotho. She sees herself primarily as an African and says, ‘We need each other in order to move back to the spirit of Ubuntu into the future where the old practice of Ubuntu can be the guiding principle of life in the hearts of Africa and its elected leaders.”
