The Lesotho Child Counselling Unit (LCCU) is a Basotho Charity which counsels and cares for abused and maltreated children, many of whom are awaiting their child abuse trials to come to court. 

Article 25 worked in collaboration with Sentebale, the Princes’ Foundation, on providing a new home for the LCCU. The building was underway before Article 25′s involvement, however the project had been halted due to poor construction and project management. A fire had also ravaged the building that previously housed the children, making this project an urgent necessity.

location:

Mazenod, a village near Maseru, the capital of Lesotho.

partner:

Sentebale: founded by Prince Harry and Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso to help the victims of endemic poverty and the HIV/AIDS epidemic ravaging this kingdom.

budget:

The budget for LCCU was £30,000.

timeline:

Article 25 was appointed to take on the design and construction management of the LCCU in March 2007. After 12 months of intermittent construction, which entailed demolition of some parts of the poorly constructed pre-existent building and two devastating fires, the building was completed in April 2008.

problem addressed:

When Article 25 initially visited the existing building, it was a shell of cement blocks that had been abandoned mid-project. Article 25 and Sentebale worked together to transform the structure into a high quality finished building. The centre provides an important and much-needed environment of care for abused and maltreated children in Lesotho.