Dr. Peg Herbert, Arts’72, retired earlier this year from Help Lesotho, a non-profit she founded two decades ago that has helped more than 274,000 people in the small African country.
How big was her impact on the country? The king of Lesotho personally thanked her.
“Underpinning all Help Lesotho's remarkable achievements is all the love and commitment that Mother Peg is known for," said King Letsie III in March outside one of Help Lesotho’s community resources centres.
After graduating from Queen’s, Dr. Herbert became a social worker in rural Alberta. She went on to earn a master’s and a PhD in education (educational psychology), and became a counsellor and lecturer at the University of Ottawa.
Her life changed in 2000 after meeting Sister Alice Mputsoe in her University of Ottawa graduate class. The nun and school principal was from Lesotho, a country that had been devastated by the AIDS crisis. Dr. Herbert visited Lesotho in 2004 and was saddened by the level of suffering caused by HIV, gender-based violence, and poverty, as well as the compound effects of depression and hopelessness.
“When I went there in 2004, the life expectancy was 34 because of the AIDS pandemic,” says Dr. Herbert. “People were dying everywhere. Contracting HIV was a death sentence. There was nobody helping in the areas I visited.”
That visit inspired Dr. Herbert to take action. Despite having no background in running a non-profit or experience in international development, she launched Help Lesotho, which quickly became Canada's largest non-profit in the country – and her full-time job.
Today, the organization runs 22 programs in Lesotho, has an annual budget of just under $2 million, and employs five people in Canada and 45 local staff in Lesotho.
Tapping into her psychology background, Dr. Herbert and Help Lesotho focused on mental-health programs in a country that has had Africa’s highest suicide rate per capita since 2008 (according to the World Health Organization).
The organization runs school sponsorships, leadership programs for boys and girls, computer training, and intensive programs for pregnant teens, young women, and grandmothers who look after orphaned children.
"When people are equipped with coping strategies, decision-making skills, and self-esteem, they can take the necessary steps to move forward through trauma and challenges," says Dr. Herbert.
As she reflects on her career, she encourages people not to be afraid to take on big challenges, noting that even small contributions can make a difference.
“Some people are discouraged, thinking they can’t have a significant impact on these problems. I think Help Lesotho is a strong example that you can,” says Dr. Herbert. “I’d like people to realize that whatever they can do is good and, cumulatively, small things can make a massive difference.”
