By: Nothembabane Qechane
Maseru
The graduation of the fifth cohort of Rise’s In Loco design, build and entrepreneurship fellowship programme took place at Kick4Life on April 04th 2024. The 2023 cohort consists of 9 graduates in the Built Environment sector, having graduated within the last 3 years from the Lerotholi Polytechnic (LP) and the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT), where for a period of nine (9) months they were actively engaged in the design and construction of Kick4Life’s latest project of the “Stadium of Life.”
The In Loco fellowship offers practical learning by training talented young graduates from different higher learning institutes in the country of Lesotho Through ground-breaking mentoring, peer to peer learning and on-going support, the fellows engage in hands-on projects, driving essential infrastructural development in Lesotho while serving Kick4Life F.C and making a positive impact on the community, specifically the less privileged.
The practice of learning by doing, helps young people learn and grow by providing them with opportunities thus equipping them with essential entrepreneurial skills to thrive. They are dedicated to transforming the lives of disadvantaged individuals through sports and education. This project is therefore a stepping stone to the fellows’ success in learning and gaining of valuable experience, all while serving Kick4Life F.C.
“As the surroundings at Kick4Life have already employed timber, the constructors of the stadium have also used timber to build the Kick4Life stadium so as to make the same design language and, to use sustainable material – which is the first Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) approved timber stadium in Africa, which is sourced in a perfect way” says Lintle Mofolo, one member of the construction team that built the Kick4Life stadium.
She says the stadium is meant for large numbers of people who may present themselves to watch football. The stadium also features restrooms and changing rooms. As part of effort towards the use of sustainable materials, natural grass was used in the stadium’s construction.
The In Loco fellowship of Rise is a programme that advances skills of new graduates to engage and practice work in professional fields with industry respective supervisors. For this cohort, upon arrival at fellowship, they designed the stadium and a strategic plan, working together with the client, following which then was the construction.
Because of this fellowship, Kick4Life as a non-profit organization which helps youth about ball games, now has its own accessible field for the purpose of advancing the chosen ball games of interest to Kick4Life and its stakeholders. This means all ball games practices and matches may now be experienced at the venue of the organisation as opposed to before the erection of the stadium wherein venue was a challenge.
Beyond this, Mofolo says not all stadiums in the country are made out of natural grass which is also one of its most unique traits. Also it being made out of FSC timber makes it the first stadium in Africa built this way, which mean its presence will make it have an impact in the international space owing to its tourism capacity.