An amateur film made and narrated by David Williams of three Durham University educational visits to the Kingdom of Lesotho in southern Africa between 1967 and 1969. In the first part of the film shot during a visit in 1967, a delegation visits a number of primary schools both in the country's capital Maseru and surrounding countryside. The delegates visit in 1968 takes them back to some of the rural schools visited the previous year, to see what if anything has improved. The final part...

An amateur film made and narrated by David Williams of three Durham University educational visits to the Kingdom of Lesotho in southern Africa between 1967 and 1969. In the first part of the film shot during a visit in 1967, a delegation visits a number of primary schools both in the country's capital Maseru and surrounding countryside. The delegates visit in 1968 takes them back to some of the rural schools visited the previous year, to see what if anything has improved. The final part of the film made during a visit in 1969 records a school community project in which pupils build a hut for a new nursery school. As well the building, the pupils are also given maths lessons by their teachers. The film opens on the tarmac at Lughawe Jan Smuts Airport, [now O.R. Tambo International Airport], near Johannesburg in South Africa. Passengers make their way across the tarmac towards a ‘Lesotho Airways’ aircraft parked there. In the air views look along the aisle of other passengers as well as the pilots in the cockpit. General views follow looking down on the landscape below. The aircraft comes into land and taxis across a runway towards the terminal of Leabua Jonathan Airport in Lesotho. A crowd of Europeans near the terminal building waves as the passengers disembark. The film cuts to a free primary school in Lesotho’s capital Maseru. Standing beside a whitewashed wall a nun gives a lesson to a group of five to twelve-year-old boys, many of whom have a blanket wrapped around them. The boys hold exercises books and some make notes. The film cuts to show the children playing nearby. The film changes to show the pupils standing in lines. In an orderly fashion, they make their way into a school building. The film cuts to a fee-paying school in Maseru and a group of male pupils in red and black stripes blazers run around the side of a building, along a covered veranda and into a classroom. The film changes to shows a modern domed building, described as an evangelical school for girls. Outside a group of girls and their teacher slowly dance and clap in unison. A man carrying a case on a pole walks past. The film cuts to a phantom car ride along a dusty track towards a rural school. They pass a large building with a number of children sitting outside. The film cuts to a one room classroom and views of a teacher giving a class to her pupils. Outside the classroom the pupils stand in lines, the younger children holding hands. They begin to perform a dance and sing for the camera. Three boys walk along a road, then the film cuts to show a number of huts built on a hillside. A general view shows a large mud building with thatched roof. Sitting along the wall of the building are a number of children. Other children sit or lay on the ground in small groups. The sequence ends with a phantom car ride along a road. The film changes to a 1968 visit to Lesotho. Two men are filmed loading a Land Rover with bags, then a number of the Durham delegation approach and get into the vehicle. The Land Rover pulls away, the film cuts to a phantom car ride driving along a tarmacked road. The car passes a number of road signs referring to the town of Teyateyaneng in the district of Berea in Lesotho. They drive past a wagon being pulled by four cattle. At Teyateyaneng another road sign points towards Peke and Leribe followed a sign for the ‘Blue Mountain Inn’. In the entranceway of the hotel a number of the delegation stand around. In a nearby tree a number of Weaverbird nests hang from the branches, a man enjoys a cup of coffee in a deckchair. The journey by Land Rover continues along a tarmacked road passing a man on a tractor. At the Mountain View Hotel at Hloste a man carries shirts on hangers into a bungalow room. The film cuts to a view from the Land Rover as it drives past a school, a crowd of pupils stand outside. A woman from the delegation begins to walk and then runs towards the teacher at the school. The two women shake hands, in the background the pupils from the school stand in line.   General views follow of a class taking place outside the school building. A blackboard has been set up for a maths lesson. Sitting along the wall the pupils work diligently in their exercise books. The film cuts to show the schoolchildren walking and playing near the parked Land Rover. The film changes to a slanted shingle bank beside a rock formation where whitewashed stones form the name of the ‘B.B. S. School’ [Botha-Bothe Secondary School]. Another short phantom car ride cuts to a group of men and boys standing over an outdoor table and bench where they are taking a short course on apparatus making with a volunteer from the American Peace Corp. Along the seat of the bench lettered wooden blocks read ‘Amoheia baeti ka thabo. Welcome Visitors’. General views follow of other pupils that includes interviews with the various male and female pupils talking about what they’ve made and where they come from. The film cuts to a different school where a teacher conducts her pupils in song. The film changes to early morning at another school where both pupils and teacher are arriving. Outside a classroom pupils stand in a line waiting to go inside. The film cuts to show a girl in a blue top and yellow dress walking across the school yard and two other pupils carrying a large table out of a classroom. In the school grounds the pupils take part in the winter warming up exercises and are seen running around the yard. With the day warming, the film cuts to show views from a class taking place outside. A small blackboard has been set up on an easel and pupils sit against the wall. The film cuts to show a number of pupils coming together to form a group sitting on the ground. General views show pupils making traditional clay figures and placing them to dry on rocks. A teacher comes over to look at one girls model, another uses a stick to draw a face in his figure. The film changes to Mount Royal School in Hlotse and inside a classroom young boy uses a ruler to point at a section of a piece of paper attached to the board. The film cuts to show pupils leaving the school for home. The sequence ends on a phantom car drive at dusk and the sun setting. The film cuts to a modern school and pupils standing outside waiting to get onto school grounds. Five male teachers stand nearby chatting. The school gates are opened and the pupils begin to go inside. The film cuts to show the pupils walking across the schoolyard and standing outside one of the school buildings. In the doorway, a man is speaking to the children. Against the wall beside him the teachers stand also listening. With the speech over, the pupils begins to march away in groups while others make their way into the building itself. In a wooded area near to the school some of the pupils participate in warm-up exercises by swinging their arms in the air. Nearby, young pupils do their own warm-up exercises by pairing up and pushing against each other’s heads. General views of a female teacher conducting a mixed-aged class outside with a blackboard. On the road beside the school two people ride past on horseback, a bus comes in the opposite direction. General views show pupils sitting on benches or on the ground next to the school building. The sequence ends with a male teacher bringing a number of pupils together in a line. The film changes to the 1969 visit and views of the village of near to the country's radio transmitter towers. General views show a large group, part of a community project to build a hut as a new day nursery A group of children make counting sticks, rolling balls of clay and feeding them onto the stick. The film cuts to the children climbing down a rocky hillside, each of them carrying a large stone or boulder, many on their heads, which will be used as the nursery foundations. General views follow of clay bricks drying in the sun and bushels of reeds that will be used for the roof. Four men use an axe to help shape pieces of wood to form a doorway. The film cuts to the site of the new building and a teacher beside a blackboard teaching the children about circles. The pupils use a length of rope and a peg to lay out the foundation. General views of pupils using pick-axes to dig the foundation and spades to fill buckets with earth and mud spoil that will be taken away. The pupils begin to lay stones in the foundation, a man speaks with the children beside the drying bricks. The pupils count bricks that are then carried by the children to a storage area near to the foundations where they are counted again. Some of the pupils use a watch to calculate the time it has taken to move the bricks, a teacher stands beside a blackboard as the pupils add information. Nearby a number of pupils calculate the weight of the building by building their own set of scales and weighing bricks. The film ends on a number of pupils building a mosaic in the ground near to the building. Writing drawn on the ground reads ‘Tsosane Day Nursery 1969’.