When Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy embarked on a goodwill trip to the tiny African nation of Lesotho, she admits she knew very little about the country.

However, the lessons gained from her experience will be unforgettable.

“It was fabulous to see how life changing it can be for the people there, with just a very small contribution,” McCarthy said.

Her journey began a year ago when Pastor Dean Curry of Life Christian Church in Tacoma asked her and several local leaders to participate in a small delegation traveling to Lesotho (pronounced la-sue-too), as part of a World Vision program called the Global Neighbor Project (GNP). The group embarked to Africa in early 2010.

Curry has been leading the goodwill delegations for several years. In 2006, he led another delegation to Lesotho made up of several Pierce County civic and business leaders, including former mayor Bill Baarsma.

The goals of GNP are simple. Residents of Pierce County are asked to help meet the needs of orphaned and vulnerable children in Lesotho, specifically within the small region of Sekameng. The program also helps the residents of this region with essential needs, such as clean water, nutritious food, health care, education and micro-enterprise development.

During their excursion, McCarthy and her companions had the opportunity to meet with numerous civic and religious leaders, as well as citizens in both rural and urban Lesotho. The delegation traveled to villages, called communities, to observe the socio-economic and social conditions, as well as progress made in the communities through education and humanitarian efforts.

“There is such a tremendous amount of hope, faith and ability to build community,” McCarthy said. “That’s what we try to do in city or county government. We try to build community.”

Tacoma/Pierce County Humane Society Executive Director Kathleen Olson and her husband, Richard, were also part of the delegation this year. The couple traveled to Lesotho once before with GNP in 2008. On this return trip, Olson noted the progress the villages have made with improvements such as clean water, providing school uniforms to children and thriving citizen vegetable gardens.  

One of the major reasons World Vision targeted Lesotho for humanitarian aid is the country’s high number of both AIDS cases and orphans who have lost parents to the disease. World Vision estimates that about 23 percent of Lesotho’s 1.8 million citizens are infected with HIV. That roughly equals one person in every four.

Olson recalls a young man named Bobo, whom she had met on her first trip to Africa. At the time he was 19 and was severely sick with tuberculosis and AIDS. Olson did not think he would make it.

“We figured he was dead,” Olson said. “But fortunately, with four cents per day worth of anti-virals, he’s now working and his disease is kept under control.”  

Africa has the largest populations infected with HIV/AIDS in the world. Many governments have been slow to respond or indifferent to the epidemic. Although acknowledgement of HIV/AIDS from local and religious leaders is improving in Lesotho, McCarthy notes that much of the leadership continues to struggle with educating their citizens and finding prevention to spreading the disease.

During their travels, the delegation members had the opportunity to hear and see first-hand accounts of the ravaging effects of HIV/AIDS on the citizens of Lesotho. McCarthy and Olson met several people, including young children, who were suffering from the disease. For McCarthy, this was the most difficult experience of the trip.

“There is a sense of discrimination against those who have it,” she said. “It’s (HIV/AIDS) so huge. The leaders definitely have a challenge creating healthy and sustaining communities.”

As a larger, industrialized nation, many believe that the United States should play a major role in supporting smaller, developing countries. McCarthy would agree.

“We really have a moral obligation not to turn our back on them,” she said.

The world is shrinking; due in large part to growing technological advances, especially in communication, McCarthy explained.  

“We operate in a global economic environment now,” she said. “We are only a phone call, e-mail or click away from someone in some obscure place in the world. We are so connected and we can make a difference in people’s lives. Not by us just going over there and intervening, but by just supporting them and their endeavors.”