Before COVID-19 Lesotho unemployment was surging over 23%, then came the pandemic, thousands upon thousands of Basotho lost jobs. As a result, the majority of families are facing starvation daily.

CHEF which stands for Catering, Hospitality & Education Fund starter as a health education tour to teach HIV awareness and sex education for the people of Lesotho. In 2013, Tess and Wayne (Co-founders of CHEF) were invited to Lesotho with the mandate of establishing and managing a restaurant, hotel and conference centre. They designed this business operation to act as a training school that teaches young Basotho (people of Lesotho) valuable work skills while pumping back profits generated into other social development programmes.

During their time in Lesotho, Tess and Wayne fall in love with Basotho people. Without the hard-working, diligent and enthusiastic of Basotho, they would never be able to establish Kick for Life Restaurant, Hotel and Conference Centre into a profitable enterprise rated No1 in Lesotho on TripAdvisor.

To help support the lives of Basotho who lost their jobs amidst COVID-19, Chef.gives was born. The idea is to offer cookery classes in the United Kingdom (UK) and run various events to raise funds to cover lost wages during these unprecedented times. The money raised will fund Basotho small business start-ups and education in Lesotho.

From anywhere in the world, you can help unemployed people in Lesotho either find work or enable them to start their own small catering related business or invest in culinary education designed to give a helping hand for career development.

• Visit chef.gives website

• Look through each Innovator's profile

• Get the details about the business idea and costs

• Make your investment

Make a donation contribution with the following details:

Lloyds Bank Account: 12486268
​Sort: 77.17.29

For people living in the United Kingdom (UK), CHEF offers private cooking lessons in your home or can come and cater to your private event with all the profits invested into the fund.

• Follow them on social media to get involved in several fundraising events

• Participate in a variety of events they host across the year

• Reach out to them about any ideas you have about hosting an event (For UK)

It is was an honour to support this emergency fundraising to cover lost wages for those affected by COVID-19 in my beloved country, Lesotho.