Sefika Sa Teboho

‘Sefika Sa Teboho’ commemorates the centenary of the founding of the Paris Evangelical Society’s mission station at Masitisi, Lesotho, a centenary that fell on 27 March 1966. That was probably the year in which the song was composed. ‘Sehopotso sa Jubile ea lilemo tse lekholo ea Masitisi’ (A landmark jubilee of the great mission school at Masitisi) is the declaration on the front cover. The song must have been one of “three anthems specially prepared for the occasion” as Annette Ellenberger notes in her report in the Basutoland Witness (No. 69, July 1966, 1) and although the publisher’s name does not appear anywhere on this individually published score, the imprint must be that of Morija Sesuto Book Depot. A photograph on the front cover shows the original wattle-and-daub buildings of the mission, which was built into a hillside (in Sesotho a ‘leoa’ or cave), opposite what eventually became an avenue of neatly planted trees and flowers.