Sefapano Se Sefubelu

Mohapeloa completed ‘Sefapano Se Sefubelu’ (The Red Cross) in 1974, publishing it in Cape Town in 1976 as song No. 10 of 25 in Meluluetsa ea Ntšetso-pele le Bosechaba Lesotho (Anthems for the Development of the Lesotho Nation). Mohapeloa’s original title included the English ‘Red Cross’ in brackets after ;Sefapano se Sefubelu;, a translation retained here with ‘The’ added. Like many other songs in Meluluetsa the composer celebrates an institution that was established in Lesotho after independence in 1966. It may have had a special significance for Basotho as an organisation founded in Switzerland, since the first missionaries in 19th-century Basutoland had been French-Swiss, but it was certainly an international organisation that it was highly beneficial for Lesotho to join.