“I’m the main provider in the family. I support my mother, my sister, and her kids as well as mine. I pay rent, buy groceries, school supplies for the kids,” she said. “I spent a week looking for another job, but because there are so many people looking at the moment, I didn’t get one. There aren’t any other options—we just have to take what work we can get.”

When Maleshoane Rakojoana was furloughed from her job at a Lesotho clothing factory nearly three months ago, it turned her whole family’s life upside down. No longer able to afford the rent, they had to leave the capital, Maseru, and move in with relatives, miles away from where her children go to school. Because Rakojoana is the main breadwinner for her extended family, her loss of income has created a wave of impoverishment that ripples through the generations.

When Maleshoane Rakojoana was furloughed from her job at a Lesotho clothing factory nearly three months ago, it turned her whole family’s life upside down. No longer able to afford the rent, they had to leave the capital, Maseru, and move in with relatives, miles away from where her children go to school. Because Rakojoana is the main breadwinner for her extended family, her loss of income has created a wave of impoverishment that ripples through the generations.

“I’m the main provider in the family. I support my mother, my sister, and her kids as well as mine. I pay rent, buy groceries, school supplies for the kids,” she said. “I spent a week looking for another job, but because there are so many people looking at the moment, I didn’t get one.