SUSAN tries to smile as she holds her crying baby while seated on a mattress in a small room at Good Shepherd Centre for Teenage Mothers. But it does not entirely erase the pain in her eyes.

The 17-year-old dropped out of 10th grade last year after a 30-year-old farm labourer got her pregnant. Her grandmother, with whom she lived, became disappointed after learning she was pregnant and, together with her uncles, chased her out of their home.

She sought refuge at the Good Shepherd Centre for Teenage Mothers in Berea Plateau, about 15km from Maseru.

"I had nowhere to go, but when I arrived at the centre, the sisters happily welcomed me," she said. "My relatives told me to leave our home because I would embarrass them. The sisters have been of great help to me. My son is being taken care of at the daycare while I am training in dressmaking."

Susan (who asked not to use her real name) said her problems started at age four when her mother left her with her grandmother to go to South Africa to seek a job. She never returned. Susan said her mother's absence greatly contributed to her current situation because she had no one to advise and guide her.

"My uncles used to tell me that my mother abandoned me and went to South Africa for work, and later on, she died of HIV," she recalled, tears streaming down her cheeks as she tugged nervously at her blouse. "I don't think she ever loved me at all."

Susan's story is far from unique: Thousands of girls in Lesotho are forced to abandon their education as punishment for being pregnant.

 Because the country's culture discourages premarital sex, a girl who becomes pregnant before marriage is likely to be excluded or banished from her community or family and is referred to as a "spoiled girl."

Religious sisters try to help these teen mothers with a safe and supportive place to live while they learn to care for themselves and their children.

Good Shepherd Sister Filipina Hlobotsi said most young mothers at the centre come from communities with high poverty, HIV and unemployment rates.

"We realised that others were undergoing abortions, and some even died during the process."

A United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) report indicates that Lesotho is among the leading countries in early and unintended pregnancies, with the adolescent birth rate at 94 per 1 000 girls aged 15-19.

Analysts have blamed high poverty and unemployment as the leading causes of early pregnancy in Lesotho.

With a 36% poverty rate, the country of 2.2 million is experiencing nearly 25% unemployment, a rate that is projected to remain high due to the effects of the pandemic.

The situation has forced thousands of Basotho to migrate to neighbouring South Africa to work in its mines and as domestic workers to provide for their families back home, Hlobotsi said, a trek that puts women at risk of getting trafficked.

The children, meanwhile, are left under a relative's care.

Nthabeleng Ntoko, 27, whose parents abandoned her for jobs in South Africa, got pregnant at 16.

Ntoko, who lives at Good Shepherd with her child, said a man in his early 40s who was working at Letšeng Diamond Mine would give her a lot of money when he visited.

"I would not have been pregnant if I had parents to guide me," she said, adding that her uncles kicked her out of their home after realising she was pregnant. "Everyone in the community didn't want to see me. I was forced to drop out of school and seek refuge at the centre."

"I didn't know anything about sex and love," she added. "Maybe my mother or father would have advised me to abstain from sex to avoid early pregnancy. I needed that knowledge at the time, but it was not there."

In Lesotho, like in many other mining countries, women are not allowed to work in mines or engage in dangerous tasks. Young women — some underage — follow men working in mines along the borders and in South Africa, selling sex to older men to support their families.

Global Sisters Report visited Maputsoe, in Leribe, to meet men and women engaging in sex for money.

Maputsoe is a border town where mineworkers heading to their workplaces from Lesotho stop to have fun and party before crossing the border to South Africa.

Dubbed the town that never sleeps, Maputsoe is loaded with tourism activities, including taverns, traditional dance performances and strip clubs.

It is just past 7 pm on the last Saturday of the month. The streets are still full and buzzing with activity, with no signs of slowing down.

Hundreds of near-naked girls and women parade through the town's bars, brothels and streets, advertising themselves to miners approaching them.

"I am here to look for money and assist my two children," said a 35-year-old woman with braided hair and wearing a skimpy blue dress. "It's the end (of the) month, and most miners here have received their salaries, so we take advantage of this time to make money."

The woman, who requested anonymity, said she left Maseru two years ago after her husband went to South Africa to look for a job but never returned, leaving her to care for their children.

"It's not easy to raise two children as a single mother," she said, adding that she left her children with her mother. "On a good night, especially at the end of the month, I make up to M500 and send that money back home."