Policing nuclear tests and craving aromat – Hlompho Malephane wants peace

By Nthakoana Ngatane

VIENNA, AUSTRIA – From the dusty paths (not streets) of Ha Ramokhele in the “republic” of Mafeteng, Lesotho’s Hlompho Malephane is one of the “seismologists” keeping an eye on the world’s super powers, to make sure they don’t conduct  nuclear weapon tests.

Hlompho works in the Operations Centre of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization – CTBTO – in Vienna, Austria.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is a multilateral treaty that bans all nuclear tests, for both civilian and military purposes, in all environments.

It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 September 1996, but has not entered into force, as some nations have not ratified the treaty.

A nuclear weapon, now colloquially called a nuke, is an explosive device made from
nuclear reactions.  A nuke can devastate an entire city with its blast, fire, and radiation.

The two bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US during the Second World War killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people.

People who were near the Hiroshima explosion who survived, suffered medical effects for years.

Some scientists estimate that a nuclear war with 100 Hiroshima-size nuclear explosions on cities could cost the lives of tens of millions of people from long-term environmental effects alone.

I first found out what Hlompho does for a living when she was a seismic analyst for the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, several years ago. 

Obviously I know what engineers do, and I had always thought they were and are “the cream” at Mohale and Katse dams.

So I asked Hlompho if she was one of them, and in her usual, shy-ish but very self-assured way, she said “no, I’m a seismologist.”

Apparently every day this girl was responsible for ensuring that tremors around the project sites and even anywhere in the world don’t collapse the two dams or that if they do, no lives would be lost.

When I couldn’t make sense of what she was saying I asked her to write it down and this is what I got:

“I check the daily state, collect, analyse, and interpret seismic data from the different stations of both Katse and Mohale dams in Lesotho, as well as monitoring any other activity that could pose a threat to the dam structures. I use data gathered from seismometers and accelerometers installed in both Katse Dam and Mohale Dam walls, in addition to visual inspections and Geodetic surveys”. said Hlompho at the time.

You can look up seismometers, accelerometers and geodetic surveys yourself but what I understood was that Hlompho was helping to ‘predict’ the likely seismic events locally and regionally through area surveys, inspections and through sharing of information with regional agencies for preparedness in case of seismic activity.

She was also responsible for ensuring that the project, a significant revenue earner for Lesotho, suffered minimal damage in the unlikely event of an earthquake.

But most importantly the lives of people living in the vicinity and downstream of both Katse and Mohale dams were in Hlompho’s hands.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty outlaws nuclear test explosions. The organisation that Hlompho currently works for provides information to enforce the ban on nuclear tests through a worldwide monitoring system and may conduct on-site inspections.

Countries that have signed the treaty undertake not to carry out any nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions, and to prohibit and prevent any such nuclear explosions at any place under its jurisdiction or control.

Each state also undertakes “to refrain from causing, encouraging, or in any way participating in the carrying out of any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion.”

The lives of millions of people around the world and world peace are in the hands of Hlompho and her colleagues at the CTBTO. Yes Mafeteng, you can brag now.

And yet Hlompho still answered the call to meet me when I said I was in Vienna, but I also told her I had brought some aromat – one of the many delights easily craved by those away from home.

In addition to all the nice things that were planned for the dinner table, I was asked to make my specialty, chilli tomato poached eggs sprinkled with aromat – for supper, and the Austria people loved it.

Our conversation went from the eggs and aromat to Hlompho’s life now.

Austria has come with unexpected but very welcome benefits for her and her sons, who have now been studying in the Netherlands (albeit recently virtually from Vienna) for over two years.

She wishes she could export how she feels about Austria,  back home.

“The element of safety and peace of mind, I have here are immeasurable. Not having to watch over one’s shoulder at all times; being able to walk anywhere, anytime, especially at night; my ability to sleep with doors and windows open in summer, without fear of intruders or thoughts of burglaries. I could go on and on…”

She says the meaning of Lesotho’s beautiful national motto – Khotso, Pula, Nala (peace, rain and prosperity) – is clearer to her now, but Basotho have moved further away from its essence.

“I wish to see the country return to the principles of our founder, Morena Moshoeshoe – “khaitseli ea khotso” – through leadership that unifies the nation. I wish to see us as a people that RESPECT one another in spite of our differences – be they of opinion, denomination, gender, sexual orientation or politics. I wish to see an end to the many senseless killings that have become the norm.” says Hlompho Malephane

I know she sounds like Ms World, but for Hlompho world peace is really her everyday job. She says she is open to possibilities for the future as long as they are geared towards contributing to world peace and stability, as well as safeguarding the planet for the future of humanity.

It will start with getting more people, especially women, interested in leadership and rare professions like Hlompho’s, but she doesn’t know if there are any other Basotho seismologists besides her.

She says the last time she checked she was still the only one, and in the whole of Africa she knows only 5 women including her.

“I know of only 4 others – one from Malawi, one from Zimbabwe, one from Kenya and another one from Ghana.”