President Sata child rights defender’

AMONG child rights activists, President Sata will be remembered as a defender and champion of children’s rights.
His countless engagements with children from all walks of lives are evident following the different interactions he and First Lady Christine Kaseba had with them at State House.
In an interview, Media Network for Child Rights and Development (MNCRD) project manager Prisca Sikana said the late President recognised children as citizens of the land.
Ms Sikana said during his three-year tenure, President Sata paid attention to children by ensuring they had access to basic needs such as education and good health.
She said “this was demonstrated through adding mother and child health issues to Ministry of Community Development and putting together the Ministry of Gender and Child Development. Children issues were moved from Youth and Sport where we as child rights activists believed it was overshadowed”.
Ms Sikana added that the introduction of a new realistic curriculum which was promised for many years also became a reality for the Zambian child.
In a separate interview, Advocacy for Juvenile Justice executive director Josephat Njobvu said the late President was a pro-poor person who looked into the plight of children from all walks of life.
Mr Njobvu said during the three years Mr Sata served as President, the country saw a number of legal reforms which included those that looked into the plight of juvenile justice.
He said “juvenile justice legal reforms were incorporated into the current laws of the land”.

Agriculture key to improvement’

TO MIRIAM Chunga, a small holder farmer of Shamundende village in Sichanzu ward, central Zambia, farming has not only enabled her raise finances but has greatly improved the health of her family.
Before venturing into farming three years ago, the Chunga household had been faced with malnutrition due to lack of sufficient food.
For the past three years, Mr Chunga has religiously been growing crops such beans, spinach, okra, tomatoes, onions and various vegetables on a 50sq meter piece of land. The fact that she has a well which never runs dry at her farm has also been a plus for her.
“The dietary needs of my family have greatly improved since I ventured into farming. We are now able to eat nutritious meals every day. Apart from improving our diet, I am also able to buy other foods to supplement our nutritious diet as well as send my children to school by selling the surplus farm produce,” Chunga narrated.
About 300 metres away from Ms Chunga is another small holder farmer, Mervis Chibeleki who specialises in animal farming. Ms Chibeleki’s family diet has also improved because of her involvement in farming.
Ms Chibeleki who started animal farming in 2012 owns goats and chickens but also has a garden like the rest of the farmers in the village.
Like Ms Chunga, Ms Chibeleki’s interest in animal farming was in a bid to escape poverty and malnutrition.
“When I started, I had one goat and one chicken. Now, I am a proud owner of seven goats and 20 chickens. Animal farming has proven to be a good source of proteins recommended for health living,” Ms Chibeleki said.
Evidently agriculture does not only play a role in food security but also contributes to the good health of citizens particularly children.
Child malnutrition has proved to be a challenge in most developing countries. In Zambia, 45 per cent of children under five years old have stunted; a situation which has been attributed to poor diet and health.
It is against this background that Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition (RAIN) project was initiated in Mumbwa district to help small holder farmers improve the nutrition of households.
Mumbwa district with an estimated population of 218,328 has child stunting levels at 43 per cent.
RAIN, a project implemented by Concern Worldwide with support from Irish Aid and Kerry Group, is a five year one programme which aims at eradicating malnutrition among families in Mumbwa.
Small holder farmers under the RAIN project mainly focuses on food production and diversification of household consumption. Framers also focus on cultivating and processing a variety of crops.
The crops grown which are chosen based on their nutritional value include legumes (cowpeas, groundnuts, biofortified beans, orange fleshed sweet potatoes), vegetables (amaranthus, rape, tomatoes, carrots, spinach, pumpkins, green beans) and fruits (banana suckers, granadillas, watermelons).
Additionally, the farmers boast of a ‘goat pass on scheme’ which aims at ensuring they all have animal source products that provides the much-needed proteins and minerals.
RAIN project district programme coordinator Concern Worldwide Richard Mwape said about 45, 000 households have so far been empowered with the know how to improve their nutrition.
Mr Mwape said agriculture has potential to improve food security and reduce hunger levels currently being experienced by many families.
“The use of agriculture to fight child stunted growth in Mumbwa district couldn’t have come at a better time especially that majority of households (87 per cent) have access to land,” he said.
Another organisation which places emphasis on ending hunger and malnutrition in Africa is NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), a continental framework for transforming agriculture in Africa.
The framework aims at improving national status by elimination child under-nutrition in Africa with a view of bringing down stunted growth to 10 per cent and underweight to five per cent by 2015.
And Mumbwa District administrative officer Charles Hamphande has recommended for more projects that will reduce hunger and increase food security as well as provide nutrition.
Mr Hamphande however said there is need for guidance on the type of crops small holder farmers can diversify in to reduce hunger.
Irish ambassador to Zambia, Finbar O’Brien said addressing under-nutrition and hidden hunger through nutrition needed the integrational approach as malnutrition across sectors.
Mr O’Brien said there have been some levels of success especially with the reduction in under-five mortality rates but Zambia can do much more.
“However, nutrition for growth commitments to reduce under nutrition by 50 per cent and increase nutrition funding by 20 per cent year are a bold statement of commitment,” Mr O’Brien.
And Deputy Minister-Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Greyford Monde said the government is cognizant that combating under-nutrition will result in improved social welfare and eventual reduction in poverty levels in the country.
Mr Monde said hunger affects human health and development.
“It is for this reason that Government is developing operational guidelines for the promotion of diverse locally available and processed foods,” he said.

Street child narrates sexual abuse ordeal

A SOMBRE mood engulfed the whole place as tears rolled down people’s cheeks when Mary Tembo (17) emotionally shared her experience about the sexual abuse she has suffered at the hands of other street children daily.
With a solemn heart- breaking song done by the Sakala Brothers playing in the background, Mary seemingly turned the whole event into a funeral service when she mentioned that she also suffered sexual abuse from police officers and security guards at the expense of giving her solace.
This news sent shivers down the spine of the listeners who found it rather absurd that security personnel, who are supposed to be the custodians of the law and order, actually engage themselves in such vices.
Mary narrated that street girls hardly sleep at night because they are repeatedly raped and defiled by older male street children.
“When we run to the police station to seek help and shelter, the police officers take turns in defiling us, saying we have no choice but to give in because we need their protection. Sometimes security guards come to pick us for sex in exchange for a place to sleep,” she lamented.
The plight of street children, whose stories remain untold because no one bothers to hear them. They have no one to fight for them; no one to help them seek medical services when they are defiled, sodomised and raped.
The ordeal faced by Mary and other girls has seen an increase in the HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infection (STI) levels among street children.
Boys on the streets are also faced with a risk of sodomy from older male street children and homosexuals in communities.
Uhm! When everyone seems to care less, heavens have smiled on the street children as Fountain of Hope (FoH) launched a One Stop Drop-in centre for street children. The centre will be a safety net to save the lives of street children and others.
The facility, which is based in Lusaka’s Kamwala township and supported by Save the Children, is an appropriate and supreme means to deal with the gender- based violence street children face.
FOH founder and board chairperson Rodgers Mwewa explained that the One Stop Drop-in centre has been designed to save both the children on the streets and others that do not have access to quality and timely healthcare services.
“As you may be aware, these abuses include sexual abuse which is the primary transfer of HIV/AIDS and STIs among children,” he charged.
Mr Mwewa, who is also Mwansabombwe member of Parliament, said the facility will have a clinic which will provide care services aimed at preventing transmission through the administration of post-exposure prophylaxis (PRP) to sexually-abused girls, and offer effective contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies that come with such abuse.
“We will also administer treatment to victims that will ensure STIs are brought to an end,” he added.
Aside from treatment, the centre will have paralegals who will advise on the law once a case of defilement is established and counsellors will also be housed there.
FoH, which opened its doors to the public in 1996, has over the past decade helped more than 100 children to attain their higher education.
FoH school caters for 500 children from grade one to seven and offers 120 children with good shelter and protection, as well as access to basic human needs.
However, FoH has a challenge of a safe house for street girls but there is an alternative arrangement where Young Women Christian Association houses them.
This cheered Gender and Child Health minister Inonge Wina who commended FoH for this unusual initiative. The visibly elated Ms Wina said such an initiative is welcome as it supplements Government’s efforts in the fight against streetism and gender-based violence against street children.
She charged that the levels of HIV/AIDS and STIs are high and Government will create the much-needed conducive environment for the children to realise their full potential.
Ms Wina said the pandemic is robbing the children of their childhood, which is not supposed to be the case as they are a foundation of any nation.
“The facility will greatly assist our children who fall victim to gender-based violence in its many forms, namely defilement, physical abuse, emotional and psychological abuse. It will decongest the streets and offer hope to children,” she said.
And Kabwata member of Parliament Given Lubinda applauded the efforts of FOH and further thanked them for choosing his constituency to build such a facility.
Mr Lubinda noted that the burden of street children is for everyone and society should endeavour to help and not leave it to Government alone.
He has also appealed to Government to include the building of recreational facilities in the 2015 national budget.
“Lack of recreational facilities has contributed to streetism among children and those who have once been there are prompted to go back because they have nothing to keep them busy. Therefore I am appealing to our Minister of Gender, Ms Wina, to consider refurbishing our already-existing play park here in Kabwata Constituency,” Mr Lubinda urged.
Additionally, Save the Children director programme operations Chilobe Kambikambi observed that a child in Zambia is fraught with hard realities.
Ms Kambikambi said the One Stop Drop-in Centre will achieve immediate and lasting change in the lives of the children.
She said, “Save the Children is very proud to support and be part of this launch of the One Stop Drop-in centre here at the FOH.”
Children comprise more than 51 percent of Zambia’s population and these young citizens need protection from the risks that threaten their rights and well-being.
Sadly, Zambia is ranked 36th out of 52 in the index ranking of child protection in the African report on children’s well-being developed by the African Child Policy forum.
Therefore, building partnerships is one of the pillars that will address this picture Zambia is currently mirrored on.

We need female teachers – Kandesha school head

KANDESHA Primary School acting headteacher Emmanuel Kana has implored Government to deploy female teachers to the school to help handle and mould the schoolgirls there.
The school has never had a female teacher since it was taken over by Government five years ago.
In an interview, Mr Kana said early marriages were rife because the girls have no female teachers to inspire them to complete their education.
He said the trend had led to most of them thinking that only men can be teachers as they have never seen a female teacher before owing to the area being rural.
“Whenever we have sports day, we normally camp in some area and that poses a danger to our schoolgirls as they have no one to take care of them and they remain vulnerable to both the male teachers and fellow schoolboys,” he lamented.
Mr Kana lamented that when schoolgirls become of age whilst at school, male teachers do not know how to handle the cases owing to how sacred menstruation is regarded in society.
He said the locals are highly superstitious which makes it impossible for male teachers to help the schoolgirls once they mess themselves up during menstruation.
“If only we had a female teacher, she can be able to handle such issues as she can understand them better. Last time we had a situation where a girl messed up and she was laughed at by her peers. If we had a female teacher she could have handled the case better,” he said.
Mr Kana said he has since reported the matter to the District Education Board Secretary (DEBS) John Kaira.
When contacted for a comment, John Kaira said he is aware of the situation and will soon liaise with the provincial education officer to see how best the situation can be dealt with.
Mr Kaira said it’s important for schools to have female teachers who the girls can look up to and get inspiration.
“Female teachers act as confidants to our girls and so we will look into the issue seriously,” he said.
The school is located 13 kilometres away from the central business district of Mumbwa in Central Province.

Lack of sanitary provisions hurdle to girls’ education’

IT IS the time of the month and 14-year-old Justinah Hamweemba (not real) of Sakende village of Mumbwa laments that she once again has to miss class for four days.
Simply put she is worried that every time she is having her menstrual periods she messes up her school uniform because she has no access to sanitary towels.
Justinah a Grade six pupil told the author that she when she is having her periods, she cannot afford sanitary towels therefore she just wears a pant and ends up messing herself up while at school.
Justinah, an orphan who lives with her struggling grandmother lamented: “I have been subjected to humiliating and embarrassing incidents especially from boys. This leads me to abscond from school at least four days in a month.”
This unfortunate situation however, is also experienced by other girls in the area including 15-year-old Martha Mweene (not real name) of Shakamba village in Nampundwe of Shibuyunji who said that she only has two pieces of chitenge material which she uses every month.
Martha, a Grade six pupil explained that she experiences heavy periods especially the first two days and because of that she needs to use more than one piece of material to protect herself a day.
“In addition, when I am having my periods, I suffer from terrible backaches and stomach cramps. I fail to socialise with my peers and tend to miss classes sometimes,” she recounted.
These and many more are the experiences schoolgirls especially those in the rural areas go through every month they have menstrual cycle.
Their plight is worsened because they do not have access to proper sanitary towels. Presumably, this scenario is no different from what other schoolgirls in other parts of the country experience as well.
Menstrual periods can be cumbersome and lack of proper items to use during this time makes the situation worse especially for these girls who have to cover long distances to and from school every day.
Clearly lack of proper and adequate sanitary supplies is contributing to the high number of schoolgirls absconding from classes; eventually, dropping out of school completely.
According to the 2013 National Educational Bulletin from the Ministry of Education over 500,000 children are out of school of which 241,616 are boys and 261,094 are girls.
Perhaps it is time Zambian women parliamentarians took a leaf from their Kenyan counterparts who lobbied their government in 2011 to allocate US$4 million of the national budget to the purchase of sanitary towels for the schoolgirls.
It is imperative that this gender responsive strategy is adopted by female parliamentarians in order to alleviate the sufferings of the girls especially in the rural areas.
And this development has seen Lukashya member of Parliament of Kasama, Alfreda Kansembe pledging to advocate for the supply of sanitary towels in schools now that Parliament is in session.
Ms Kansembe said it was important that Government starts supplying sanitary towels especially to girls in remote areas who have no means of survival to deter them from using toilet tissue and pieces of chitenge material which is not ideal and can pose health risks.
“Periods bring about all sorts of discomfort for girls who have nothing to use during that time especially when looking at the number of kilometres they have to cover when going to school,” she shared.
Furthermore, it is absurd that there are some civil society organisations (CSOs) which are advocating for the distribution of condoms in schools but no one cares to lobby for the supply of sanitary pads.
This is why it is incumbent upon CSOs to start advocating for the distribution of menstrual supplies to schoolgirls.
Of late the country has been engulfed in a debate on whether condoms should be distributed in schools or not in order to curb high incidences of early pregnancies.
Forum for African Women Educationalist (FAWEZA) executive director Agnes Shipanuka challenged other CSOs and Government to begin the distribution of sanitary towels in school toilets.
Ms Shipanuka urged Government to emulate the Kenyan Government which provides free sanitary pads to schoolgirls. She narrated that with the lack of access to menstrual supplies and sanitation; schoolgirls’ educational opportunities remain marginalised.
Ms Shipanuka who is a teacher by profession explained that “a girl who is absent from school for four days in 28 days loses 13 learning days equivalent to two weeks of learning every term. In an academic year (nine months), a girl loses 39 learning days equivalent to six weeks of learning time.”
True the days that a girl stays away from school are many for her to lose focus and interest for school. “As FAWEZA, we do supply sanitary towels to the girls we sponsor in schools,” she said.
Furthermore, Nampundwe Primary School guidance and career teacher Onesta Namakando implored Government to start distributing menstrual supplies for the benefit of the girls.
Ms Namakando feels it is a challenge for schoolgirls in rural areas to even socialise and interact with others for fear that “they may mess up themselves as they do not have provisions they can use.”
She further stated that girls find it hard to dispose of the materials they use during menses due to erratic water supplies in rural schools.
Apart from schoolgirls dropping out from school, lack of menstrual supplies has potential to cause various infections due to improper items being.
Lusaka-based reproductive health specialist Swebby Macha said the use of non-recommended items such as toilet tissue and chitenge material can cause infection in the upper genital tract.
Dr Macha said toilet tissue and pieces of cloth are not meant for use during menstrual periods.
He said the University Teaching Hospital receives cases of pelvic infection and vaginal thrush due to the use of such items by girls and women.
“The recommended items to use during periods are sanitary towels and tampons and not toilet tissue. But in the case of poverty, people are advised to use pieces of cloths provided they thoroughly wash and iron them to kill germs,” he advised.
Menstruation periods though considered sacred and secret should not be a hurdle to education but rather one that must be enjoyed by both women and girls as that defines one’s sexuality.
If this issue is not properly addressed, Zambia risks not attaining the Education for All (EFA) goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 to achieve universal education for all children.

Child death, maternal health challenges

AS THE world prepares for the attainment of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Zambia too is striving for the same.
Despite the strides Zambia is making, little seems to have been achieved especially in the area of reducing child mortality and improving maternal health.
The setbacks experienced in reducing child mortality rates and improving maternal health by two-thirds by 2015 range from social to economic. These setbacks vary from region to region, depending on social and cultural differences.
However, in North-Western Province, the fight against maternal and child deaths hinge greatly on cultural norms; this is because the habitants are widely known for being cultural.
That is why the culture of silence of keeping one’s pregnancy secret until asked by elderly women to share with the community is religiously observed despite its adverse effects.
Since time immemorial, pregnant women and girls upon knowing they were expecting were not allowed to share the knowledge of their pregnancy with anyone until after a period of three months. Unfortunately this practise has continued in certain parts of North-Western Province and is reportedly hindering the fight against maternal and child mortality deaths.
Acting maternal and child health co-ordinator at Solwezi District Community Office Sarah Tembo indicated that culture is a affecting the fight against high maternal deaths in the area.
Ms Tembo, pregnant women and girls do not seek maternal and child health services on time because they wait until they are permitted by the older women to do so, is normally after three months or more of pregnancy.
She was speaking during the stakeholder’s sensitisation and orientation meeting for Kasempa, Kitwe, Mwinilunga and Solwezi districts recently.
The meeting was aimed at increasing access to maternal and child health services in Zambia organised by PANOS Institute Southern Africa (PSAF) and supported by Save the Children International in line with the MDGs four and five.
MDGs four and five aim at reducing mortality rates by two-thirds, reducing the maternal mortality rate to three quarters and ensuring universal access to reproductive health.
Ms Tembo highlighted that the most important time for a pregnant woman to receive proper antenatal care was during the first trimester because that is when they are given anti-malaria prevention.
She further highlighted that some pregnant wait for as long as seven months hence missing out on the full preventive pregnancy care. Globally, more than 350,000 women die of preventable child birth complications.
In Zambia, 76 out of 1,000 infants die within a year of being born, while 119 out of 1,000 children die between the ages of one-five.
And 591 out of 1,000 children die within a specified period of giving birth due to pregnancy-related complications or child births; these rates are higher in rural areas.
But Zambia National Traditional Counsellors President Iress Phiri explained that traditionally when a woman realises she is pregnant, she is not allowed to tell anyone except her husband.
Further, she has to keep the pregnancy secret for some months until she is asked by an elderly grandmother to share the news with friends and relatives. “All this was purely done to prevent any miscarriages because not everyone is happy to hear that someone else is pregnant,” Ms Phiri said.
And addressing participants who attended the three-day workshop aimed at empowering community groups and local radio stations with knowledge on increasing access to maternal health services in Solwezi, PSAF programme manager Elias Banda reaffirmed the institute’s commitment to work with communities.
Mr Banda said PSAF has started a two-year advocacy campaign in Western and North-Western provinces aimed at increasing demand and access of maternal and child health services in rural Zambia.
He said “the project is aimed at helping Zambia attain the MDGs and will directly reach 24,000 women, 23,000 men, 6,000 boys and 11,000 girls in Mongu, Lukulu, Solwezi, Mwinilunga, Kasempa, Lusaka and Kitwe districts.”
Among the many activities planned by PSAF is the mobilisation of Safe Motherhood Action Group (SMAGS) and Radio Listening Clubs (RLC) among the rural communities to increase awareness on the importance of pregnant mothers and under-five children visiting health centres.
However, this practice has been described as ‘harmful’ by Mufumbwe’s Kanunga SMAG member Amon Muzenze.
Mr Muzenze said in an interview that the cultural practice is mostly observed in rural areas making the work of SMAGs difficult.
He narrated that young girls end up dying while at school because they are culturally-socialised not to share the news of pregnancy with anyone.
“There are situations where a young girl has to wait for the grandmother to instruct her when to go to the hospital for antenatal examination; which often times contributes to rising cases of obstetric fistula,” Mr Muzenze said.
And Kasempa Radio station manager Martha M’soka challenged the media to take the key role in addressing cultural barriers that have posed as a challenge in the fight against maternal and child mortality deaths.
Ms M’soka said local radio stations are key in the fight as they address the challenges the locals can identify themselves with.

Kanengo should become boarding school’

KANENGO Secondary School Parents Teachers Association (PTA) chairman Amon Muzenze of Mufumbwe has urged Government to turn the institution into a boarding school because of the long distances pupils cover.
Mr Muzenze said in an interview with Femail that pupils from far-flung areas cover distances of more than 400 kilometres to get the school.
He said it was the only secondary school in the area and accommodates more than 800 children. As a result, the children have been compelled to live in unsupervised weekly boarding houses.
“Last term we had close to 30 girls dropping out of school due to pregnancies because they live in boarding houses which are unsupervised. Besides the children suffer from hunger because they do not carry enough food and sometimes thieves break into their houses while they are attending lessons,” he said.
Mr Muzenze also said the school was in need of a science laboratory to enhance the studies of the pupils.
And Mr Muzenze expressed disappointment over failure by the area member of Parliament Stephen Masumba to develop his constituency since his election.
He appealed to Mr Masumba to lobby Government to help to develop Mufumbwe constituency.