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.

Over 500,000 children out of school – ZANEC

OVER 500,000 children are currently out of school in Zambia of which 242,616 are boys and 261,094 are girls, Zambia National Education Coalition executive director Grace Manyonga (ZANEC) has said.
And ZANEC has developed an advocacy strategy to get back to school the out-of -school children which will begin in selected districts of Eastern, Luapula and Southern provinces.
Ms Manyonga attributed high levels of children out of school to increased levels of pregnancies, early marriages, and distances to school, affordability and illiteracy among parents.
Speaking in an interview, she said the glaring situation will result in direct failure by Zambia to attain the Education for All (EFA) goals and Millennium Development Goals of 2015 if access to basic education for vulnerable and marginalised children is not improved.
“There are 435,430 out of school children of primary school age 7-13 years of which 219,522 are boys while 215,918 are girls. There are a total of 69,190 at junior secondary level aged 14-15 years of which 23,094 are boys and 46,076 are girls,” she said.
On the advocacy strategy, Ms Manyonga will partner with the ministries of Education and Chiefs and Traditional Affairs to supplement their efforts on the national wide campaign to curb early marriages as it is one of the factors contributing to children dropping out of school.
She added “the objectives of the campaign are to reduce the number of out of school children at primary school level. To advocate for increased enrolment for of out of school children at primary school level by 2015.”
And Forum for African Women Educationalist (FAWEZA) executive director Agnes Shipanuka added that lack of support towards management of maturation to girls dropping out of school.
Ms Shipanuka urged Government to emulate the Kenyan government where they include the purchasing of sanitary towels in their national budget.
She said without access to menstrual supplies and sanitation, girls educational opportunities are marginalised.
“A girl who is absent from school for four days in 28 days loses 13 learning days equivalent to two weeks of learning in every school term. In an academic year (nine months) a girl loses 39 learning days equivalent to six weeks of learning time,” she said.

SADC chiefs to enhance women’s access to land

CHIEF Bright Nalubamba of the Ila people in Namwala signs the declaration in which traditional leaders pledged to increase women’s access to customary land. Looking on is Chief Chikanta of Zambia, Chiefs Ndabeni and Khumalo of Zimbabwe. - Picture by SITEMBILE SIWAWA.



AS SHE spoke during a high level resolution meeting at chief Nalubamba’s palace in Mbeza chiefdom of Southern Zambia, it dawned on the traditional leaders that were present that there was need to empower women with customary land.

Senior headwoman Vennah Shabenge of Shabenge village boasted that every woman of Mbeza chiefdom has been empowered with customary land regardless of status.
She said “customary land is a necessity for every woman for the enhancement of food security of a nation.”
Ideally, women consist of a large population in many African countries and in Zambia majority of them stay in rural areas.
They also consist the majority small scale farmers who are the main producers of food and it is ideal they are empowered with customary land for sustainable rural development owning to the fact that agriculture remains the backbone of Africa’s economy.
However, narrowing it down to Zambia, 94 per cent of land is customary and only six per cent belongs to the state (statutory).
Realistically, Zambian state land now lies in the hands of political cadres and as such it has become difficult for women to access statutory land for fear of violence.
This has drastically curtailed the chances of most women especially those in rural areas from accessing and owning land.
Perhaps, this is why the onus has solely remained on traditional leaders to ensure that women access and own customary land.
In a quest to increase women’s land rights, ‘Women for Change’ in partnership with ‘We Effect’ of the Swedish International Organisation recently organised a high level Southern African Development Community (SADC) traditional leader’s conference on land rights for women.
The three day conference was dubbed ‘Women’s Land Rights are Human Rights-Secure Equitable Access, Control and Ownership of Land by All’ and participants included 20 traditional leaders from Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The saying ‘land is wealth’ held true for these traditional leaders who resolved and made a declaration that women should own customary land.
Strategically, the 20 traditional leaders resolved and signed a declaration that women will be given priority to own and control land.
Host chief, senior chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamambo III of the Soli people of Lusaka said women make good use of land once they are empowered than men and this increase chance of rural development.
The traditional leader shared that if women are empowered with land they have the power to break the poverty cycle that exists in rural families.
However, she said it was not enough to empower women with land alone but they also needed to have it certificated.
Chieftainess Nkomeshya stressed that customary land should not be certificated under statutory land laws for fear of it being grabbed by the state.
“The power and authority of a chief lies in land and that is why all certification of customary land given to women should be registered under the community land certificate and not statutory law because we fear it can be taken away from the traditional leaders,” she resolved.
Additionally, Chief Charumbira of Zimbabwe resolved that Couples who are empowered with customary land will have a certificate which bears both names of the husband and wife.
He said such a development will protect women from being left without land in an event where the husband dies or divorces her.
The traditional leader shared that the new constitution of Zimbabwe allows 50 per cent of land allocation to women as opposed to the previous 30 per cent.
He said this has forced traditional rulers to further empower them with customary land.
Chief Charumbira said women are unable to generate sustainable household incomes from their farming activities due to lack of ownership of land.
“Having enough food is the fundamental human right and precondition for people to be able to participate in their own development. Access to land by women is a human right,” he said.
The traditional leader added that women in his chiefdom also have ownership rights to mines.
And chieftainess Tereza Ndovi of Malawi said customary land will be given to women in any area without any manner of discrimination.
She said there are no shortcuts to poverty eradication unless women are empowered with land.
She said land is not only for the purposes of agriculture but rather it can be used for activities such as house building.
“In Malawi, women cannot own customary land but can only access it because we believe they will eventually be married off. It is only those from the matrilineal setup who are fortunate to own land,” she said.
As they say, culture is dynamic and not static, it is imperative that the patriarch system which has existed since time immemorial is changed to allow for more women to own customary land.
Even married women who are either divorced or widowed have a right to have the land they once worked on with their husbands.
Perhaps, that is why chief Chikanta of Southern province shared that land in his chiefdom is not given to individuals but rather families.
He said communities need to sensitise women to ask land from their traditional leaders and they should be free to use the land for any activities.
Further, he said traditional leaders should endeavour to have participatory and dialogue meetings with both men and women.
And chief Bright Nalubamba said a woman is held in high esteem in his chiefdom and that was why they own land.
He said the declaration will ensure investors and communities establish a trust fund which will be ploughed back into building educational, health, sanitation and food security facilities.
He said women in his chiefdom do not ask for relief food from government due to the empowerment scheme of customary land ownership.
All this has been enabled through the Mbeza strategic action plan where both men and women are at the centre of the development of the chiefdom.
“When I say women, I mean all classes of women be it married, single or divorced, they all own land and are free to do anything with the land,” he narrated.
It is only hoped that traditional leaders will see to it that women’s access and ownership of land is enhanced and increased for the betterment of rural communities.