I took a bus to one of the townships in Lusaka, just to get a glimpse of the kind of life that my fellow country men, boys and girls are living, what the women are up to, what means they are using to survive and what a typical day in their life is like. I arrived at the last bus stop, the road has just recently been tarred and because of it the area looks very clean and presentable. Going further down the road, there were kids running around, teenage girls looking all dressed up, women selling fruits and vegetables and young men and women seated outside the local taverns. I stopped at the sight of a woman that was packing charcoal into plastic bags. She was with a little boy, about nine or ten years old. the woman was covered in charcoal dust and she sat wearing a red chitenge (african print wrapper) wrapped around her waist and a brown top. She was barefooted and her lips were dry and cracked, almost as if she had nothing to eat that day. I introduced myself, enquired about the cost of the charcoal and then asked if we could have a chat. She told me her name was Jane, she is a mother of four and has been living here for the past twelve years. Jane moved here from Chongwe in 2002 where she was living on a farm. Her husband decided to move from there because life there was not easy, they had to work very hard if they were to make any money at all. They had to cut down trees and burn them so that they could make charcoal. Jane says it was just too hard and they made very little money from it, so they moved here and since they came to Lusaka she has been selling charcoal, which she buys from Soweto market and repackages it into smaller bundles that the people of her township can afford. One bag lasts about two days and from the proceeds she has been able to build herself a four-roomed house where she lives.
As the conversation went on, i asked her what the biggest issue that the community faces, she says it is the increasing rate of school drop outs. Many young people are dropping out of school as teenagers, they do not see the value in school, they are spending most of their time in the local bars and taverns. Many teenage girls go to the bar to make money from prostitution, which they use to buy themselves phones and new clothes. One would think that beer drinking would be more common in the boys, but even girls are now sitting in bars, telling stories and sipping from the large jug filled with opaque beer going round the table. These young people are moving out of their parents houses and renting their own, using the money they use from prostitution so that they can be independent from the counsel and condemnation from the elders. Jane has experienced first hand the rebelliousness in the teenagers, this phase is normal but she says the extend to which the youths in her compound are going is depressing for many of the parents. She has a first born son who is fourteen years old, he dropped out of school in grade six and he spends most of his time at the local bar. Jane feels helpless and wishes there was something that could be done, maybe if these bars were shut down or inspected more often the extent of beer drinking in the area would reduce. Looking at how deeply vested the youths are in this vice, she thinks that shutting down the taverns is insufficient, many of these young people need rehabilitation, mentoring and counseling so that they can not only cease the alcohol abuse but they can see a brighter future for themselves.
I encouraged Jane and the little boy that she was with, reminding them that success knows no barriers and that there was still a lot that she could do for her children. i also bought myself a bag of charcoal, i did not need it but showing her support put a smile on her face.
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| Far right; Betty. Middle; Naomi Left; Naomi's little brother |
On my way out i met two little girls about seven or eight years old and one boy who looked like he was about three or four years old. The boy was too shy to speak so i didn't get to know his name, the girls are Betty and Naomi. They were writing numbers on the walls of their grandmothers shop and i found her shouting at them for doing it. I drew closer and i smiled, not because they were doing a good job messing up the walls but because it was an indication that these two girls loved school, they loved to learn and didn't want to forget all that they knew during the school holidays. I spoke to the girls later and they told me a little bit about themselves and here is what they said;
Betty: I am in grade three, I love school very much and I never miss
a day. I think that school can help me become someone in society because I hope
that I can be a nurse one day, it will make my grandmother proud.
Naomi: I am in grade one, am not sure what I want to be when I
grow up but I love to read and write, my mum tells me I am very intelligent.
I met several other people who had life stories of their own but the greatest lesson i learnt on this day is that this world needs more love. Lets take time to visit some of these places and give a word of encouragement to others, you have no idea how much of a difference that would make. Lets empower one another regardless of class, ethnicity, geographical location. Its hard at first, not everyone is interested in speaking to strangers, but for the sake of that one person who is, lets press on.
"Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy"- Thomas Morton
Good day my friends!!
