'It's painful to see children suffering on the streets'
By Editor
Sat 17 Aug. 2013, 14:00 CAT
THE presence of so many children on our streets constitutes an affront to all of us. A stable, permanent solution must be found to this serious problem.
This is an affront to our collective conscience. It is an imperative need of our times to be aware of these realities, because of what a situation affecting so many children entails in terms of human suffering and the squandering of life and intelligence.
We agree with Godfrey Simukonde, Child Rights activist, that the prevalence of street children is a huge problem in Zambia and that not much has been done by our successive governments, including the current one, to address the problem. We also agree with Simukonde when he says that, "if the government does not look after the street children, no one will, so they should just budget for them and remove them from the streets".
The Zambian government is a signatory to a number of international instruments such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children and the African Union Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children. And all these instruments emphasise taking appropriate measures and strategies to promote and protect the rights and welfare of the children in Zambia, including street children. These instruments provide for enhancement of dignity for every child in a
non-discriminatory manner and equal access to children's rights, child participation, family unity and best interests of the child. These are vital principles of the human rights best approach to the protection of children's rights.
Every child has a right to live with his or her parents or guardians and every parent has the responsibility for his or her child.
While these children are on the streets, they are exposed to multiple hazards. For example, children on the street are exposed to sexual abuse, poor health conditions, crime, child labour, drug abuse and child prostitution. They are often prey to every physical and moral danger and as they grow older, they could become a danger to the community.
Street children face untold hardship and danger on the streets. They lack food, clean water and adequate health care. Living on the streets exacts a terrible toll on street children.
The causes of the problem of street children are many and varied; they include loss of parental control, orphanhood, peer pressure, impact of HIV/AIDS and others.The situation has been aggravated by poverty and limited opportunities for alternative livelihoods.
Street children have a right to be entitled to adequate food, shelter, education, healthcare and protection, just like any child.
There is no quick fix to this complex problem. It should be pointed out that resettling and rehabilitating street children without addressing the factors that send children to the streets is an unstable solution in the long run. There is an urgent need to address the causes and not just the symptoms. The factors that push children on the streets must be addressed.
The family institution in Zambia is going through a lot of uproar. Few children have stable and loving family environments. Many families are also increasingly characterised by absent parents, lack of communication between parents and children, alcoholism and domestic violence. Many children run away to the streets to avoid violence and abuse in the family.
In Zambia, it is now a frequent issue to hear of horrifying stories of abuse of children by parents or family members. So many stories are published on these issues every week in our news media outlets. Children as young as eight months are increasingly being sexually abused, starved and ignored by the family and community at large. In most cases, children are lured to the streets by the peers or by individuals promising better opportunities. Adults are increasingly using children as sources of income and thus violating and denying children of their basic human rights.
As things stand today, there seems to be little likelihood of finding a lasting solution to the problem of street children without involving the street children themselves. While coming up with policies, strategies and programmes that affect them, it is the role of all of us to ensure that their rights are promoted and protected.
A society which values its future affords the highest priority to looking after all its children.
Children are the most vulnerable citizens in any society and the greatest of our treasures.
Our children must no longer be tortured by the pangs of hunger or ravaged by disease and forced by neglect to live on the street.
Our children should no longer be required to engage in deeds whose gravity exceeds the demands of their tender years. We have heard enough about the molestation and abuse of children. An end must be put to this.
As we approach 50 years of independence, the value of the work that has been done over these decades will and must be measured by the happiness and welfare of our children.
The children who live on the street, reduced to begging to make a living, are a testimony of an unfinished job.
There can be no keener revelation of our nation's soul than the way in which we treat our children. The true character of our nation is revealed in how we treat our children.
The basic clay of our work is our children. We should place our hope in them and prepare them to take the banner from our hands. Each of our children has a right to special care and attention. The welfare and interests of the child should be recognised and protected. The children are vulnerable and therefore need special protection. The interests of the child should take precedence in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies.
The rights and welfare of the child are best realised in the context of the welfare of the family. The promotion of the welfare of the child therefore requires the promotion of the welfare of the family.
Labels: POVERTY, STREET CHILDREN
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'It's painful to see children suffering on the streets'
By Editor
Sat 17 Aug. 2013, 14:00 CAT
THE presence of so many children on our streets constitutes an affront to all of us. A stable, permanent solution must be found to this serious problem.
This is an affront to our collective conscience. It is an imperative need of our times to be aware of these realities, because of what a situation affecting so many children entails in terms of human suffering and the squandering of life and intelligence.
We agree with Godfrey Simukonde, Child Rights activist, that the prevalence of street children is a huge problem in Zambia and that not much has been done by our successive governments, including the current one, to address the problem. We also agree with Simukonde when he says that, "if the government does not look after the street children, no one will, so they should just budget for them and remove them from the streets".
The Zambian government is a signatory to a number of international instruments such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children and the African Union Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children. And all these instruments emphasise taking appropriate measures and strategies to promote and protect the rights and welfare of the children in Zambia, including street children. These instruments provide for enhancement of dignity for every child in a
non-discriminatory manner and equal access to children's rights, child participation, family unity and best interests of the child. These are vital principles of the human rights best approach to the protection of children's rights.
Every child has a right to live with his or her parents or guardians and every parent has the responsibility for his or her child.
While these children are on the streets, they are exposed to multiple hazards. For example, children on the street are exposed to sexual abuse, poor health conditions, crime, child labour, drug abuse and child prostitution. They are often prey to every physical and moral danger and as they grow older, they could become a danger to the community.
Street children face untold hardship and danger on the streets. They lack food, clean water and adequate health care. Living on the streets exacts a terrible toll on street children.
The causes of the problem of street children are many and varied; they include loss of parental control, orphanhood, peer pressure, impact of HIV/AIDS and others.The situation has been aggravated by poverty and limited opportunities for alternative livelihoods.
Street children have a right to be entitled to adequate food, shelter, education, healthcare and protection, just like any child.
There is no quick fix to this complex problem. It should be pointed out that resettling and rehabilitating street children without addressing the factors that send children to the streets is an unstable solution in the long run. There is an urgent need to address the causes and not just the symptoms. The factors that push children on the streets must be addressed.
The family institution in Zambia is going through a lot of uproar. Few children have stable and loving family environments. Many families are also increasingly characterised by absent parents, lack of communication between parents and children, alcoholism and domestic violence. Many children run away to the streets to avoid violence and abuse in the family.
In Zambia, it is now a frequent issue to hear of horrifying stories of abuse of children by parents or family members. So many stories are published on these issues every week in our news media outlets. Children as young as eight months are increasingly being sexually abused, starved and ignored by the family and community at large. In most cases, children are lured to the streets by the peers or by individuals promising better opportunities. Adults are increasingly using children as sources of income and thus violating and denying children of their basic human rights.
As things stand today, there seems to be little likelihood of finding a lasting solution to the problem of street children without involving the street children themselves. While coming up with policies, strategies and programmes that affect them, it is the role of all of us to ensure that their rights are promoted and protected.
A society which values its future affords the highest priority to looking after all its children.
Children are the most vulnerable citizens in any society and the greatest of our treasures.
Our children must no longer be tortured by the pangs of hunger or ravaged by disease and forced by neglect to live on the street.
Our children should no longer be required to engage in deeds whose gravity exceeds the demands of their tender years. We have heard enough about the molestation and abuse of children. An end must be put to this.
As we approach 50 years of independence, the value of the work that has been done over these decades will and must be measured by the happiness and welfare of our children.
The children who live on the street, reduced to begging to make a living, are a testimony of an unfinished job.
There can be no keener revelation of our nation's soul than the way in which we treat our children. The true character of our nation is revealed in how we treat our children.
The basic clay of our work is our children. We should place our hope in them and prepare them to take the banner from our hands. Each of our children has a right to special care and attention. The welfare and interests of the child should be recognised and protected. The children are vulnerable and therefore need special protection. The interests of the child should take precedence in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies.
The rights and welfare of the child are best realised in the context of the welfare of the family. The promotion of the welfare of the child therefore requires the promotion of the welfare of the family.
Labels: POVERTY, STREET CHILDREN
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Work at Amai Mugabe orphanage school begins
Friday, 04 November 2011 00:00
Herald Reporters
The groundbreaking ceremony for the multi-million dollar Grace Mugabe Foundation Primary School being built with the assistance of the People's Republic of China was held at the sprawling complex in Mazowe yesterday. The school - being built on a 7 720 square metre plot - will include 27 classrooms, a library, an art room, music room, computer room and auxiliary equipment rooms.
The institution will have four streams of 24 pupils per class from grade one to seven.
The school will cater for 900 disadvantaged children from Grace Mugabe Children's Home and surrounding areas.
The project, on completion, will include a children's home, hospital, a primary and secondary school, shopping complex and workers' quarters.
The children's home, which currently has 38 completed houses, houses 15 abandoned children under the care of foster mothers.
Amai Mugabe is working on adopting more children for the centre.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, the President dismissed misleading media reports that the project was inconveniencing residents.
Some media reports had indicated that more than 60 families had been displaced from the site.
The President however, praised Amai Mugabe's vision to give the underprivileged a "second chance" in life.
"I was particularly heartened to hear that the envisaged school will also admit children from communities surrounding it.
"This obviously proves false, the rumours which claim that the Grace Mugabe Foundation is bringing suffering to the communities," he said.
President Mugabe said the First Lady believed in giving dignity to every child whose birth or upbringing had been made difficult through the parents' difficult circumstances.
He said Amai Mugabe had, before the establishment of the children's home, identified intelligent but needy children and was sponsoring their education.
"Some of the children were identified while still at primary school, even as a similar exercise was underway for those who were doing their schooling."
President Mugabe said the First Lady had sponsored children up to university level and they had excelled and distinguished themselves in various fields.
He however, challenged society to play a role in the upbringing of disadvantaged children to have a better future.
Amai Mugabe said population growth presented the world with challenges of adequately investing in children to realise their goals.
She hailed Government's Look East policy.
"Look at what is happening to the West. They are having economic challenges but we are doing well here with the assistance from countries such as China," she said.
Amai Mugabe said the First Family had a vision of making education available to all Zimbabweans.
"It is an ideal whose fulfillment my husband and I pursue alongside all our endeavours to help the disadvantaged members of our society."
She however, said the home would want to address an outstanding challenge of reaching out to as many children as possible.
Amai Mugabe also hailed assistance from the Chinese government which offered to assist in the construction of the primary school.
She urged communities to focus on improving the lives of children.
"Educating our children is an important investment, never a waste! All our communities should be engaged."
Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Xin Shun-kang said the primary school's construction symbolised the growing relations between the countries.
"Education has always been the priority of Zimbabwe and the foundation of development of the nation.
"Zimbabwe produces well-educated people who are employed locally and abroad," he said.
He said China would assist Zimbabwe and had constructed several institutions in the country including the National Defence College.
Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo said the home would benefit the Mazowe community and people surrounding the district.
"The development will also result in the employment of locals and the rise of Mazowe district to attain a town status.
"Mai Mugabe has contributed to the socio-economic turnaround of the country," he said.
Announcing the donation of three elephants to the Chinese government, Mashonaland Central Governor and Resident Minister Advocate Martin Dinha dismissed reports that the project had displaced people.
"There are only seven families that have been affected, they have since been engaged and satisfactorily compensated," he said.
Labels: AMAI MUGABE, GRACE MUGABE, STREET CHILDREN
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Street children a reminder of leaders’ failure - UNICEF
By Mwala Kalaluka in Mansa
Sat 18 June 2011, 04:01 CAT
THE United Nations says street children are a reminder that duty bearers of children's rights are failing to fulfil the rights of all children under the Convention of the Rights of the Child.
And the Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development says the problem of streetism cannot be addressed by a single institution. Meanwhile, a Mansa child says poverty, lack of role models and unemployment are among the many issues that affect the positive development of the Zambian child.
During the commemoration of the Day of the African Child at Mansa's Don Bosco Youth Centre yesterday, UNICEF country representative Dr Iyorlumun Uhaa said matters of children were close to his agency's heart.
He said it was commendable that the government held this year's commemoration, which is being held under the theme 'All together for urgent action in favour of street children', in Mansa.
"Today we remember the events of the morning of 16 June, 1976 when children of Soweto were killed for protesting over the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium language of instruction in local schools," Dr Uhaa said. "But the Day of the African Child is more than just a commemoration.
This day seeks to draw the attention of all involved in improving the condition of children in Africa and to unite efforts to combat the ills that plague the daily lives of children."
He said children on the country's streets should be a reminder that they were there because of poverty, abuse and violence.
"Children on the streets are a reminder to us that we as duty bearers of children's rights, whether it be the government, the United Nations, communities, or families, are failing to fulfil the rights of all children under the Convention of the Rights of the Child," Dr Uhaa said.
"The Convention is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history and it guarantees four main rights of children, namely: the right to survival, the right to protection, the right to development, and the right to participation."
Dr Uhaa said children living on the streets were vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse.
"They are at risk of sexual violence and being forced into sexual exploitation including prostitution. Children on the streets lack access to services that other children enjoy," he said. "As a result, children on the streets often have poor health conditions, lack proper nutrition essential for growth and development and are not attending school."
Dr Uhaa said street kids were also vulnerable to alcohol and drug abuse apart from being exposed to high levels of stress and emotional trauma.
And sport, youth and child development permanent secretary Teddy Mulonga said in his remarks at the event that was attended by school pupils from several Mansa schools that this year's commemoration of the African Child's Day comes when the country was grappling with the challenge of streetism.
Meanwhile, Choolwe Munyumbwe, a Mansa child who read out the children's resolutions arising from a number of Focus Group Discussions held countrywide prior to Thursday's commemoration, said the children pledged full participation in governance and developmental issues that concern them.
Labels: NEOLIBERALISM, POVERTY, STREET CHILDREN, UNICEF
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Street children a reminder of leaders’ failure - UNICEF
By Mwala Kalaluka in Mansa
Sat 18 June 2011, 04:01 CAT
THE United Nations says street children are a reminder that duty bearers of children's rights are failing to fulfil the rights of all children under the Convention of the Rights of the Child.
And the Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development says the problem of streetism cannot be addressed by a single institution. Meanwhile, a Mansa child says poverty, lack of role models and unemployment are among the many issues that affect the positive development of the Zambian child.
During the commemoration of the Day of the African Child at Mansa's Don Bosco Youth Centre yesterday, UNICEF country representative Dr Iyorlumun Uhaa said matters of children were close to his agency's heart.
He said it was commendable that the government held this year's commemoration, which is being held under the theme 'All together for urgent action in favour of street children', in Mansa.
"Today we remember the events of the morning of 16 June, 1976 when children of Soweto were killed for protesting over the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium language of instruction in local schools," Dr Uhaa said. "But the Day of the African Child is more than just a commemoration.
This day seeks to draw the attention of all involved in improving the condition of children in Africa and to unite efforts to combat the ills that plague the daily lives of children."
He said children on the country's streets should be a reminder that they were there because of poverty, abuse and violence.
"Children on the streets are a reminder to us that we as duty bearers of children's rights, whether it be the government, the United Nations, communities, or families, are failing to fulfil the rights of all children under the Convention of the Rights of the Child," Dr Uhaa said.
"The Convention is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history and it guarantees four main rights of children, namely: the right to survival, the right to protection, the right to development, and the right to participation."
Dr Uhaa said children living on the streets were vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse.
"They are at risk of sexual violence and being forced into sexual exploitation including prostitution. Children on the streets lack access to services that other children enjoy," he said. "As a result, children on the streets often have poor health conditions, lack proper nutrition essential for growth and development and are not attending school."
Dr Uhaa said street kids were also vulnerable to alcohol and drug abuse apart from being exposed to high levels of stress and emotional trauma.
And sport, youth and child development permanent secretary Teddy Mulonga said in his remarks at the event that was attended by school pupils from several Mansa schools that this year's commemoration of the African Child's Day comes when the country was grappling with the challenge of streetism.
Meanwhile, Choolwe Munyumbwe, a Mansa child who read out the children's resolutions arising from a number of Focus Group Discussions held countrywide prior to Thursday's commemoration, said the children pledged full participation in governance and developmental issues that concern them.
Labels: NEOLIBERALISM, POVERTY, STREET CHILDREN, UNICEF
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Youths unhappy with MMD govt - Soko
By Salim Dawood
Sun 02 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT
A YOUTH organisation says President Rupiah Banda must not mislead himself into believing that the praises being sang for him by some hired youths reflect the collective feeling of the country’s young people.
In an interview, Former Street Children’s Association coordinator, Richard Soko said the majority of the youths in the country were suffering and unhappy with President Banda and his government.
Soko said the only youths who could celebrate the government’s performance were the ones abusing drugs and alcohol, whom he said needed reformation but instead were being exploited and used by the MMD to fan violence.
He said the genuine youths were either languishing on the streets looking for employment which the government had failed to provide, or suffering in prisons.
“We do not want the government to give us money. We want the government to provide employment so we don’t have to go to prison for stealing or engaging in dangerous vices,” he said.
Soko said the youth were angry and frustrated with the sky rocketing unemployment levels while President Banda was busy flying around the world.
He said the deplorable state of infrastructure in high institutions of learning like the University of Zambia was a sign that the government did not care about the youth.
Soko, himself a former street child, complained that children on the streets continued suffering because the government was not serious with Zambia National Service programme that was supposed to help them integrate back into society.
“The people that are there (ZNS) right now are children of ministers and high-ranking government officials, not the real vulnerable children,” he said.
“The President has not attended to any projects aimed at addressing the plight of the youth. We have heard that he brought K5 billion to the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Child Development, but we have not seen that money. As we were going to the youth indaba, we were told that government had given the ministry K10 billion that was just lying and waiting for the youth, but that's just a campaign strategy. We the youth we are suffering,” he said.
Soko said the youth longed for a leader who would understand their plight and take development to their communities.
Labels: MMD, RICHARD SOKO, RUPIAH BANDA, STREET CHILDREN
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COMMENT - Having street children roam the street instead of them being in school is a choice, just as not taxing the mines is a choice. The money is there, and the government refuses to get it. To them, it is more acceptable to have homeless children and 40% malnutrition, than it is to tax the mines.
Street children: a revelation of our society’s soul
By The Post
Mon 27 Dec. 2010, 04:00 CAT
THE true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children. When you see the children, the way they are dressed, completely emaciated, you are really moved. The children who sleep in the streets, reduced to begging to make a living, are testimony to unjust, unfair and inhuman policies that we have embarked on.
Those in government every day brag about their economic and development achievements but they don’t tell us how these are benefiting children, whose numbers are continuing to increase on the streets.
The reward of economic progress and development will and must be measured by the happiness and welfare of children.
Where there is economic progress and development children must no longer be threatened with the scourge of hunger, destitution and hopelessness.
Children are the most vulnerable citizens in any society and the greatest of our treasures.
But today, our children are increasingly being forced onto the streets by poverty, abuse, abandonment, or as result of being orphaned by AIDS.
The warning to the nation made by Teddy Mulonga, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development, needs to be taken very seriously.
Mulonga is not an alarmist on this score. He is simply and boldly putting the reality to us as it stands.
Mulonga warns us “the problem of streetism is a time bomb which if allowed to grow can explode and have a telling effect on the security and economy of our country”.
Wherever you turn in our cities and towns today, you will not fail to see street children.
They are stopping cars or people to beg or ask for money.
Look at them closely – their faces show strain and sadness, their clothes are rugged and dirty, others appear hungry and suffering from ill health and malnutrition.
There is something mature beyond their years in their haunted expressions.
At night, you can see them hurdled along street corners, in doorways, or in any dry and secluded corner.
They are the representatives of a growing multitude of children who have become known as “street children”.
The presence of large numbers of children as young as three on our streets was virtually unheard of prior to the introduction of the current neo-liberal economic policies by the MMD.
This problem requires urgent attention as it threatens the very fabric of our society.
And a starting point would be to get an understanding of who these children are and the factors that turn them into street children.
Street children face untold hardship and danger on the streets - the lack of food, clean water and adequate healthcare. Living on the streets exacts a terrible toll on street children.
They are often prey to every physical and moral danger and as they grow older, they often become a danger to others.
After such precarious childhoods most of them are condemned to spend their lives excluded from mainstream society.
Tomorrow, if present trends continue, they could be a blight on our urban civilisation.
For us, tomorrow is already here. Street children are not only a blight on our urban civilisation; they pose a serious obstacle to overall socio-economic development in our country.
What stands out is the sad fact that everywhere, children living on the street are ignored, scorned, mistreated and misunderstood by society and by the government.
We tend to view these children as troublemakers, a nuisance or menace that needs to be taken off the streets.
Few stop to ponder why these children are on the streets, where it is apparent they are not enjoying themselves.
Clearly, identifying reasons for the existence of street children is crucial in finding a permanent solution to the problem. It is becoming increasingly clear that there is no single cause for street children.
While there are many substantive factors contributing to the existence of street children, increasing mass poverty stands out as a major factor. It is poverty that is breaking up homes and families.
It is poverty that makes grown-ups turn children into sources of income or into articles for sale.
It is poverty, particularly in rural areas, that is making young children move away from their homes.
And it is poverty that is turning our society into a vicious and uncaring society.
Clearly, street children are the victims of our short-sighted policies, or lack of policies.
They are victims of an uncaring community that is increasingly being characterised by poverty, breakdown of family life, violence and economic hardships.
Of all the agents capable of doing something about the problem of street children, the state is perhaps best suited to tackle the issue.
However, part of the tragedy of street children is the way our government has abandoned them to their fate.
With each passing day, it is becoming increasingly clear that our government is unable to give this problem the attention it deserves, and is unintentionally contributing to its continuation.
While it is true that the government has taken some measures to try and deal with the problems of the youth like the scheme of training young people in life skills at Chiwoko Zambia National Service Camp, effective action to address the problem is yet to be taken, very little is being done to address the problem of street children.
We are ignoring the problem of street children at our own peril.
The traditional response to street children by the government has been repression.
Street children are arrested for minor thefts, or roaming around.
Detention in harsh circumstances is the common lot of our street children.
This tells us more about the real attitude of our government than any examination of its policies.
Today, the government is increasingly taking ruthless steps to clear the streets of street children and other unscrupulous characters.
They do not offer any valuable alternative to the streets.
Our politicians seem to be helpless in their efforts to resolve the problem of street children, and have to date failed to prescribe plausible solutions which are realistic, down-to-earth, and concrete.
It appears that the government is paying lip-service to the idea of improving care for street children, but it is influenced by the commonly held opinion that since street children will inevitably wind up as criminals, there is little use in spending public funds for their support.
As a result of this, they have been a target of harassment by law enforcement organisations; there are many cases of street children being beaten and detained by police.
The little that is being done by the government appears too little to make a difference to the plight of street children.
Like the government, the community also stands accused of failing to address the problem of street children.
We as individuals and as a society have failed to live up to our responsibilities as parents and as custodians of the young.
The community tends to hide its head in the sand, hoping that the problem will go away.
Unfortunately the problem is not going away but increasing to alarming proportions.
Traditionally, a child in an African society was normally a member of the community and could not be separated from it. This meant that even the entitlement that a child deserved was a community matter. A child in Africa used to be the responsibility of each individual member of society and, therefore, children had no need to fend for themselves. They were loved and cared for by society. Today’s children are the responsibility of individual parents and are ignored by the rest of the community.
While the number of street children grows by the day, the community remains silent with the exception of a few individuals and organisations. There is no community outreach to the problem. The few soft-hearted or religious ones will throw a few kwachas to these miserable children and move on. There appears to be no community pressure that is being applied to force government action to find a lasting solution to the problem of street children. The community has also failed to organise itself into a dynamic force to address the problem. This is perhaps the saddest and most tragic part of the tragedy that is unfolding in our country. Children are our most valuable commodity, yet we appear to have abandoned them to their fate.
A question that we must increasingly ask ourselves is: how long must it take before the problem of street children attracts the proper attention that it deserves?
How many more children must first take to the streets or die because of lack of care on our streets before we can acknowledge that the problem of street children is a very serious one that is likely to affect all of us?
The probable answer, given our present day conditions in Zambia, is that the problem of street children has to grow to enormous proportions before it gets the attention it deserves.
This is a tragedy that cannot remain ignored any longer.
There needs to be a firm commitment by all concerned parties to tackle the problem and not just ignore it, hoping that it will go away or that other people are going to come to solve the problem for us.
We need to find ways to lessen the incidence of children winding up on the streets. In addition to other measures that may be taken by the government, there is need to strengthen the institution of the family.
Policies centred on family can counteract the unanticipated side effects of development, often caused by uncoordinated government policies.
A sound policy for strengthening families would recognise the family as the basic unit for the human development and would seek to assist it to cope with change by allowing better access to services.
But families cannot be strengthened in the midst of poverty, human degradation and destitution.
Neither can families become pillars of strength in the face of increasing injustice, inequality and income disparity.
The problem of street children will become less pronounced if families could overcome poverty.
Justice and equitable distribution of resources is likely to have a positive impact on the problem of street children.
The task of helping street children seems Herculean. Clearly it cannot be achieved simply by injections of money, or by merely passing laws.
Mere material improvement trickling down to the community level will not help either: all these efforts may even aggravate matters unless they are accompanied by programmes which will allow children to develop their potential and by a softening of a punitive attitude towards street children by authorities.
There is no longer any reason for governmental complacency. Our children are our country’s future, and our country must invest in them in no uncertain terms.
The presence in our cities and other urban areas of large numbers of disgruntled young people can be politically destabilising.
They are the prime targets of those prepared to use violence as a political weapon.
Street youths – tough, ruthless, unattached, half-educated, intellectually vulnerable and familiar with secrecy, deception and the subversion of authority – can be perfect recruits.
The problem can no longer be ignored.
What is clear is that if we are serious in our efforts to promote children welfare, we must pay urgent attention to the plight of street children.
There is at present no real alarm or outrage from the government or the general public on the increasing number of children on our streets. These children face starvation, are at the mercy of unscrupulous individuals or a brutal police force and often die from preventable diseases.
We need government policies which will oversee the protection of children and other vulnerable members of society.
And such policies, whether one calls them socialist or welfare states, cannot be sneezed at.
Indeed, it is important to highlight that the pioneers and most capitalist of states have in place strong measures which protect children and other vulnerable members of society.
The tragedy in our country is the introduction of crude and unhindered liberalisation as a strategy of economic and social development.
This trend must be reversed in the interest of our children and future generations.
It is inconceivable that the welfare of children can be advanced in an environment of mass poverty.
It is in this regard that efforts must be made to ensure sustainable development in our country.
The government and the community in general need to put in place viable strategies that will ensure that the plight of children is addressed.
Labels: EDUCATION, NEOLIBERALISM, POVERTY, STREET CHILDREN, TEDDY MULONGA
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COMMENT - Of course there was a time without elimination exams and universal education, when there were no children hanging around on the street - because they were in school. Another neoliberal economic decision.
PS links youth vulnerability to economic factors
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Fri 24 Dec. 2010, 04:01 CAT
THE prevailing economic situation, coupled with the high incidence of HIV/AIDS is pushing the majority of young people into the state of vulnerability. This is according to sport youth and child development permanent secretary Teddy Mulonga.
Mulonga made the remarks when he officiated at the graduation ceremony of the third intake of trainees who undertook the life skills training programme at Chiwoko Zambia National Service (ZNS) camp on Wednesday.
He said the government was committed to ensuring that young people were given the necessary support for them to grow into responsible adults capable of contributing to national development.
“…68 per cent of Zambia’s population are young persons below the age of 24. This is a category of our population that is expected to play a major role in the development of this country,” Mulonga said.
“We therefore need to invest in this category of our population who are the majority for future prosperity of our nation.”
He said the government had continued to support the skills training programmes so that more youths could be accorded the opportunity to acquire the necessary survival skills.
Mulonga said the problem of children and youths living on the streets did not affect the government alone, but all the people.
He said a workable solution should be found to address the problem.
“The problem of streetism is a time bomb, which if allowed to grow, can explode and have a telling effect on the security and economy of our country,” Mulonga said.
Mulonga said the ministry had worked out an exit strategy which would, among other things, ensure that the youths were united with their families.
And ZNS commandant representative Brig General Nathan Mulenga said the centre initially received 315 youths out of which number five deserted and two were discharged on disciplinary grounds.
Gen Mulenga urged the youths to work hard in order to survive in the world of competition.
Labels: PERMANENT SECRETARIES, STREET CHILDREN, TEDDY MULONGA
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Number of sreet children rises to 13,500
By Justin Katilungu in Kabwe
Tue 04 May 2010, 04:50 CAT
A recent study undertaken by the government has estimated the number of street children to be 13,500, sport youth and child development Permanent Secretary Teddy Mulonga has disclosed.
Mulonga said in Kabwe during the review and planning meeting for street children rehabilitation and reintegration programme held at Zambezi Source Lodge that the problem of street children and vulnerability was growing and required collaborative efforts to overcome.
“As government we are greatly concerned about the plight of children living on the streets because of the risks that they are exposed to.
According to the last study undertaken by government, the number of street children was estimated at 13,500 and it is therefore important that initiatives meant to address this problem such as street children rehabilitation and integration programmes must be fully supported by all stakeholders so that these our vulnerable children are given an opportunity to acquire life skills for them to lead a better future,” he said.
Mulonga said the street children rehabilitation and integration was one of the programmes being implemented in line with the presidential directive that his ministry seeks a lasting solution to the growing streetism in Zambia.
The programme is targeted at children and vulnerable young people aged between 15 and 25 and it commenced in December 2004 at Kitwe and Chiwoko Zambia National Service (ZNS) camps.
Since its inception, Mulonga noted that a total of 648 former street children and other vulnerable young people had graduated from the two ZNS training camps in various fields of skills.
“Out of this number, 82 are girls and 556 are boys. At present we have a total of 454 former street children and other vulnerable young people undergoing skills training at Kitwe and Chiwoko ZNS camps. Out of this number, 145 are girls who are being trained at Kitwe camp and 309 are boys undergoing similar training at Chiwoko camp,” Mulonga said.
The group undergoing training was expected to graduate in November this year.
Mulonga said the meeting called on the rehabilitation and integration of street children as being cardinal to government’s efforts to tackling the problem of street kids.
He said that there was need to consider the challenges that the government through his ministry had been facing in the implementation stages of the street children programme.
Mulonga challenged participants to the meeting to review the training programme in order to ensure that more of the vulnerable young people were given an opportunity to get life skills training.
Mulonga urged participants to also review the exit strategy so that graduates had a smooth passage to the communities.
Labels: NEOLIBERALISM, STREET CHILDREN, TEDDY MULONGA
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80% of OVCs don’t receive external support - Prof Kelly
Written by Thuletu Tikili-Hanene
Tuesday, June 16, 2009 7:34:02 AM
PROFESSOR Father Michael Kelly says more than 80 per cent of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Zambia live in households that do not receive external support.
Professor Kelly, who is a well known OVC activist in Zambia, said when most would-be AIDS money beneficiaries were questioned on whether they had ever received any assistance from the numerous HIV/AIDS projects assisting both people living with HIV (PLHIV) and OVC, most said that the only thing they have ever received is the dust seen when their 4X4 pass by their homes.
In his keynote address at the International HIV/AIDS Alliance dubbed "Kwacha Tubombele Pamo Interactive National forum" held at the Cresta Golf View Hotel in Lusaka, Professor Kelly said there were 1,291,000 OVC in Zambia.
Quoting National AIDS Council figures, he said orphaning was more common among the more wealthy than among the poorest with 20 per cent of children in the wealthiest fifth of the population being orphans compared to 11 per cent in those in the poorest fifth.
Professor Father Kelly told the participants that not all orphans were vulnerable and that not all vulnerable children were orphans.
Professor Kelly said not all orphans were a result of AIDS, as over 25 per cent of OVC were a result of other reasons, such as non AIDS illness or deaths, extreme family poverty disability, abuse, abandonment, neglect, or family break up.
He called on the need to focus on policies and interventions on all children who were vulnerable and not only on those affected or infected by HIV and AIDS.
Professor Kelly said in 2006/2007, 84 per cent of OVC did not receive any form of external support.
Professor Kelly recommended that parents should be kept alive using interventions such as PMTCT or ART, with nutritional support.
He also said there was need to adopt policies that were known to work and improve the situation for OVC.
Labels: MICHAEL KELLY, STREET CHILDREN
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Turning street children into entrepreneurs
By Editor
Friday May 23, 2008 [04:00]
Over 600 children have so far been recruited from the streets to be trained under the Zambia National Service rehabilitation programme for street children. Over 200 have so far graduated, others ran away before completing the programme. And those who were trained in skills such as carpentry and gardening were given some starter kits to help them start earning a living but a good number of them have already sold them because they can’t effectively use them to earn a living.
We don’t need an expensive study or consultancy to tell us that this rehabilitation programme will not produce the expected results. It is clear that no matter how many young people we round up from the streets and take to Zambia National Service camps for skills training programmes, we will not be solving anything because these young people – like their brothers and sisters in our universities and colleges – after finishing their training will not find jobs.
And we shouldn’t cheat ourselves that everyone can be an entrepreneur or can be self-employed as long as some starter kit of one sort or another is given to them. We need to find a way of creating jobs. Without tackling the problem of unemployment, of lack of jobs in a serious way, we will not be able to address the issue and other related problems like that of street children.
And moreover, training 600 children in over three years is nothing; it is too little. It is unfortunate that although the problem of street children is acknowledged as one of the key challenges that we face today as a nation, very little is being done to address it. Of course, we have to be mindful of the fact that complex problems of this nature cannot be solved overnight and require a lot of patience.
But this should not stop us from having an honest evaluation of what we are doing in this regard. The Zambia National Service rehabilitation programme for street children is certainly well-intended but it has no capacity to seriously address the problem of street children. It is well-meaning but empty. It will not offer some kind of permanent solution to this problem. We need to find long-term solutions to this problem.
The truth is that this problem is with us; it stares us in the face every day. However, we don’t think we are really hitting at the core of this problem.
The training of 600 youths in all sorts of skills by the Zambia National Service is a good thing but it’s too little – the problem needs far bigger and complete solutions.
We believe that the solution to most of the serious problems related to unemployment is to be found in the promotion of a true civilisation of work. The problem of unemployment should feature in all our political, economic and social debates.
This is because the relationship between the human person and work is radical and vital, the forms and models according to which this relationship is regulated will exercise a positive influence for the solution of a whole series of economic, social and political problems facing our people. Just work relationships will be a necessary precondition for a system of political community capable of favouring the integral development of our country and of every one of our people.
Every individual has a right to work, and this right must be recognised in a practical way by an effective commitment to solving the tragic problem of unemployment. The fact that unemployment keeps large sectors of our population, and notably the young, in a situation of marginalisation is intolerable. For this reason, the creation of jobs is a primary social task facing individuals and private enterprise, all our leaders – political or otherwise – as well as the state itself.
But we are not seeing much political leadership on this score. Yes, some of our politicians are talking about the issue of unemployment in their political campaigns but in a manner that does not inspire confidence. They are not offering solutions or even a realisable vision that is anchored on practical solutions. And those in government seem to be much more dependent on the coming of foreign investors. They don’t seem to think much about what they themselves and their people can do and must do to create jobs and reduce unemployment and poverty in our country.
Since the early 1990s, we have focused much more on creating the so-called favourable investment environment; we have done everything possible from giving long tax holidays, parceling out huge tracts of land and all sorts of things. But there is still a serious shortage of jobs in the country. Isn’t it time we started to refocus our energies where they may produce better results?
And when we talk about employment, we should not forget the plight of those already in employment – the quality of jobs. Wages, which cannot be considered a mere commodity, must enable workers and their families to have access to a truly human standard of living in the material, social, cultural and spiritual orders. If this is absent, the possibility of children leaving homes for the streets increases. It is the dignity of the individual which constitutes the criteria for judging work, not the other way round. Access for everyone to the goods needed for a human, personal and family life worthy of the name is a primary demand of social justice.
There is need for us to realise that if we don’t seriously tackle the problem of unemployment in the country, there will be more and more children pouring onto our streets. And no Zambia National Service programme for the rehabilitation of street children will be able to absorb even the smallest of the percentage of these children.
Training street children in all sorts of skills is a good thing but it shouldn’t be done in isolation from the other problems facing the nation because it is not an isolated problem. It is a problem that arises from the problem of unemployment and other social ills. We shouldn’t focus so much on treating the symptom and ignoring the disease.
Yes, the symptom needs to be treated but not in total isolation from the disease that gave rise to it. The two need to be tackled simultaneously. The symptoms will not totally go away if the underlying disease is not treated. Children will not disappear from our streets if the problem of unemployment and the poverty that accompanies it are not seriously addressed. Any other effort to deal with the problem of street children will be too little and, in some cases, will be an exercise in futility.
Labels: STREET CHILDREN, UNEMPLOYMENT, ZNS
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Govt to evaluate ZNS rehabilitation programme for street children
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Friday May 23, 2008 [04:00]
GOVERNMENT will this July evaluate the Zambia National Service (ZNS) rehabilitation programme for street children to see if it has served the intended purpose, sports deputy minister Angela Cifire has said. In an interview, Cifire said the evaluation would give an indication on how the government had faired with the strategy to rehabilitate street children.
She said the problem with the previous intake where some children ran away from the camps and some who sold their starter kits could be as a result of the non-availability of an exit strategy at the time.
"This is the second intake and at the moment the intake that we have has very few children that have run away. Maybe they run away because they don't fully understand what the camp is all about and what they are going to gain from it. What we are working on right now is an exit strategy that we want to disseminate to the others that have not gone there," she said.
Cifire said the exit strategy would look at how youths would sustain themselves once they got out of the camp. She said there was also land available for those who had acquired skills in agriculture so that they could continue practicing what they had learnt.
She also said there were other co-operating partners that had offered to employ some of the youths after they graduate. Cifire said the children were being encouraged to form youth cooperatives.
Cifire, who emphasised the importance of personal development, said the driving force to develop should be within the youths themselves.
From 2005 to 2006, about 204 children graduated from the ZNS Kitwe and Chiwoko camps. The children, who were trained in skills such as carpentry and gardening, were given some starter kits to help them start earning a living but some of them have since sold them on grounds that they need money to survive.
Some of these children are back on the streets. For the 2007 programme, there were currently 388 children being trained out of the 434 that were enrolled from all provinces.
According to ZNS camp deputy commandant Major John Mwanza, 46 children, mainly from Lusaka and Copperbelt provinces, had deserted the camp as at September last year.
Labels: STREET CHILDREN, ZNS
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Most Lusaka street children are from Kabwe - Namugala
By Gillian Namungala
Thursday October 11, 2007 [04:00]
Community development and social services minister Catherine Namugala has observed that most children on Lusaka streets come from Kabwe’s Makululu Compound. Namugala said there was need for officers under her ministry to share ideas on how best they could help protect the children from harmful environments.
“If you went and asked those children on the streets they would tell you we are from Makululu Compound in Kabwe” she said.
Makululu is said to be the second largest populated compounds in Africa after Soweto in South Africa.
Namugala further cited Kabwe, Kapiri Mposhi and Lusaka as towns where streetism was very high.
She said this when she paid a courtesy call on Central Province permanent secretary Denny Lumbama in Kabwe.
And Lumbama, who agreed that most children on the streets of Lusaka where coming from Makululu said there was need for a lot of attention at a higher level in addressing problems in the compound.
“The closure of a number of companies in Kabwe has sent a lot of people on the streets, therefore failing to provide for their children,” he said.
And speaking at the National Street Children workshop in Kabwe, Namugala said while the programme for street children had recorded some successes in removing children from the streets and reintegrating them into families and communities, there was need to intensify the programme by extending it to all districts that were potentially vulnerable to the phenomena of street children.
She said at district level, childcare and protection committees would be formed to broaden the mandate of district street children committees.
Namugala said the role of the district child protection committee would involve preventing and responding to specific situations where children were subject or were at risk of abuse and violence.
And Namugala commended the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for their continued support that aims at ensuring a protective environment for children in Zambia.
Labels: LUSAKA, STREET CHILDREN
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Citizens Forum urges govt to tackle street children
By Masuzyo Chakwe and Mwala Kalaluka
Monday March 26, 2007 [02:00]
CITIZENS Forum executive secretary Simon Kabanda has urged the government to begin the process of coming up with a long-term policy on street children. And NGOCC executive director Engwase Mwale has said it is not justifiable to exclude married street children from the Zambia National Service rehabilitation programme. In an interview yesterday, Kabanda said only a policy on street children could help find a long-term solution to the increasing problem.
"The government must begin to come with a policy on street children. A policy on street children is what we need because this is becoming a very big problem in the country," Kabanda said. "The issue here is larger than just identifying whether someone is married or not." He said the rehabilitation of street kids in ZNS camps would not entail anything if a policy framework did not back it. "A policy would be able to articulate when the street children should go to rehabilitation camps and what things they are going to do," he said.
Kabanda said the government should not leave out other stakeholders in the process of coming up with a policy to deal with the issue of street children. He said further that situations like the one that occurred in Lufwanyama where residents demanded for the eviction of street kids from the area after they went on rampage, could be addressed when there was comprehensive policy in place.
And Mwale said streetism had no face and did not matter whether it was a girl or boy. She said the fact that street children were marrying each other showed that there was another problem. "They are having children and marrying each other because they have nothing else to do. They have no skills and maybe they find solace in marriage. So stopping these girls from entering the training programme is not solving the problem but merely compounding it because they will still continue having children so we need to look at the problem as a whole," she said.
Mwale said from the onset, government had been slow in finding a lasting solution to the problem of street children. "These ZNS camps are being opened to find a means of survival and it does not matter whether it is a girl or boy whether married or not, there is need to show leadership by providing positive interventions," she said. Mwale said there was need to find out how sustainable the programmes were and how they were using the skills after they left the camps.
She said the country had not seen much on the support training programme after they acquire their skills. And community, development and social services minister Catherine Namugala said government was targeting 6,000 children this year.
She said it had been observed from a recent study carried out that only 25 per cent of the children found on the streets slept there and the rest had some sort of homes. "We have 13,200 street children countrywide permanently on the streets with the majority in Lusaka. The K6.4 billion that has been allocated to them in this year's budget will be used to implement programmes for them," she said.
Labels: CITIZENS FORUM, STREET CHILDREN
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Finding a solution to the problem of street children
By Editor
Monday March 26, 2007 [02:00]
It is unfortunate that although the problem of street children is acknowledged as one of the key challenges that we face as a nation, very little has been done to deal with it. We have heard many public statements from government leaders on what plans they claim to have in order to deal with this problem in a more serious manner. But as is the case with other development challenges, there is too much rhetoric around the problem of street children.
The nation is aware of some of programmes that the government has undertaken in its attempt to deal with the problem. Such programmes include the highly publicised Zambia National Service (ZNS) street children’s training initiatives. Of course we are mindful that a lot of patience has to be exercised before we can start to see the benefits of such programmes. However, the question to be answered is whether these programmes are adequate enough to offer some kind of permanent solution to this problem.
We are inclined to believe that there has been a lack of serious commitment to finding a long-term solution to the problem of street children. In fact, sometimes we see that the problem of street children has been trivialised.
The truth is that this problem is with us; it stares us in the face every day. But we need to start acting to help save the children on the streets. We have to begin paying attention to their situation because they face numerous problems.
When we talk about street children, we are talking about young people who face poverty, hunger, disease, violence and homelessness. We are talking about children who have resorted to all sorts of drugs because they think this is the only way they can remain happy under their difficult circumstances. These children that have been allowed to live on the streets are on a daily basis exposed to diseases of all sorts. We have seen some of these children on the streets with scurvy or beriberi as a result of poor nutrition since access to food is another problem for them. These children live in and with filth because they do not have anything to call a home.
These are children who have no guarantee to a healthy lifestyle because even when they fall sick, normally they are just left to fend for themselves. Do we ever wonder what happens to these children, some of them very young, when they fall sick? Do we ask ourselves who takes care of the young children when they are ill? These are some of the questions we need to ask ourselves as we allow young children to live on the streets.
What we should realise is that the children who are being allowed to live on the streets are also vulnerable to all forms of abuse. We are saying this because we know that street children are usually on the front line when it comes to adults looking for victims. There are many reports of street children being sexually abused by some adults.
We may ask ourselves if it is possible to solve all these problems. If there is a will from those in government, we think that the problem of street children should have been behind us by now. We do not understand why it should be difficult for the government to find ways and means of ensuring that, where it is possible, some of the children on the streets are returned to their homes or their families. It may not be possible to return them to their nuclear family which may not be there, but at least some of them can be integrated into extended families. We understand that the realities of poverty have broken the extended family system. But we also know that the system is not completely dead. There are so many children who are growing up, and very well for that matter, within extended families.
We think that it is still possible for the government to devise a system where some of the children on the streets can be traced to their families and allowed to rejoin them. Besides, some of these children have just run away from their homes and they are refusing to leave the streets to which they have become addicted.
Another strategy would be for the government, working with other stakeholders, to come up with sustainable and workable ways of setting up foster homes where these children can be provided with an environment worth calling their home. We are aware that such initiatives have been put in place, especially by non-governmental organisations. However, the initiatives are largely at a low-scale, when compared to the number of children on the streets.
Granted, all these proposals are not easy to implement. But it is also the duty of governments to deal with and find solutions to the most difficult problems. Otherwise, what would be the purpose of a government which cannot deal with the problems of the citizens? We have seen that where the government is determined to deal with a problem, results have been seen. Already, we are seeing that the government actually has the capacity to deal with street vending because our streets are returning to their old self. With the same determination and commitment, the government can easily make our streets free of homeless children.
Labels: EDITORIAL, STREET CHILDREN, ZNS
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