Zambia's Voiceless Children

Masimba Biriwasha, RH Reality Check, Africa & Asia on January 2, 2008 - 9:12am
Published under: Global Perspective STI/HIV/AIDS Prevention children living with HIV education Trafficking Zambia

Just a stone’s throw away from the posh Manda Hill Shopping Mall in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city, little kids mill around traffic lights sniffing glue and pestering motorists and pedestrians, alike, for money, food and whatever else they can scrounge.

Many of the kids, dressed in filthy rags, are regarded as a menace to society due to their anti-social behaviour. Near the traffic lights a big poster warns members of the public not to give money or food to the children, euphemistically referred to as ‘street kids’.
According to the poster, giving money or food only causes the children to remain on the street. Put in other words, the social menace that many of the nouveau rich in this leafy and suburban area fear will continue to grow.

Many of the so-called street kids are part of a generation of children in Zambia that is growing up without parental care, support or guidance. The children are vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and disease.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that there are approximately1,250,000 orphans in Zambia – that is, one in every four Zambian children – with about 50% under nine years of age.

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