!!!NOTE:
this webedition of Kambisa! #3 is not complete, for additionals
and pictures get
a paper copy!!!
YOUNG, ALIVE AND KICKING
'I hear people
complaing we're living in a landlocked country, we don't have a
harbour', prof.
Luo told me in
a recent interview, 'but we're living in a landlocked country, we
are bordering
nine other
countries. I don't know any other country that has an opportunity
like that! We should
be an haven of
education, training people from Angola, Botswana, Tanzania....
look at the trade-
opportunities
we have! Zambia is a incredibly rich country, we've got all kinds
of landscapes, to
farm, to fish,
anything... we've got minerals, there's not a single one we don't
have – the only
thing we're
lacking is the attitude of the people. That's what needs to be
changed.'
How do we
apply her lesson to the theme of this third Kambisa! – the
children living on the
streets? We
call them 'streetkids', they bother us when we are doing our
weekend-shopping.
Signs along
the road are warning us not to give beggars alms, supposing
they'll return to their
villages. But
what if they have nowhere to return to? Society is changing, even
village-life can
no longer
offer assistance to anyone, we have to deal with the
consequences.
Many of us
have probably heard, not all of these kids might actually be as
homeless as they
pretend to be;
they might have a home to go at night, they might have guardians
who've
instructed
them to go and lie on the streets and make some money. Imagine
the desperation a
mother must be
in to tell her baby to wear rags and be hungry.
But what if
that mother has sensed the cash a kid can bring in and doesn't
want to let go of that,
even if she
could send him to school and feed him well – what if the
elderly are exploiting the
younger ones
to have another beer at night?
You are right,
the problem doesn't end with the kids alone. Some are being
chased from home,
accused of
being a witch or just being inconvenient, some have become too
well-paying a victim
of abuse. No
matter how much we try to outcast them, their problems didn't
start in isolation. It
might be a
reason not to give cash, but can it be a reason to treat them
with disdain?
these
guys are strong
Nobody
deserves to be sneared upon when asking for help, nobody deserves
to be treated like a
disease. Let
alone a child, no matter how independent, what a survivor he
might be. Would you
be able to
smile if you were sleeping under a bridge, if you were eating
from a bin, if you were
fighting your
best friends, if you had to beg people for a fee, if you couldn't
go to hospital when
you were sick,
if you'ld be hungry for three days? They do.
These guys are
strong – not because they chose these circumstances, but
because it's their live
and they have
learned to adapt. In stead of looking down, you should be
admiring. They are
humans, just
like you. Offer them some respect, some sympathy – it's what
they're lacking most.
We're being
fools, we're surrounded by an army of young hardworking souls who
can deal with
an
inconvenience or two, but we're complaining they talk dirty and
they smell. In stead of
driving them
into desperation, violence and purposeness, we should be
empowering them,
encouraging
them to show their beauty in a way we'll be able to appreciate
better. Prof. Luo
started by
giving prostitutes means to become a mechanic or a teacher. What
are you going to
do? I hereby
open the competition, send us your plans, your proposals to help
these kids.
Kambisa! will
be monitoring you. Best plan by the end of this year will be send
to parliament.
We need
dialogue. Kambisa!BeHeard.
'THEY'RE TREATING US LIKE ANIMALS'
by Desh &
KJ
Here's a
pastor driving a Benz. He's on tv every Sunday.
We found him
at Just Chicken along Cairo Road and parked our Corola next to
him. A
space is
dividing our two cars. 2WICE gets out to buy some water. Me and
Nasty are
remaining,
unvisible behind out tinted windows.
the
pastor pretends he doesn't notice
Three kids are
approaching the pastors car, it seems they are asking for
something. He looks
disturbed and
closes his window. We want him to know we've seen what he has
done and
let our
windows down. Now the kids are approaching us. They don't
recognise us, but ask
how we are
doing. Without them asking for money, Nasty gives them a 10 pin
– they are
looking
hungry. They tell us they are going to buy nsima. I tell them 'go
ask from that man,
tell him we've
seen him on tv'. They are going and knock on the window, but the
pastor
pretends he
doesn't notice till the kids have to give up.
A year later
I'm talking with this little boy, complaining. If somebody won't
help him, they
should just
tell him – not treat him like an animal. Even when just
asking how somebody is,
they look at
his dirty clothes and snear at him. I'm remembering the pastor,
he's not the only
one
mistreating this kid or his friends.
Once I found
myself at Intercity police-station, arrested after being inpolite
to an officer.
After about an
hour they brought in a 11-year old, used by some bigger boys
living along
the rails. The
first two times he'd met them, they'd helped him by giving him
nsima. This
third time
though, they'd given him a bag to go and snatch a vcr. When the
kid had wanted
to leave the
burgled house, he heard the owner coming in, ran to the bedroom
and hid under
the bed. Once
found he got beaten severely and was taken to the cell in which
he found me.
Now he was
complaining his leg was lame and his ribbs were paining. When his
principals
had seen him
being caught, they'd fled.
his
leg was lame and his ribbs were paining
'Sometimes
when we're sleeping, the police come and beat us up', the kids
tell me. I think
the officers
are hoping to get some information out of them. One of the guys
got sick after
being badly
beaten by the police. His friends took him to the Fountain to
recover. Now he's
back on the
streets again. The kids don't like the Fountain, 'they just give
you little nsima
and you're
many'. These kids are used to their freedom; eating what they
want to eat, when
they want to
eat. If they have their money, their self-made money. Some make
up to 10 pin
a day, others
get stuck at 3. Some of them digest it themselves, others take it
back to their
families.
Their magic is
paid for in oranges and bananas. In return the witchdoctor gives
them what
they call
'brown spirits' – spirits which make them strong when
fighting their friends. Doc's
got a tree
which speaks and he can jump from Findeco-house without getting
hurt. They
want to be
powerful like him. He can change into any being. When a passer-by
lady halts
where we are
meeting, it is him to spy our conversation. His presence is
everywhere, not a
something they
fear but a something which is making them couragious.
The lady
loitering around us is being ignored, but not so are three rude
boys approaching from
Katondo.
'Time's up', I'm being told. Hastely we shake hands as they
disperse. After a failed
intimidation-attempt,
the bully's continue their way. These must be the thiefs,
demanding
'protection'-money
from the kids. Mafiosi.
I used to feel
bad when I don't have money and they're following me. I've been
one of those
snearing at
them, telling them off. Now I can see, they're just these guys.
Sniffing glue and dirty
speaking are
not making them the bad guys we see in them. They're just young
people, we need
to advise them
a bit if we think they are a problem. They want to get a 30 pin
and start selling
chewing gums,
plactics and cigarets, but fear the council will chase them and
grab their stuff.
They want to
go to school but find it too expensive. Instead of looking at
them as
inconveniencing
animals, we should see their potential and use the power of these
strong
independent
souls. Give them a way to develop it.
BEST FRIENDS: EDI PHIRI an
