The Devil's Workshop

The Danish government is phasing out its aid to Zambia because "The Zambian economy is booming due to a bumper crop and high copper prices," according to a recent Zambian newspaper report. But it is hard to detect evidence of this boom at a superficial level; Kitwe's roads are lined with billboards saying "Ring this number to advertise here". For the first time in the six years I've been visiting Zambia, I saw and heard of signs of child malnutrition - pale skin, distended bellies and stick thin limbs. School heads and contact teachers report that more and more orphans are unable to pay even half their school fees*. Mr Mubwata, Chamboli High School's Accountant, says that the mines, on which Zambia's economy rely, have been laying people off, and that although Zambia's HIV prevalence rates are down, the "aftermath" of past infections is more orphans. School after school tells me that pupils are going hungry - sometimes for two or three days in a row.

Perhaps the benefits of the boom are yet to come, trickling slowly down from the upper layers of society. In the meantime school drop-outs, sick parents and redundant workers are, to coin another recurring phrase I hear in my interviews, "just sitting at home".

But yesterday I met with some notable exceptions; a group of young people who have formed 'Cecily Alumni Programme' to put to good use the communications and health information skills they learned as school peer health educators with Cecily's Fund partner, CHEP. Word is spreading among the programme's alumni in Kitwe and Lusaka, and more and more are joining the group. They would rather be doing this - even as volunteers - than "just sitting at home".

Poverty and boredom makes young people more vulnerable to HIV. One founder member, Nancy (right), who I first met in 2008 as a grade 12 school-girl doing her peer heath education entry test, explained that "Idle minds are the devil's workshop" - a workshop whose key tools are drugs, alcohol and irresponsible sex... or sex exchanged by young girls for schools fees, rent or food.

So together, the group has systematically analysed the challenges faced by their peers and considered the resources and opportunities available to them. The result is an amazing range of ideas and plans, from teaching people to earn money by weaving mats using free raw materials from Zambia's ubiquitous sisal trees, to approaching mobile phone companies to sponsor the group's communications through Facebook, via Zambia's equally ubiquitous cellphones. They also plan to lobby the government and private companies to develop sports facilities to keep young people busy and healthy. Another founder member, Valentine, will use his skills as a radio journalist to help develop the media advocacy campaign, while Lastone, who works in the YMCA's internet café, is about to start teaching young people IT skills to give them a better chance of earning a living. Former school peer health educators are already running regular health, HIV and life skills sessions for their peers in colleges and universities.

When I asked Mr Mubwata if he had hope for the future of Zambia since the economy is supposedly booming and HIV prevalence is down, he said "Yes and no. For example... we have Mr Lukwesa (below), our grade 11 and 12 sicence teacher, who is a product of Hodi [Cecily's Fund's school and teacher training programme partner]. It’s a real breakthrough. If every family has one like him that family will never be the same again." I also believe that if every community has a Cecily's Alumni Programme member, that community will never be the same again either.

Without any financial backing they've made an impressive start. Imagine what they could achieve with financial backing...

*Cecily's Fund is looking into this issue; we are planning to collect details of the extent of the problem and amend our support accordingly.