Street kids open their minds to govt plan

Poverty and HIV/AIDS are sending a growing number of children onto Zambian streets, where most have few options other than begging or sex work to get by But when the government offered a young and homeless John Chibale an opportunity to access vocational training last year, he turned it down. He believed that the Skills Training and Transformation Programme was an attempt to decongest the streets by dumping street children in "concentration camps". Today, Chibale, 18, says he regrets the decision. He is a drug addict and the streets of the capital, Lusaka, are still his home. The National Service Skills Training camps in the towns of Katete in the east and Kitwe in the northwest are training 207 other street children, and has helped open doors for them. After eighteen months of training the first group is expected to graduate later this year with skills in carpentry, farming, mechanics and tailoring. Emmanuel Sandi, Deputy Minister for Sports, Youth and Child Development said the government would provide children who graduated from the programme with loans and tools to set up businesses, financed by a US $12 million revolving fund. "Agriculture [as a subject of instruction] is compulsory because we want to promote food security," he told IRIN. Zambia officially has about 75,000 street children, but it is estimated that almost twice that number roam the streets. According to a study by the International Labour Organisation, most youngsters living rough or in prostitution were orphans. "We sent these boys to be rehabilitated and acquire skills but, above all, we are instilling discipline. They are not allowed to smoke cigarettes or drink any alcoholic beverages, and the confinement does not allow them to keep cash that can allow them to buy such things," Sandi commented. Since the programme began in 2004, 32 children have deserted from the camps and two have died from various ailments during training. Nelly Sambwa, 12, who lives rough in the northern town of Ndola has urged the government to extend the programme to include girls. So far only boys have been admitted. "I didn't know that the government was offering us an opportunity to reform through skills training and rehabilitation. I would like to go if I'm given a chance," she said, a small container of what smelt like petrol by her side. To date 16 resource and training centres have been set up, with more planned in all the country's 72 districts, and will include girls. A camp has been earmarked for Kabwe, about 200 km north of Lusaka. The Deputy Minister of Community Development and Social Welfare, Sebio Mukuka, noted that the training centres gave the children an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty and hunger. "Can you imagine how good it will be if our children and youth can obtain skills, and how much money they will make and sustain themselves? Poverty can be eradicated if small-scale businesses are availed to the youths of Zambia." Sandi urged Zambians to prioritise family values and to provide a support system for HIV/AIDS orphans. "Family values are breaking up because of HIV/AIDS-related cases, and people are no longer willing to take responsibility for orphans. We are a very cultured society ... [and] have for a long time believed in extended families. We should look beyond our own children if society's moral fibre is to be maintained." Zambia has an adult HIV prevalence rate of 16.5 percent.