SCHOOL GIRL SURVIVES ACID ATTACK FROM “EX-FIANCE”
You have to “grow” crocodile skin to clean the wounds of an acid survivor, the worst ordeal was while in the hospital as the skin kept peeling off, I did not realize that the tongue skin was also peeling off. The young girl was like pushing something in her mouth, I opened her mouth to see and found that almost the whole tongue had come off such that I had to pull it out like you do with a cow and only a little red thing (tongue) remained. These are the words of one Lusaka lady whose young sister Fridah Mwansa (not real name) was acid attacked by Fridahs ex-fiancé. As Annette is narrating the story to me, Fridah is seated right next to me and I asked her if she wanted to tell me herself, her answer was a tear drops from the good eye and she said. “I don’t want to talk about it, am really tired of this, I pressed her to tell me what she was tired of, she said, “well first it brings back very painful memories, I can see the whole incident all over again and very clearly like it happened yesterday”. It all started in the year 2002 in a small village 80 kilometers from Mpika boma and Fridah was only 11 years old and doing her sixth grade when her parents engaged her to a man several years her senior. Fridahs parents even received “insalamu” (dowry) for their daughter. The agreement was that upon completing her primary education, she would then be handed over to one Thomas Chileshe. Her older sister Annette Mwansa who leaves in the capital city received the news that her 11 year old sister with a heavy heart and sadness, she realized that the next year coming the young girl would be writing her final primary examinations and if she did not make it to secondary school, then she would be taken straight into marriage and by that time Fridah would be only 13 years old. Annette then organized for the young girl to travel to Lusaka so that she could continue her school here. In August 2002, Fridah then traveled to Lusaka to be with her older sister. When she arrived in Lusaka, they could not find a place in school for her grade so instead of starting grade seven, she was brought back into grade five. In the meanwhile Thomas Chileshe did not take the news of his fiancée leaving the village very well an apparently was very upset. He wrote a letter to his fiancées guardian telling her that she had not right to take the girl away and that he would soon travel to Lusaka to come and get her back. Annette however did not see the need to respond to the letter as she thought there was no point in arguing with a person she didn’t know. “The letter was in bad taste, he shouted at me in the letter. I didn’t think it was wise to argue with a person I didn’t know, so I saw no need to respond to the letter, so I posted the letter to my parents so that they could see the type of person they had accepted the “insalamu” from”, Annette said. There years down the line when Fridah is doing her grade seven, Thomas Chileshe suddenly appeared in Lusaka in search of his young bride. He found the house where she lived and casually went and knocked on the door. Annette who happened to be in the kitchen opened the door. She did not know or recognize the person at the door so she politely asked how she could be of help. The gentleman introduced himself careful not to mention where he was coming from. He then asked to see Fridah. Annette then called her young sister and asked if she knew the gentleman. Fridah agreed that she knew him and told her sister that, that was Thomas her fiancé from the village. Annette then let Thomas in and let the two to chat, half an hour later, the talks were done and upon leaving the house, Annette gave Thomas a stern warning. “ Listen Thomas, this relationship is known in the village and not in town, if you want to see Fridah, you will see her in the village during the holidays, this girl is here for school, so please make this your last visit here”, warned Annette. Thomas went quite for a while but the silence must have been his plans to relocate to the city because one Sunday he resurfaced at a named church where Fridah and her family used to congregate. At church he would greet Fridah and her nieces but later took advantage of the situation and would escort the young girls from church to their home pretending to be brotherly. The girls though reported to their older sister that Thomas had started coming to their church. Once again Thomas was told politely warned to keep away from Fridah but this seemed to have angered him further. At this point Fridah had gotten over her emotions and insisted she wanted to tell the story herself and she was ready to talk. As fate would have it, in the year 2006 Fridah and Annette lost their older sister who used to live on the Copperbelt, they all tried for the funeral and their parents also traveled from Mpika and they all met as a family. At this point Annette thought it prudent to take advantage of the situation and talk about Fridahs issue to her parents and other family members. The family sat down and Annette told her parents that Fridah was far too young to have been engaged and it was important that she goes on with her education. She told her parents that their older bother was paying a lot of money for her school as she was at a private school. She also informed the parents of Thomas’ behavior and that he had been insulting everyone who spoke on his engagement to Fridah. The family thought about it and it was agreed and decided that the “insalamu” should be returned to Thomas and his relatives and true to the word as the parents returned to the village they did returned the insalamu and Thomas’ parents acknowledged having received the money. In turn they also informed their son that the money they had paid for his fiancé had been returned so the engagement was over. “I suspect that is when he got more incensed but did not show it as he went quite again for a couple of days, Fridah said. From this point Fridah insisted she wanted to recount the ordeal herself, she began to tell me that one Sunday every one had left for church she planned to go to one of the open markets in town to get herself a tracksuit for P.E at school. Fridahs says that when she arrived in town, she received a text message from Thomas asking her where she was. She told him where she was and he instructed her to wait for him for a short while because he had a message for her. The young girl did as she was told and a few minutes later Thomas showed up. She immediately asked him to tell her the message as she was in a hurry to get back home. “He told me that his mother was very ill and had traveled to Lusaka to seek medical attention and had asked to see me, I asked him why she wanted to see me and he said that because she wanted to hear from the horses’ mouth (Fridah) whether it was true I wanted to discontinue the engagement”, said Fridah. Being young Fridah said she got frightened and didn’t know what to do and after all Thomas had assured her that it would only be for a short while and he would make sure she got home safe and in good time. Little did Fridah know that she was being tricked because when they arrived Thomas invited the young girl into the house and as soon as she sat down, he locked all the doors and forcibly got hold of Fridahs mobile phone. She explained to me that she became even more frightened because there was only the two of us in the house. She asked to see his mother but he told her that his mother was in the village. “My sister (Annette) was calling my phone to try to find out my whereabouts, he went outside but again locked the door to answer the phone. He started telling her that they would never see me again because I was his wife”, Fridah said. She then said that she started crying because at that point it dawned on her that she had been tricked. Meanwhile, outside on the phone Thomas was busy calling all of Fridahs relatives i.e. bothers, sisters Aunties as they were saved in her phone that they would never see her again and should not bother looking for her because he had married her. Fridah says that later in the evening after 7:00pm he came back in the house and she run past him to in a bid to run away but he blocked the door and threatened to kill her if tried to run away again. “ He came in the house only pick up his jacket and went out again, he locked me inside the house again but from a window outside he said to me that he would see me in the morning” she said. Back at home Annette was panicking and reported to the Victim Support Unit (VSU) of the Police Service that her young sister had been abducted by an ex-fiancé. She also said that the family launched a man hunt but could not trace Thomas’ whereabouts as by that time he had switched off his and Fridahs phones. She told me that she spent the night crying as she was frightened alone without knowing where she was. In the morning Thomas’ sister in law knocked on the door but she could not come in as the door was locked .I spoke to her through the window and apparently Thomas appeared around 7:00am and the lady asked him why he was keeping a young girl in the house without the consent of her guardians. She pleaded with him to let the young girl go and asked him to apologize to her guardians for keeping the young girl without their consent but Thomas could not hear of that and refused to apologize. “I went home alone and reported the whole incident to my guardians, the quizzed me to find out if Thomas had sexually assaulted me, I told them he did not sleep in the house but my family would not believe me, in fact am still a virgin”, said Fridah amidst tears. Annette further narrates that from the time Thomas released Fridah he had been sending threatening text messages and insults to her and other members of her family and again we reported to the VSU again and even showed them the text messages they had been receiving from Thomas. She said that with Fridahs help, the Police apparently went to Thomas’ house in a bit to arrest him but they did not find him. The police inquired from the neighbors and they too said they had not seen him since the night before, she also said that she feels disappointed because she thought the Police would help but nothing has happened to this date” Annette said. A couple of months passed by and Fridahs Family got comfortable that the Bain of their life had since stopped traumatizing their lives until one Saturday when Fridah reported once again that Thomas had been to church and threatened that “nag banana chachiine nkakwipaya” literally translating to “ if it is true that you have denied me, I will kill you”. Annette says they did not take the threat serious and even laughed about it. Thomas apparently continued sending insulting messages. Towards the end of March, pupils usually sit for their end of term exams at different times and hers finished around 10 in the morning and on that particular Tuesday, Fridah had finished her exams and was heading home. She disembarked off a bus and was walking on a foot path towards home, halfway to home she met a friend who informed her that he had a letter for her from someone, her friend told her to wait a while he picked up the letter from home. As she was waiting for her friend, she heard a voice from behind call her “Fridah” she turned to look behind and there was Thomas on a bicycle. “ I was shocked and scared when I saw that it was Thomas, I asked him what he was looking for in my neighborhood and what he wanted”, I noticed that he had a black plastic bag or something on the carrier of his bicycle but did not bother much about it’, said Fridah. She narrates further that her friend came back and gave her the letter and she tried to walk fast towards home to avoid talking to him but Thomas got on his bicycle, he started following her and asking for her phone so that he could talk to her sister. She refused to give him the phone, as she walked on she met an elderly neighbor Mr. Zimba who asked her why she was not in school at that time, she explained that she had finished for the day as they were writing their end of term tests, while she was talking to the elderly man Thomas had retreated and slowed down for fear of being asked questions. When she finished talking to the neighbor, she looked behind and Thomas had disappeared, she knelt down and said a little prayer, “Thank God he’s gone”, she said but a soon as she tried to get up, she noticed a bicycle pass her by and there was Thomas again. “This time I gathered some courage and asked him what he wanted from me and asked him to leave me alone, I also asked why he had not left but he did not respond, instead he took out sort of a bottle wrapped in a black plastic bag and put it to hi mouth pretending to drink the stuff,” said Fridah. At this point there’s a long pin drop silence and tears begin to flow from her good eye. I let her cry for a while and about five minutes later, she composes herself and continues narrating her ordeal. “ I felt a cold chill around my right ear down to my shoulder, before I realized what it was, I thought it was cold water, I even asked him, “imwe finshi mwanjitila efi?” literally translating to “ you what is this you have thrown at me?” before I knew it he splashed the rest of the contents on my left side and some of it went into my mouth, as you can see, I have lost one eye, I have no ear and part of my head will never grow hair, my neck shoulder also is still being eaten by the acid up to now, said Fridah visibly angry. All the while Thomas was just looking and smiling at her and bolted only when Fridah started to scream in pain. Amid screams of “am burning, am burning, help me” she could see bubbles forming on her skin. She explained to me that the way we see milk boils is exactly what she could see happening to her skin. “I saw my skin melting, my school uniform and bag were also melting” she said. Annette now comes in to continue the narration as Fridah does not remember what happened after that. Good Samaritans and neighbors came to Fridahs rescue when they heard someone screaming outside. By this time she had fallen into the drainage system writhing in pain. She was picked up and taken into the house . The neighbors that helped Fridah did not yet know that it was acid that was poured on Fridah, as they took her into the house, they quickly gave her point of milk in a bid to try and neutralize what ever it was as they women noticed that the girl was forming at the mouth. Later they took her into the bathroom to try and wash off the stuff but instead the wounds were growing as the skin kept peeling off. “As am talking to you right now, the side of the bath tub were Fridah was being washed from has corroded with the acid, one of the ladies who went to the scene where the incident happened found a little bottle but it had also been half eaten with it’s own contents ” Annette said. She says that Fridah was taken to the hospital and that the first week quite bad as the skin kept falling off, in the second week, Fridahs condition took a turn for the worst and her skin turn black. “ Her skin just turned black and hard, we were all shocked, it was so hard that if you sort of knocked on it, you would hear a sound, we had to grow crocodile skin to endure that, when washing the wounds we had to pull it off every day, she said. Annette however, thanks God and the Doctors at the UTH that her younger sister’s internal organs were not affected although her eye was removed. She also says that Fridah has undergone some skin grafting and awaiting her last operation for her eye but that would depend if Doctors will be able to make the top and bottom eyes lids. Fridah says that the thing that she misses most is going to school, she has not been able to go back to school as she has been in and out of the hospital. “ I could have been doing my last grade by now, and looking forward to going to going into college, I miss learning, I miss my friends”, said Fridah tears building in her eyes. NGOs and Civil Society Organisations have condemned the act and have called for the culprit to be brought to book. The YWCA have condemned the act as barbaric and that it must be condemned in the strongest terms. “Any violence against any human being must be condemned and the culprit must be brought to book soon and urged the police to act fast” Human rights and child rights activist Sara Longwe says that the Zambian society condones treatment of women and girls as second class citizens on pretext of following the African culture. “If a man had been attacked this way, the assailant would have been arrested by now, especially that the incident took place not far from the Chelston Police Station and the BP Community Police Post of the Chelston residential area of Lusaka, she says. Longwe also blames the government for not tabling before Parliament the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the proposed Sexual Offences and Gender Violence Bill. This Bill was proposed to the Minister of Justice in 2006 by the women’s movement, under the auspices of Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) Zambian Chapter. And a Zambian Journalist Brenda Zulu says “the man who poured acid on that girl should be punished for what he did, because he is on the run he should be publicly portrayed in Newspapers so that the whole world should know what he has done to this young girl”. Acid violence is a particularly vicious and damaging form of violence in any instance where acid is thrown in people’s faces. The overwhelming majority of the victims are women, and many of them are below 18 years of age. The victims are attacked for many reasons. In some cases it is because a young girl or women has spurned the sexual advances of a male or either she or her parents have rejected a proposal of marriage. Recently, however, there have been acid attacks on children, older women and also men. These attacks are often the result of family and land dispute, dowry demands or a desire for revenge. But the scars left by acid are not just skin deep. In addition to the inevitable psychological trauma, some survivors also face social isolation and ostracism that further damage their self-esteem and seriously undermine their professional and personal futures. Women who have survived acid attacks have great difficulty in finding work and, if unmarried (as many victims tend to be), have very little chance of ever getting married. In a country like Zambia this has serious social and economic consequences. In March this year, this case will be a year old and all this time the suspect (Thomas Chalabesa Chileshe) is still on the run. There is an old adage that goes “you can run but you cannot hide”. Zambia has ratified many human rights instruments over the years. Therefore it is right for women’s movement to conclude that the Parliament should have been able to make some amendments to the constitutional Bill of Rights chapter by now. Instead, Parliament has managed to thwart two separate private members’ Bills, presented by women Parliamentarians that attempted to domesticate international instruments to protect women’s rights in Zambia.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Abortion, Doctors, Health, maternal mortality, Ministry of Health, Unsafe, uterus
By Sally Chiwama
Selina’s gullet (were food passes) has constricted and is burning, a hole has been made on her stomach in an effort to feed her because food and water cannot pass through the gullet and she has had to undergo an operation to fix the burnt part of the gullet and another to take out her uterus as well as the foetus that has rotten in her womb.
At first glance it is not easy to get the connection between a woman’s gullet and a uterus, well this is what happened to 25 year old Selina Mwendakula in a bid to terminate her 4 months unwanted pregnancy. Selina is married with three other children but did not want the fourth child. She opted to terminate the pregnancy thus drinking the deadly battery acid and pushing a stick through her vagina only to perforate her uterus.
Selina is only one of hundreds of women that the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) gynecology department receives every day, in fact the figures are quite alarming , the department receives more than 200 cases of attempted abortions and that 30% to 50% bed occupancy in the gynae emergency ward are abortion related.
Speaking to Selina from her bedside, she wishes she had never attempted to have an abortion because in her mind, God had given her a second chance.
“ Mwandi mummy, I wish had never attempted, right now it would have been a different story, by this time you wouldn’t even have been talking to me, look at me, I have lost so much blood, elo ichi chapamukosi (gullet) kaya, my uterus has been removed, I have nothing left”, she said amid sobs.
Selina also told this author that, apart from the battery acid that she drank, she also used a sharp instrument that she pushed through her vagina thus perforating her uterus.
At a workshop held at the Pamodzi Hotel recently, Director of Public Health and Research in the Ministry of Health (MoH) Dr. Victor Mukonka said that abortion was a significant contributor to high maternal mortality in Africa including Zambia.
He said that the MoH was taking firm and steady action on maternal death and that they were optimistic that with time and the involvement of the private-public partnerships would yield positive results of elimination of the unnecessary deaths of women from unsafe abortion.
“It should be note that safeguarding the health of women in the reproductive health category is one of the key national health priorities which is receiving its due attention” said Dr. Mukonka.
Unsafe abortion is one of the major causes of maternal mortality. The issues surrounding abortion are not well known because of the stigma that is associated with it. Many women in Zambia have died from unsafe abortion whilst society is watching and putting the blame on the innocent women.
Further more Dr. Mukonka also acknowledged that unsafe abortion in Zambia is said to contribute about 30% of maternal deaths according to a study that done at the UTH a few years ago an noted that it was imperative to address the scourge if the country was stop women dying unnecessarily and attain the millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
“ Abortion has always been an emotive issue, but it is important to remember that a lot of women are either dying or suffer complications of unsafe abortion, hence we cannot allow emotions to guide how abortion should be handled”, Dr. Mukonka said.
Vice President of IPAS Africa Ambassador Dr. Eunice Bookman Amiss in her opening speech at the workshop said that it was a well known fact that Africa region bears an unduly large burden of the worlds total burden of disease, but that it’s share reproductive health illness is even more disproportionate and abortion has been among the most neglected an challenging areas of reproduction health.
She noted that thousands of women die in African countries every year because they have no access to safe services and sighted the following as the reasons-lack of access to effective contraception, stigma around abortion, gender inequalities, primitive and archaic colonial laws and ignorance among policy makers, legislators, health professionals, communities and women themselves about national laws.
She stressed that “Access to safe abortion is essential to human rights and to the health and lives of women as well their full development”.
She told the participants that women of all nationalities and social standing, rich or poor, married or single, educated or uneducated, young and old, with or without children have abortions and have always had a need for terminating an unwanted pregnancy.
Very few people are aware however that termination of pregnancy is provided for in the laws if Zambia said Obstetrician / Gynecologist Dr. Ameck Kamanga from the UTH.
Dr Kamanga told participants that termination of pregnancy is provided for in the laws of Zambia by the termination act of 1972 and is considered the most liberal abortion law in Africa yet the law comes with restrictions and these include risk to the life of the pregnant woman or risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.
Despite all these restrictions Dr. Kamanga says that the “the public has to understand that even if Zambia was rich country and all was available unwanted pregnancies would always occur and when such a thing happens, a woman should be given a choice” .
He further stressed that when a woman is given a choice and she chooses to terminate, free and safe services are available and are provided for under the laws of Zambia.
“ It’s a pity that most of them come when almost too late when they have attempted to terminate on their own and the infections start to get septic and starts to affect other parts of the body and they die” said Dr. Kamanga.
Zambia has one of the most liberal laws in sub Sahara Africa. Abortion has been legal for health and social-economic reasons since 1972. Complications of unsafe abortion continue to be a major health problem for Zambian women.
However, reflecting limited knowledge of the law and inadequate access to legal abortion services.
In 1982 -83, fifteen (15) % of all maternal deaths at the UTH in Lusaka were done due to clandestine illegally induced abortion. Most studies done in Zambia show that abortion is among the top of five (5) of maternal mortality.
A trainee Gynecologist Dr. Stephen Mupeta says that a lot of women have died at the hands of self styled experts who perform abortions in the back streets. The self styled “experts” come in all forms, elderly women, clinical officers, an even doctors who are out to make a quick buck.
“We offer almost free services to access to safe abortion, but most people are unaware of this service” he said.
Dr. Mupeta bemoaned the lack of respect for the law with these self styled experts and stressed that Termination of pregnancy (TOP) was a specialized procedure which was done by trained health care providers who were specifically trained to carry out this procedure who include Doctors, mid-wives, clinical officers or nurses. In Zambia however only Doctors are supposed to carry out this procedure.
“I would like to emphasize that no matter who the health care provider is as long as they are not trained in termination of a pregnancy, they will not provide a safe abortion” said Dr. Mupeta.
He says that the department receives all sorts of cases such starting from women who have drank an over dose of chloroquine, herbs pushed in the vagina, hang wires and those that have drank dangerous stuff such as battery acid all in the name of acquiring an abortion. (Quote the figures in presentation) 30% bed occupancy in emergency gyn ward is abortion related the time they get here, it is almost too late. Some die in the process, while receiving medication”, said Dr. Mupeta.
He bemoaned the lack of trained providers and sighted it as a challenge to the UTH, he also warned people to be aware that they shouldn’t just go to anyone to get the service.
Dr. Mupeta strongly appealed to the authorities that more health care providers be trained in safe termination of pregnancies.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: children, examination papers, headmaster, hero, judgement, Kalenga, landmark, Ministry of educatiob, school, teacher
By Sally Chiwama
“Teacher, Headmaster and the Ministry of Education to pay sexually abused girl K45m ”.
A judge recently made a declaration in the High Court of Zambia that the “Government is responsible for all school going children in the care of it’s agents such as teachers, school authorities and any other person in it’s employment during the time the schools are in session.”
This is in a case in which a minor and her guardian sued a teacher, the Ministry of Education and the school after he was found guilty of rape.
Children trust their teachers
Like all children, pupils almost idolize their teachers, Kalenga Mutale (not real name) 13 innocently asked her teacher for past examination papers as she was about to write her grade nine final exams. Teacher “conveniently” forgot the papers after being asked more than three times, and when it suited him, he told the girl to “come and get them from home” after class. Innocent as she was, Kalenga went to her teachers home to get the past papers, she found her teacher listening to music.
“Teacher” then asked Kalenga to take a seat and later asked if she was scared to which she admitted that she was. She then asked about the past papers and he told her to go and get them from another room, she did as she was told but froze in her feet when she opened the curtain (in place of a door) only to find she was looking into bedroom. When she turned to go back “Teacher” was standing in her way blocking her from passing.
Kalenga became scared and asked him what he was doing there, he didn’t flinch and instead started telling the girl that she was pretty and wanted to marry her. “Teacher” then pushed her onto the bed and covered her mouth. Before she knew it the young girl went blank, the next thing “teacher” put his manhood in her vagina and when she tried to scream, he covered her mouth even harder.
After finishing his business “teacher” then gives her a stern warning not to tell anybody or else she would be chased from school and he would lose his job.
Kalenga Contracts an STI.
She went home but did not tell her Auntie who is her legal guardian because in her mind her Auntie is a difficult person, so she decided to keep the information to herself, before she knew it her private parts started itching. When the itching continued, she decided to go to a clinic, got examined and was given medicine to insert in her vagina and another type to take orally.
The itching persisted and the young girl got scared and went to tell “teacher” who scolded her that how come he was not getting sick himself. The situation was not getting any better and the young girl did not know what to do or where to go. She decided to tell her class teacher what had happened. In reply this teacher said he knew he story and advised her to report the case to her guardian or else he would reveal himself. Kalenga’s class teacher knew of what been going on as he was housemates with the “teacher” but decided enough was enough, he had to put an end to this. She was then taken for medical examination which included an HIV/AIDS test, fortunately the results were negative.
Performance dwindles at school.
As the trauma started sinking in, Kalenga’s performance in school started dwindling as she started getting low marks. She told this author that her friends bullied her at school and some would write notes to her and telling her that she was a bad girl and some said I was lying about the whole thing and just accusing the teacher.
“It was really traumatizing for me, because my friends were bulling me and telling me that I was just making up this whole thing and that I just wanted to put the teacher in trouble, I would go home crying”, said Kalenga.
Time to tell
Kalenga’s class teacher put her to task and told her that if she didn’t tell her auntie he would tell her himself, the young girl could not pluck up the courage to tell her auntie so the class teacher and his friend called the girl and went to a pay phone to call the auntie. When the auntie answered the phone she started crying instead of talking, so the class teacher spoke to the Auntie and urged her to listen to what her niece had to tell her as soon as she came home from school.
When Kalenga arrived home from school, her Auntie was waiting for her at home, meanwhile a thought crossed her mind that her niece could be pregnant as she could understand why her niece was scared to talk her.
“When my niece came home, I prayed that she wasn’t pregnant” we started to talk and then she revealed all that her teacher had raped her, “I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t know what to do, so the first that came to my mind was to confront the teacher at his school” said Kalenga’s Aunt.
“The Teacher’s” defense
The “teacher” testified that he knew the girl that she was his pupil but denied having carnal knowledge of her although he had wanted to talk to her about something but did not do so for three days.
The teacher also said that the young girl started spreading rumors that she was his girlfriend and that towards Valentines Day the young girl followed him with a bunch of flowers and some chocolate. He then said that he tried to avoid her as he realized that the whole thing would get him in trouble and that the young girl requested to talk to him on several occasions but he declined. The “teacher” said that the girl wanted to have a relationship with him but declined.
However, on cross examination the “teacher” admitted that the girl was his girl and that she did not propose him, he said that he called the girl his girlfriend because there was a relationship.
Headmaster knew of his teachers conduct.
The next morning, Aunt and niece decided to go school and see the report the case to the headmaster of the school. As they arrived at the headmaster’s office, Auntie reported the case and the Deputy Headmaster and a senior teacher were called into the meeting. The “teacher” was also called into this meeting.
The Headmaster told the Aunt that he could not blame the girl as she was a minor. The headmaster then reminded the “teacher” of a previous relationship with another student. The teacher was further asked if he knew the student in question and he answered in the affirmative and that the girl was his girlfriend. Then headmaster further asked the “teacher” if he knew how old the girl was and if he had had sex with her. The teacher admitted that the girl was 14 years old and but could not answer the last question as it was a very difficult one but asked to be forgiven.
The Judge said….
A teacher has moral superiority over his pupils and in any event he cannot be heard to say the student consented without independent advice, even in contractual relationship and that a girl saying that she loved him did not mean that she consented to sex, when she is below 16 years of age. The Judge further said that the “teacher manipulated the girl by deliberately forgetting the past examination papers in order to create and opportunity to sexually abuse her at his home.
The Judge also said that there could be no consent by a child under 16 and that to characterize a valentine card with words ‘if loving you is a sin, then I have committed one’ as consenting to sexual assault is legally, morally and psychologically flawed and that such a perception undermines section 138 of the penal code, is contrary to the ethics of a teacher not to sleep with school girls, and is psychologically wrong as a child under 16 is not cognitively developed to consent to sex
Judge finds headmaster “guilty”
The Judge says in his judgment that when children are deposited at school then teacher becomes their parent. That the standard of care owned by the headmaster of a school towards the pupils is that of a careful father towards his own children.
“The headmaster knew that the teacher in question was a sexual pervert and had the victim transferred to another school while he villain was left to go scot free. Could he have done the same if the pervert was in his household and it became apparent that he was sexually abusing his daughters, would he have left such a matter unreported and still retain the pervert in his household? I don’t think he would have taken a dim view if it had affected his family. His conduct therefore falls below the set standards” read the judgment.
Conclusion
Kalenga through her lawyer submitted that the case was novel and that it was special because it gives the Zambian courts a chance to move the Zambian Government by “Judge Made Law” to strengthen its policy on the protection of the girl child against sexual abuse. That with the advent of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS which have no cure, the chances of millions of girls being infected with this ‘death sentence’ by unscrupulous teachers / headmasters cannot go unabated” part of the judgment read.
The Judge has since awarded Kalenga and her Aunt a total of K45million (K45,000,000).
On commenting on the judgment Aunt to girl said that she was happy to see that justice had been done and that she wanted to ensure that such a situation does not happen to any child because the emotional scars do not heal and asked how she feels after the judgment Kalenga said that she felt like hero for coming out in the open because most girls tend to keep quite when such things happen to them. She further urged all young girls not to trust any strangers and report any cases sexual abuse on them.
“Now, I feel like a hero, am now my own ambassador because now am a role model, some girls even come to me for advise”, like one time a girl from school came told me that her uncle had defiled her and asked what she should do, I advised her to tell a family member or see her pastor at church” Kalenga says.
“I also tell my friends not to trust any strangers, and that they should come out when something of that sort happens, we have to fight this scourge together because a potential defiler can be anywhere, at school or at home”, said Kalenga with a big smile on her face.
One question remains to be answered though. When people know about this landmark judgment and what it means, Parents and Guardians will be suing the Ministry of Education left, right and centre. The big question though is “Will the Ministry of Education (MoE) pay for all defilement cases or will they put measures in place to curb this “vice” in the education sector.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Health, Maternity wards, Minister, Money, Mulongoti, Newspaper, Plundered, recovered, spokesperson
STATE TO INJECT MONIES PLUNDERED INTO MATERNITY WARDS
By Sally Chiwama
Government will use the K13.6 billion the Task Force on Corruption has earned from the sale of seized properties to build maternity wards at various health centers countrywide.
According to the “Times of Zambia” newspaper, Chief Government Spokesman Mike Mulongoti , said in a statement in Lusaka last week.
And health Minister Brian Chituwo told the Zambia National Broadcasting Television (ZNBC) that, Zambia had the highest number of mortality rates in the region and that the monies that were plundered deserved to that sector as mother and children were dying at alarming rate.
“Zambia has the highest mortality rate, if it is not the mother dying during child birth, it is the child that dyes because of lack of proper care” he said.
Mr. Mulongoti said that government would use the money to construct new new maternity wings to improve the health status of women and children.
Mr. Mulongoti who is also Information Minister said the decision was made during a cabinet meeting on Monday May 5.
He explained that the K13.6 billion comprised US$1,473,732.88 and K7,762,381,878.1 earned through an earlier sale of seized properties.
The total amount of money projected to be raised from the sale of recovered properties would be in excess of K200 billion.
He said that the properties included motor vehicles, industrial and agriculture equipment, warehouse and residential properties in various towns throughout Zambia.
Out of the K116 billion cumulative total assets and cash traced as at October 1, 2007, K20 billion worth of properties had not yet been disposed off.
About 30 apartment buildings in Belgium valued at $8million were some of the items recovered as a result of growing international cooperation in asset recovery and investigation.
As at last year, K85 billion worth of assets were surrendered to the state for disposal.
The K116 billion worth of assets recovered had allegedly been plundered, stolen or unlawfully obtained between 1991 and 2001.
Ends….
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: access to information, development, human right, information bill, journalists, livingstone, my speech
Speech written and read By Sally chiwama
On the commemoration of the World Press Freedom Day May 3rd 2008,in Livingstone.
Honorable Minister, Southern Province
The Mayor of Livingstone
The District Commissioner
Fellow members of the press
Ladies and gentlemen.
Let me start by saying that today is a very special day in the life of a Journalist as this is the day when we reflect on our achievements, pitfalls and our plans for the future.
The theme for this year “freedom of information, Access to Information and Empowerment of people” is also very special because it embraces the needs and aspirations of all stakeholders, regardless of status.
By this I mean that the theme is all inclusive because freedom of information is not only for the media, or Journalists per se but the general public as well.
Information is required to be accessed in order for the public to participate meaningfully and effectively in the affairs of the society, therefore, access to information is an essential part of good governance and freedom of information and expression is a basic condition of the progress and development of citizens and society.
The government has on several occasions claimed they are in a hurry to develop the country but we in the media know that that there can be no development without a free media and hence we are calling upon government to expedite the tabling of the information bill before parliament soon as it aims at promoting a culture of openness within government.
It goes without saying that these days the freedom of information and expression is being recognized as a fundamental human right and therefore, the freedom of information bill will oblige public bodies to do more than accede to requests for information.
We however, appreciate that government has provided in the recent past a somewhat conducive atmosphere to do with proliferation of community radio stations but still remains adamant on the enactment of the freedom of information bill.
Viva Press Freedom
Viva Freedom of information
Viva World Press Freedom day
Freedom & Access to information Now!!!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Add new tag, freedom, information, Legislation, livingstone, Media, Minister, Press, Province, Southern
By Sally Chiwama
World Press Freedom Day
The World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) organizing committee in Zambia sent me to Livingstone to coordinate the World Press freedom Day activities in Livingstone. And one of the tasks I did was write the speech for the Southern Province Minister.
The speech was accepted by the Ministers office and no alterations were made to the speech.
At the same function I also on behalf of the WPFD organizing committee delivered a speech regards the media in the country.
Below is a story that appeared in the Zambia Daily Mail on May 5th 2008.
MUNKOMBWE BACKS FOI LEGISLATION.
By Wallen Simwaka
Southern Province Minister Daniel Munkombwe says information is vital for the public to effectively participate in public affairs and make the government simpler.
In a speech read for him by Deputy Permanent Secretary Aaron Zulu at the World Press Freedom day celebrations in Livingstone on Saturday May 3rd, My Munkombwe said access to information was essential to good governance.
Mr. Munkombwe said freedom of expression constituted one of the most essential foundations of a democratic society because it was a basic condition to the enjoyment of other rights.
“Without freedom of information and expression free discussions particularly on political issues such as national Constitution Conference (NCC) would be stifled,” he said.
“Mr. Munkombwe said government is aware that the free flow of information lies at the heart of the very notion of democracy. It is crucial to the effective respect of human rights”.
Government under the leadership of President Mwanawasa was committed to ensuring that human rights were respected, he said.
Mr. Mukombwe challenged media practitioners in the Southern Province to be proactive and endeavor to capture what government was doing rather than just focus on the negatives.
He, however warned the media to be careful in demanding for public information saying there should be some restrictions to certain aspects of information in the interest of national security.
And World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) organizing committee member Sally Chiwama said there would be no development without a free Media.
Ms Chiwama urged government to expedite the enactment of the Freedom of information legislation because information it would promote a culture of openness in the public sector.
“Government has always said that they are in a hurry to develop the country on several occasions but it should realize that there can be no development without a free media,” she said.
Livingstone Press Club Chairperson Florence Mwisa said the right to freedom of information was now recognized as a fundamental right because public bodies were not holding information for themselves but for the general citizenry.
Ms. Mwisa said the media would find it difficult to expose corrupt leaders if access to information was restricted unnecessarily.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: career development, Engineers, Launch, Power Stations, Victoria Falls, Zesco
THE GENDER GAP IN THE ENGINEERS FIELD IN ZAMBIA.
By Sally Chiwama
The Engineering Institute in Zambia (EIZ) has embarked on career development project that is aimed at encouraging more females to join the engineering field.
Lungu said this at the Launch of the EIZ regional branch in Livingstone
Vice Chairperson of the EIZ Eng. Julius Kazembe Lungu told this author that the response has not been excellent but rather okay and “at least it’s a start”.
“The ratios of women in the engineering world in Zambia are no great but we have started a careers development programme that is aimed at encouraging girls and women to join the engineering field” he said. He said that out of the 1428 engineers in Zambia only two (2) % were women.
He said his organization has started this from primary school level and will soon be going into the secondary schools in a bit to encourage more girls to enter the engineering field.
He also noted that there were not enough role models in the engineering fraternity to encourage girls and women to take up the engineering field.
Lungu emphasized the need for concerted efforts by all stakeholders starting from parents at home to the government especially that the number of students venturing into the engineering field had dwindled.
Asked if there was a deliberate policy to try to encourage more women to enter into engineering, Lungu said that there was no policy on women but that the board would look into coming up with a one.
Out of more than 30 Engineers at the launch only one (1) was a woman.
With all the talk of empowering women to decision making positions, one wonders whether people are walking the walk and talking the talk.
The Engineering fraternity in Zambia certainly isn’t living to that phrase.
The African Union position on 50/50 target of women and men in decision making positions and the goal 3 of the millennium development goals.
34 year old Mercy Banda was the only woman at the launch, an electrical engineer by profession says that she feels challenged to be in this profession.
Mercy started working for the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) at the Victoria Falls Power Station in 1995 and has never looked back since then. Her aim, she says “is to be one of the top women in the engineering field in the country”.
Banda says that there are three women at the Victoria Falls power station but she is the only one in Electrical Maintenance department.
She also says that in the beginning it was difficult to be accepted by the men folk in her department a they though she would never manage the job and gave her lighter jobs to do until she had to prove her self by taking up some of the most difficult ones.
“I love a challenge and like to climb poles and fix transformers, I also have to maintain the generating machines and other machines” says a confident Banda.
She says that she faces other challenges such as the gender roles as home as she is a wife and mother of two. She says that her biggest challenge is that she hardly spends time with her children as she works long hours.
Banda says that she doesn’t believe that the woman is a weaker vessel because a woman is gifted as she can multitask unlike the men folk.
“Even in the villages, a women do more work than the men folk as they have to wake up very early to fetch water and other chores and are almost all the time the last to go to bed she says.
Banda challenges fellow science subjects and venture into the engineering field. Zambian women have all the potential and should not be afraid to take up challenging jobs, she said.
Banda attributes her success in the engineering field to her supportive husband as well as her boss at the office whom she says encourages her in everything she pursues to undertake.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: CRC, Early marriage, HODI, pregant, sex, SGBV, trafficking
By Sally Chiwama in Mporokoso
Kapenda Buyamba is only 16 years old but she has already been in married two years, as if that was not enough, she is heavily pregnant and expecting her second baby. Her first one is two and half years old.
Buyamba says, she got married at a tender age of thirteen and a half after being impregnated by a boy who is now her husband. She says that there was not much to do in the camp and they had little food from her family and so she had to fend for her self most of the times. Buyamba was not ashamed to say that she was doing her first grade at one of the schools in the camp.
“Nimeowa nilikuwa na myaka kumi na tatu” (I got married when I was 13 years old,” she said in Kiswahili.
Exact figures of the number of early marriages are difficult to obtain, as so many Camp marriages are unregistered and unofficial. However, Buyamba is probably one of the many girls whose marriage will never be documented anywhere.
Namanda Mateele Project Manager of HODI a non-governmental organization that works in the camp on issues of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) says that her organization addresses issues such as early marriages, defilement and gender based violence amongst the refugee community.
Mateele says a task force on SGBV and a Youth Group were formed to look at these issues so that youths can also come together and discuss issues that concern them.
“We have formed an SGBV youth group with 56 girls and boys, this was after we realized that there was a lot of sex amongst adolescents,” said Mateele. She said that in the youth groups are encouraged to put their education ahead of anything else. She said that one of their most important tasks was to try to convince the girls that have fallen pregnant to go back to school.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) show that early marriage in any place including Mwange Refugee Camp was part of a broader approach of building a “protective environment” for children which shelters them from this type of exploitation. It adds that early marriage can have harmful consequences to children including health problems, spousal abuse and the denial of education. Once married, girls often do not go back to school.
The society at Mwange refugee camp should therefore ensures that girls have an equal opportunity in education so that families and communities are aware of the serious risks of early marriage for young girls that legislators are committed to prohibiting early marriage and that services are available to counsel young girls who have been abused.
To stop the inhuman attitude towards girls who are involved in early marriages The CRC says there should be stringent laws against the practice of child marriages, and both the governments and the civil societies should initiate campaigns in every community on the evil consequences of child marriages.
It was observed that refugees at Mwange refugee camp who have gone through early marriages have embraced the concept of going back to school even though they are young mothers and fathers.
ZAMWA spoke to Mitwele Mwelu a grade 12 pupil, married with three children who decided to go back to school.
“Nime furahi sana, kurudi kwa shule “(Am very happy to come back to school)”. Mwelu says she is even happier that she is now writing her final exams so that when she finishes high school she will also be able to work. She says that her husband encourages her to work hard as he is a teacher at the same school.
Heri Mupata a grade 11 pupils is also another married boy with a child who is very proud to be in school and says that he is preparing for his future and have a good life with his family. Mupata says his wife is also doing a skills development course and takes the baby with her when she goes for her class.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most comprehensive international instrument for the definition and enforcement of human rights of children.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the only international human rights instrument that consistently uses both masculine and feminine pronouns throughout and makes it explicit that the rights contained therein apply equally to female and male children.
The CRC Convention will soon be turning 18years old and nearing maturity, progress achieved in areas such as education and health cannot be claimed for areas such as child participation and special protection. In many parts of the world, many girls are still subjected to various forms of violence.
The CRC notes that girls are still stigmatized by societal inferior status. “They rarely have the opportunity to express their views and concerns, let alone have them taken into account. Many girls are deprived of their inheritance rights, dragged into early or forced marriages, female genital mutilation, trafficking, exploited in the sex trade or in the labor market but this must not be let to go on. Let us all join in the fight against early marriages and looking at a girl as “just a girl.”
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Charles, electricity, Kapumo falls, Mporokoso, science, Zesco
By Sally Chiwama in Mporokoso
Solar power is a good investment for most people in rural areas but for this couple, this investment did not do much for them as they only used the solar power to light up the house but not for cooking or refrigeration. They then decided to invest in a generator so that they could use such items as the fridge and cooker but this investment also proved to be too costly as the continuous buying of fuel was draining their resources.
Charles Mubanga Mumba, Zambia’s new “scientist” and Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation’s (ZESCO) new competitor then decided that with Kapumo waterfall in his backyard, he had all that he needed to generate power from it, the biggest resources he needed was his brains and his hands.
ZAMWA visited the site where Charles Mumba, a resident of Mporokoso rural has put up a Mini Hydro Power Station using a K42million generator, tractor rim and other components at Kapumo falls on Mutotoshi River.
A farmer by profession and a humble education of Form four (grade 11) from Chasa Secondary Schools in the Eastern province, Mumba decided to follow his dream and make it come true.
The dream was realized after an application to be connected to ZESCO cost him K68 million because ZESCO said that he was in the rural area and that they would need to put up a Transformer so that even other people could be connected if they applied.
He told his wife Mary about what he planned to do but the wife thought that a man can dream but it would end at just that- a dream.
“I told my wife am going to generate power from the falls but she was sure I was going mad”, says Mumba.
Mumba then says that the beginning was very tough as he had to wake up at 04:00am every day for more that one-year and this was not welcome with his wife but emphasizes that he had to do what he had to do.
“It was not easy to see my husband leave the bedroom at 04:00hrs everyday for more than a year, but I had to support my husband and accepted the situation but it was a difficult thing to accept” says Mary.
Mary also says that she only saw her husband for a few hours in a day as she had to take breakfast, lunch and supper to Kapumo falls where the husband worked with some of their children.
Mumba then explains that he started looking for drums and used over five of them to create a heavy flow of water that he had to use to turn the turbines he created from an old tractor rim and other scrap metal. He further explains that he used an old tractor rim to make a turbine and other small components. Mumba says he has been using power for six years generated for his domestic use as it supplied power to his house and his mother’s house.
He said he tried to engage some people to work with but they failed because they had little faith that electricity could be generated from his dream.
Meanwhile, Mary told ZAMWA that life is now more bearable now as she can do anything she wants around the house and does not have to worry about paying bills to ZESCO she says with a smile. She also says that the children are now able to read and study anytime of the day.
“It is only now that I realize I have an inventor for a husband” says Mary, shyly as she expertly knits a table cloth and when he told me that he wanted to generate electricity for us, I thought he was crazy, I thought he was just dreaming” it really boggled my mind”, said Mary. She further adds that she sees no difference now with her in rural Mporokoso and those that are in town and that a lot of things have changed in their life for the better.
She proudly praises her husband that he can fix anything that he can get his hands on and that that is how they make a living. Mumba chips in and says that he gets contracts from government institutions such as the Mporokoso District hospitals to fix machines such as the Ultra sound machines, motor vehicles, computers and many other things.
He also says that now a lot of people and organizations have approached him to electrify their places but lack of funds is hindering his dreams.
Mumba says that he now his two big dreams: “To light up Mporokoso so that the town should never have to rely on ZECSO and to go school but all these are hampered by lack of funds,” he says confidently.
The government has recognized Mumbas efforts and last year President Levy Mwanawasa honored him on Independence Day. In October 2007, the Ministry of Science and Technology awarded Mumba with K80million, which he is yet to receive.
Mumba electricity project is on Kapumo falls which is five kilometers west of Mporokoso.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Climate change, environment, Mwange, refugees, UNHCR, Worldvision
By Sally Chiwama in Mporokoso
There is a proverb that says, “educate a woman and you educate the whole nation”. Given that women’s knowledge and participation in disaster situations has been critical to the survival of most communities, World Vision International (WVI) in Mwange Refugee camp have put in the fore front in the fight for a clean environment and climate change.
World Vision has developed practical tools that allow women refugees to incorporate gender equality and women’s participation in environmental and climate change initiatives.
World Visions Agriculture and Natural Resource Coordinator for Mwange Project Alexie Lumbi said his organization was empowering refugees in the camp with agriculture skills and women were considered priority in most activities.
Lumbi told the Zambia Media Women Association (ZAMWA) that the refugees are empowered with a few farming implements and inputs to supplement the rations they receive from United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
“We have even formed a community environment task force that includes all the implementing partners such UNHCR, HODI, Zambia RED CROSS and WVI and the host community has been put in place to foresee all the environmental issues and we have meeting every so often to brain storm on issues that are affecting our environment”, said Lumbi.
The refugees are empowered with skills such as land rehabilitation and tree planting and sensitized on use of natural resources. Lumbi also said that to motivate the community the WVI commemorates days such the World Environment Day and recognizes the efforts of their efforts by giving them tokens of appreciation and Certificates.
The community told ZAMWA that they are happy with the skills they acquire as they know that when time comes for them to go back home they will carry the skills with them and teach their family and friends back home.
Lumbi mentioned that one of the most successful projects was the use of the energy saving Mud Stoves that are used by the women in the homes. He explained that the mud stoves use very little firewood and are energy efficient, as they do not use a lot of wood. He added that women do not trek many times to fetch firewood and that close to 80% of the Mwange refugee camp use the mud stoves.
Katele Salva a refugee trained environmental guide one of the beneficiaries of the trainings that WVI offers say that ever since she started using the energy saving mud stoves, she said that she has seen many advantages in using the stoves.
“I like using the mud stove because I do not have to go to the bush many times to fetch firewood, the fire last long, I can use it for two days and that means less trips to the bushes, also my pots don’t get dirty.” She said. Salva added that some of the things that she has learned as an environmental guide include preserving of the forest. She has since appreciated that woodcutting has lessened in the community.
World Vision also emphasize that when time comes to repatriate the refugees, the houses that have been vacated are demolished and trees or banana suckers are planted so that the land is not left bare when the refugees return to their respective countries.
Zambia is currently hosting close to 18,000 Congolese refugees in Mwange refugee camp situated 35 kilometers Southwest of Mporokoso District.
