Miss Africa joins the Lesson for Life

Fifty children including orphans with disabilities participated in a celebration marking the Lesson for Life that involved 100,000 children in Zambia on World AIDS Day. Miss Zambia, Cynthia Kanema recently crowned, as Miss Africa International was the celebrity at the event with the Guest of honor being the Deputy Minister in the Office of the Vice President, Mrs. Rose Banda. The children presented poems, drama and took part in a Lesson for Life exercise, which involved writing Good News letters on their vision of an AIDS-free country. The event was covered by three national dailies and a television crew.

In Zambia, the Lesson for Life has drawn thousands of children from all provinces through non-governmental organizations such as World Vision, Plan, Zambia Civic Education Association (ZCEA), Zambia Open Community Schools (ZOCS) for Lusaka schools, Zambia Community Schools Secretariat (ZCSS) covering the country, Children in Need (CHIN), Forum for African Women Educationalists Zambia (FAWEZA), Jesus Cares Ministries, Christian Alliance for Children, Cheshire Homes, Christian Children’s Fund (CCF), Youth Alive, and UNICEF. A number of other local NGOs are still voluntarily stepping in to participate.

Vice-President Lupando Mwape has commended the efforts of the National Coalition for the Global Movement for Children mobilizing more than 50,000 children across the country to participate in the ‘Lesson for Life’.

He said the Government would give the necessary support to organizations promoting the participation of children in national development particularly in the fight against HIV/AIDS. 'The Government and the country faces a daunting task to reverse the ravages of HIV/AIDS in the different sectors of our country.'

He said Government was aware of the challenges that children faced in Zambia. The phenomenon of child poverty had given Government a serious challenge to mitigate the impacts of poverty arising mostly from AIDS deaths and unemployment. 'There are many children facing depravation in the areas of health, nutrition, education, shelter including emotional and psychological depravation. The Government is doing every thing possible to address the situation of children and I would like to acknowledge the important role that has been played by non-governmental organizations in supplementing the efforts of Government.'

GMC Zambia Chairman Martin Silutongwe, expressed concern that children were hard hit by the pandemic, which had made many orphans out of them. 'Deaths largely in the reproductive age group means that children lose their parents/ guardians every day to AIDS at a time in their lives when they need parental support and guidance most. The HIV/AIDS epidemic gets a human face when its human toll is not taken as statistics but as parents, brothers, sisters and daughters and sons who are beloved family members.'

Since the beginning of the epidemic, 650,000 children in Zambia had lost their mothers, fathers or both parents to the disease and projections indicate that by 2009, a total of 895,000 children will have been orphaned by AIDS. The true number of cumulative AIDS cases in Zambia is not well known but according to projection models the total was more than 60,000 by the end of 1998. Over 70,000 people a year contract the virus and between 90,000 and 100,000 persons develop full-blown AIDS each year.

The impact of HIV/AIDS epidemic apart from wreaking havoc with lives of children had also paralyzed domestic or household economies with some children expected to contribute to the family budget on a daily basis. Poverty and family disintegration due to HIV\AIDS deaths had created a class of children growing up either on their own as a household or on the street.

'Children migrate to the streets to live permanently or to work and return home. This has led to terms such as children in the street and children of the street. Children in the street are those who eat, work and spend the day on the street but have a home to return to at the end of the day. Children of the street work, eat, live and sleep on the street and may have no home to return to.'

Another negative impact of orphanhood was that children lost much of their rights.'A growing number of orphans are suffering from loss of health care, schooling, inheritance. They suffer homelessness, vagrancy, starvation and exposure to HIV infections particularly among girl children as they engage in survival sex to make a living. The family disintegration that goes with orphaning is particularly harsh on children with disabilities who may need assistance to get from place to place or special care.'

He explained that the GMC was a world wide movement of organizations and people including children uniting to build a world fit for children. It came into being about five years ago when a number of agencies came together to announce their commitment to building a Global Movement for Children with the aim of drawing all those who believe that rights of children must be a first priority.

'The Global Movement for Children (GMC) would like to highlight the participation of children as one of the important aspects in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The Global Movement for children has launched a world campaign on orphans and vulnerable children, HIV and AIDS. The campaign goal of the GMC is to mobilize people and political will to protect the rights and ensure the wellbeing of children affected by HIV/AIDS. One of the campaign objectives is to boost the level of understanding on HIV/AIDS and on the situation of Orphans and vulnerable children amongst children and young people thus promoting solidarity and awareness.'

Acknowledging the effective cooperation among Government and civil society in tackling HIV/AIDS, he noted that various bodies had worked together consistently.

Ms Temba commended World Vision and GMC partners for their intense efforts in ensuring that the Movement continues to surge forward. It was the shared vision that united all parties 'and the realization that no single organization can realize this vision alone.'

Of the 12 million children globally who had lost at least one parent to the pandemic, Zambia is estimated to have contributed more than half a million.'All have suffered losing a parent to AIDS and growing up in circumstances without the support and care of their immediate family. HIV/AIDS is not just separating families; it has disproportionately affected the young and has continued to deliver a crushing blow to the next generation.'

'In Zambia, as in much of the developing world, HIV/AIDS has severely affected sectors that were achieving results for children, thus unraveling decades of painstaking progress and investment.'

Miss Zambia, also Miss Africa International, told the gathering that the display of talent she had seen was 'just amazing.' She pledged to commit herself to helping children during and after her reign.

Hailing GMC partners for a successful and eye-opening event, Miss Zambia whose real name is Cynthia Kanema, told the children: 'We will stand by you. We know it is a difficult world out there but we will hold your hand and stand by you.'