A Report from Zambia
Posted on December 14, 2007 - Filed Under AIDS, Africa |
iConflict contributor Henry Namwenda, of the Youth Development Foundation in Zambia, just sent us an update on his work in Zambia.
This nation is riddled with high rates of HIV infection. A trend that grew exponentially since his country banned condom distribution in all schools. Young people like Henry (he is 19 and already making a difference in his country) are out to change that policy. Henry reports:
“The conference was one of the kind, 35 young people traveled to the capital city of Zambia, Lusaka, With a major aim of lobbying government to revist its decision of banning condoms in schools. The conference also attended by some organisation from within Lusaka, like Zambia Tuberculosis and Leprosy Trust (ZATULET)and Youth Vision Zambia (YVZ). Unfortunately the minister delegated one of his staff to instead, attend the conference on his behalf as he had other busy schedules to attend. He delegated the Ass. Director Human Resource for the Ministry of education.
The conference opened by role play which was done by the pupils and believe me you it was splendid, i wish i can send you the vedio clip. Then followed the Speech by one of the pupils by the name John Chembo. The guest of honor was mesmerized and gave a had of applause in appreciation. The guest speaker was given an opportunity to pass his sentiments. He appreciated very much the effort and agreed that the HIV privalence rate was High especially among the youth. He also agreed that it was true that few consultations were done over the issue, but challenged YDF, that they would have done more research especially from the grassroots level, were the problem is.”
We don’t know if this staffer will transmit the information over to the Education Minister, but we do know that rather than sit idle while his country is in crisis, young people, like Henry, are trying to make a difference.
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