Lamentations of Luangwa fish traders

Jeff Zulu and Erick Phiri packing fish

DOREEN NAWA, Luangwa
JUST at the mention of the name Luangwa, what comes to one’s mind is fish. This is so because the socio-economic status of the people in this area is largely influenced by the activities which take place on the Luangwa and Zambezi rivers.
And fishing dominates them all.
Luangwa district is situated in a unique setting at the confluence of the two big rivers, Luangwa and Zambezi.
Luangwa is somewhat a border town because it is where Zambia shares a border with Mozambique along the Luangwa River on the eastern side of the district and on the southern side is the Zambezi River along which Zambia shares a border with Zimbabwe.
Its geographical location makes it the best place for fishing as an activity. And so it is.
But the imbalance in the benefits around the fishing activity is a cause of worry and anxiety among the local people.
Despite being one of the largest exporter of fish to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Luangwa has little to show for it.
“Our fish has not benefitted us in any way. For decades, we have been seeing people come here and take our fish away for export to DRC, but at the end of it all, this area has remained undeveloped and the proceeds from the fish business is directed somewhere else,” says Emmanuel Tembo, a local resident.
Mr Tembo notes with concern that the fish industry in Zambia has remained underdeveloped, with little benefit to the citizens.
“It is unfortunate that the natural endowments Luangwa has, largely remained untapped as the district has nothing to show for its rich water resources. It has vast land and favourable climate. Instead, the people that benefit are the outsiders, including those in our neighbouring countries,” Mr Tembo said.
Zambia holds about 40 percent of southern Africa’s water resources in its lakes and rivers, giving it an advantage when it comes to economic activities like fishing.
But there has not been direct benefit to the locals living around these water bodies.
Another resident, Felistus Ngoma, shares Mr Tembo’s concerns.
“If you go to the harbor, you will see huge amounts of salted fish leaving Luangwa, but at the end of it all, there are no benefits accruing to the locals. I know there is a little levy paid by these fish traders to the council, but I don’t think it is enough to steer any meaningful development in Luangwa,” Mrs Ngoma said.
Mrs Ngoma feels the export of fish to the DRC has adverse effects on not only Luangwa, but the country as a whole.
She feels that the growing population of Zambia translates into an increasing demand for fish and fish protein making the fish industry a lucrative business.
“We are aware that the growing demand of fish has resulted in widespread over-fishing, hence the need for the introduction of control because if left unchecked, we will forever lose out as a country,” Mrs Ngoma said.
For Mrs Ngoma, measures like the annual fish ban need to be fully enforced in order to control fish stocks in our rivers.
Wander over to the Luangwa harbour and you find baled tilapias as well as the famous Luangwa fish, which actually comes from Mozambique.
The bales of fish are offloaded from boats by youths at the harbor which has poor infrastructure.
But the fish stocks in these rivers are under threat.
“The fish stocks in Luangwa and Zambezi river on the Zambian side have been depleted. Currently, we get the fish from Mozambique. For us to get a good catch that will translate into meaningful profits once sold, we spend over a month in fishing camps in Mozambique. I usually take my fish to DRC and the profit is better than having it sold in Zambia,” says Veronica Mwamba, a fish trader.
Asked how much she makes every time she takes fish to DRC, Ms Mwamba says she makes over K15,000 on every tonne of fish sold.
“Just like any business venture, this fish business, too, has challenges. We find ourselves in various situations because sometimes we give bribes to people to help us have access to the DRC market,” she said.
The flow of fish goes both ways, or rather multiple ways. Zambia exports high-value fish to its neigbouring countries and around the world.
In the local supermarkets, there’s evidence that consumers are willing to spend their money on tilapia, but the preference is given to the outside market.
Unlike the DRC market, where the quality of the fish is paramount, the local supermarkets suggest that what is important to the consumers is just the name and taste of Luangwa fish.
Hence the need to ensure that sustainability goes deeper than just the fish itself. We rarely think about how sustainable the can is, nor about how the metal was mined, neither about the transport costs for the fish or packaging.
Does it matter that we eat so much of other nations’ fish, while sending our most prized delicacies to foreign buyers? The answers vary, some people worry about reports of illegal fishing practices and pollution in Zambia’s water bodies where some fish are still caught in unsustainable ways.
What is certainly true is that Zambia is continually losing a lot on the fish exports, worse off through the illegal fish exports taking place in various water bodies country-wide. PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON MARCH 19, 2017. HERE IS THE LINK: https://www.daily-mail.co.zm/?p=96603

Community health agenda necessary in Africa

DOREEN NAWA, Nairobi
THE Africa Health  Agenda  International  Conference  (AHAIC) 2017 will go down as a historic event for Community Health Workers (CHWs) across Africa following the launch of a continental campaign to get the CHWs paid and  integrated into the formal health system.
The campaign was launched during the official opening of AHAIC 2017 on March 7, at the Radisson Blu in Nairobi, Kenya.
Amref Health Africa in collaboration with the African Union (AU) and other partners launched this campaign aimed at making community health workers (CHW) available to everyone everywhere in Africa.
The campaign is called Workers not Volunteers campaign.
The campaign was initiated to acknowledge that CHWs close the gap between communities and the formal health system on the continent.
“CHWs have an important role in health promotion, disease prevention and referral of community members to the formal health system,” says Amref Health Africa Group chief executive officer Dr Githinji Gitahi.
For Dr Gitahi, achieving global health security is only possible if communities in Africa are able to take charge of their health needs including community-based disease surveillance, early disease detection, referral and treatment.
“Considering  that  more  than  50  per cent  of  Africans  do  not  access  the  formal  health  system,  Community  Health  Workers  are  a  critical  and  necessary  part  of  the    continent’s    health    infrastructure,    helping    to  link  communities  to  the  health  system,”  Dr Gitahi says.
There is no doubt that community health workers are the backbone of a competent community health system.
A functional community health system is key to achieving universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) health goals.
It is against this background that World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti stressed the importance of a community-based health system, as this was where the health care need was most pressing. 
According to Dr Moeti, many countries in Africa have trained and continue to train CHWs but unable to retain them in service.
Dr Moeti said the current CHWs attrition rate in Africa are as high as 77 percent in some countries.
She notes that as a result of being volunteers, CHWs drop out when they realise that they cannot be formally employed and remunerated with salary and benefits.
“CHWs play an important role in community healthcare. Yet often they have to use personal time and resources to provide to their community members as volunteers,” Dr Moeti said.
And AU Commissioner for Social Affairs Dr Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko said the goal of the campaign is that by 2022 CHWs will be adequately remunerated and recognized as part of the national health workforce by African governments.
Dr Kaloko said among the specific outputs of the campaign is that by 2022 there will be a substantially increased numbers of CHWs who are adequately remunerated by governments and supported by defined salary levels.
“From this campaign, we aim that by 2022 countries will have integrated CHWs into the formal health workforce, supported by policies, and will have up-to-date registeries, standardised national training curricula and accreditation frameworks as part of meeting the Work Force 2040 targets,” Dr Kaloko said.
The event drew the attendance of more  than  700  delegates,  which  is  almost  double  the initial number expected.
And a Kenyan community health volunteer at Mashimoni Health Unit Patrick Malachi who attended the AHAIC also presented the CHV toolkit to delegates and policy makers for signing.
The toolkit will be used to advocate the integration of CHWs into the health workforce.
Mr Malachi said, to him being a volunteer entails that being there anytime he is needed by the community members to help in any way on matters of health, regardless of the time.
“We want the government and health stakeholders to understand the work we do, how much it entails and the need for us to be recognised and paid” he said.
The Africa Health Agenda International Conference is a major step in giving the CHVs the recognition they need, with the launch and signing of the CHW toolkit as this guarantees some form of action in this regard.
Mr Malachi added, “I hope the organisations involved feel challenged to see to the recommendations passed are discussed and implemented, that it’s not just the act of signing and then they forget about it.”
To him, the signing of the toolkit ensures a brighter future for CHWs.
The fact that people trust him and entrust their lives to him for their health needs is enough assurance that what he does is right and helpful.
This alone gives him satisfaction and motivation to keep working and serving his community.
“Serving my people and seeing them healthier by the day gives me joy. It makes me love my work as when my people are happy, I am happy” he says.
And speaking at the closing of the 5 day conference, Wellbeing Foundation  Africa’s Founder and  President, Toyin Saraki noted that the Sustainable Development Goals provide a new framework for global health hence the need for the Africa Health Agenda to be a distinct part of this global agenda for change.
Mrs Saraki said in order to see this change, there is need to generate home grown solutions to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals across the continent and to also share scientific research findings, evidence and best practices addressing health and health systems in Africa.
“Another key element to the transformation we want to see, there is need to identify and discuss and gaps and challenges in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa,” Mrs Saraki said.
And in a communique, it has been noted that over the past five days, Africa has once again seen the power of home-grown innovation in addressing the unique challenges of achieving universal healthcare in the continent.
It is understood that Africa’s health system remains weak and fragmented due to decades of under-investment: with 11 percent of the world’s population, it accounts for 24 percent of the global disease burden, has an emerging and high burden of infectious diseases, poor women’s and children’s health and the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases.
Whereas community based healthcare has the potential to contribute to better health outcomes, the gap between the community health and formal health systems remains wide.
Fifty percent of Africans still do not have access to quality healthcare.
It is undeniable that if community participation and ownership be at the center of primary health care and universal health coverage, given the critical role that the community health system plays in linking households to the formal health system, Africa can experience the much needed transformation in healthcare provision. PUBLISHED ON MARCH 12, 2017

Human resource improvement key to achieving SDG on health

CHAs, Nelly Mwandila and Veronica Pansi in Chibombo

DOREEN NAWA, Lusaka
WITHOUT improvements to the human resources situation in the health sector, the health-related Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved.
The problems are multiple, the most serious being staff shortages, particularly, in rural and remote areas.
In many countries, Zambia inclusive, the effects of insufficient capacity development in the health care system are aggravated by migration and a mounting burden of disease.
As a result, poor and vulnerable communities countrywide still face many barriers to health care, including stretched services.
The health of people in poor communities is further compromised by a lack of access to transport, clean water and sanitation and nutrition. This means that they require services that can respond to a complex mix of challenges.
And to address this challenge, the use of community health workers becomes handy.
In Zambia, community health workers are an important resource in the health delivery in rural areas as well as densely populated townships in major cities in the country.
Community health assistants, as they are commonly known in Zambia, fulfil a significant role in improving access to health care for poor communities.
They create a link between the health system and communities. They also have the potential to improve access to sectors other than health, creating avenues to services such as social welfare and housing.
Currently, Zambia has 1,600 trained community health assistants who provide a wide range of care-related services in poor communities, Ministry of Health spokesperson Kennedy Malama says.
Dr Malama says the community health assistants provide a wide range of care- related services, which include conducting health promotion activities and awareness about diseases, and identifying and attending to minor ailments.
“Community health assistants can also refer chronic conditions for treatment to the nearest health centre, conducting defined activities in areas such as treatment and counselling support for TB and HIV, malaria, rehabilitation, hypertension and diabetes, and connecting communities to resources and services,” he says.
Dr Malama says Zambia has two training institutions at Ndola School of Medicine in Ndola and Mwachisompola in Chibombo district where Community health assistants undergo a one year course.
“For Zambia, we made policy decision that we will start training community health assistants and we have trained 1600 of community health assistants so far. These are grade 12s. They are trained for a year after going through practicals. We have two training institutions where they are trained; Mwachisompola and Ndola respectively. And once they graduate, they are certified and put on a pay roll as a salary,” Dr Malama says.
The question of remuneration for community health assistants in Zambia and other low income countries remains contentious.
In most cases, community health assistants get motivation through incentives such as monetary and non-monetary in most cases.
However, there is enough evidence that volunteerism has contributed to demotivating the community health assistants worldwide.
As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) has consistently recommended an adequate compensation that improves health worker motivation, retention and performance.
Additionally, fair and consistent wages ensure a stable income and livelihood for community health workers.
Although paying workers requires a modest investment of resources, cost should not be a significant barrier if governments and donors prioritise primary care.
In meeting the WHO recommendation, Dr Malama says, “Zambia is already implementing the recommendation and cannot be done overnight, it’s a process. We are looking at ways of scaling up the training of community health assistants and they are supposed to spend 80 percent in the community and 20 percent at the health centre in the community to do health promo, disease prevention and treatment and linking community in terms of referral.”
The success of the efforts has caused not only government agencies, but also nonprofit organizations, faith-based groups and health care providers to create paid positions for community health workers to help reduce, and in some cases, eliminate the persistent disparities in health care and health outcomes in underprivileged communities.
Although research shows how effectively community health workers can contribute to the improvement of health care provision, many of these programmes have failed in the past. This failure comes from the expectation that they act as a single solution to a complex set of problems, including weak health systems.
It also stems from the misconception that community health assistants are a cheap alternative to providing services to underserviced communities.
A community health assistant, Chabu Kalenga of Rufunsa district says from his experience, community health assistants serve as a bridge between the community and the health care, government and social service systems but very little is done to motivate them.
“As community health assistants, we have a lot of work and among them is helping individuals, families, groups and communities develop their capacity and access to resources, including food, quality care and health information,” Mr Kalenga says.
Mr Kalenga says among several other duties, the community health assistants also include helping health care and social service systems become culturally relevant and responsive to their service population.
Despite all the work that community health assistants do, they face a myriad of challenges. These challenges hinder their potential to provide outreach services.
Mr Kalenga says very few community health assistants have received training in line with their work.
“We report for work every day and very little is done to better our work in terms of training and decent remuneration. A lot of us have only received training that involved sectors other than health such as the police and social welfare services. This only helped shape our roles which in turn enabled them to provide broader services beyond health. But a specific training will be ideal for effective health delivery,” Mr Kalenga says.
Limited finances to enable community health assistants to accompany clients to access services such as distant hospitals or registering for a social grant has been a challenge too.
Looking at the significance of the community health assistants, can only be successful if there are several changes in the system that govern them. This includes increasing efforts to formally incorporate them into the health workforce in ways that recognise their unique needs. PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON MARCH 5, 2017. LINK: https://www.daily-mail.co.zm/human-resource-improvement-key-to-achieving-sdg-on-health/

Fish trading: Women want catch of the day too

Esther Mwanza on the shores of Luangwa River buying fish

...we are not in fish busness for sex
DOREEN NAWA, Luangwa

ESTHER Mwanza, 38 of Nyimba District, town center area has one personal business motto: “If my family is uncomfortable with this business venture, I quit.”
But that has not happened yet in the past 10 years of her fish trading.
Esther is now a semi Feira resident because she spends some time in Feira area chasing orders for fish as it lands from Mozambique.
Fishing is seasonal and when it is rainy season, because of too much water in the Luangwa River, she spends about three days before she travels back to Nyimba district.
But when the water levels are low in the Luangwa River, she spends up to five days before buying her desired quantity.
“I have established reliable customers for my fish and because of that, I have an assured market such that even if I take more than three days to return, my customers still wait for the fish,” Ms Mwanza said.
She joined the fish trading business in 2007 with very minimal start-up capital.
Having been married for over 15 years now, Ms Mwanza is thankful to her husband for providing the best support.
“I have been married for 15 years. when I proposed the business idea of fish trading to my husband, he supported it and gave me a go-ahead. Just this was enough support to give me the zeal to work hard and make this business viable and beneficial to our three children,” Ms Mwanza said.
Her formal education includes a grade nine certificate, with a craft certificate in tailoring she obtained from Chipata Trades Training School.
Despite Ms Mwanza’s success and support from the family, the fish trading business for women carries a negative connotation which smacks of some discrimination against the women engaged in the trade.
Mostly, women who engage in the business are said to be in it for sex.
But for Ms Mwanza, she says despite the gender division of economic activities in fish trading, her focus is to gain profit from the business for her family.
The lack of economic opportunities for women at fish-landing sites in Luangwa has been described as a key contributing factor to the vulnerability of women.
However, the economic vulnerability of women does not only result from the desperate profit generation between men fishing and women selling fish, it also emerges from the inability, or lack of women at the landing site to negotiate access the price of fish.
She acknowledges the societal negative thinking about women in the fish business.
“The moment a woman ventures into fish trading, the way society looks at her immediately changes. She is perceived as one who is in the business for sex,” she says.
But for Ms Mwanza, the notion has not discouraged her.
“As women fish traders, we travel regularly to remote fishing camps to purchase fish and this doesn’t not mean that all of us travel there for sex, actually it’s just a generalised statement. Society should change the way it looks at us, we are not sex objects, we are independent beings that can positively contribute to economic growth even in a little way,” she says.
For Ms Mwanza, she owes her success in the fish business to the thinking she has cultivated over the years of ignoring the societal negative feedback towards women.
She considers most what her family, especially her husband, says on the venture she is undertaking.
And the Luangwa-Feira Fish trading Association vice-chairperson Anthony Mwansa says, “It is very sad the way this country stereotypes women, and a woman cannot be intelligent, young and maybe slightly attractive and not have any relationship with anyone for them to move up.”
Mr Mwansa says society believes that a woman cannot be successful in her own right.
She must have had a driving force behind her, a sponsor preferably a man who pushed her and handed her the position on a silver platter.
Mr Mwansa says such thinking can dampen the zeal for women to work hard and empower themselves through various business ventures.
“Even when a woman buys a car, it doesn’t matter whether she is single or married, for society it is an issue. People will start examining the source of the car. A woman cannot drive her own car no matter how simple the car is without rumours swirling that it must have been a gift from a lover.
Rumours of most women fish traders being involved in extramarital affairs are everywhere even in fish trading. We haven’t seen any confusion at the harbour because of extramarital affairs issues,” Mr Mwansa says.
He says it is not only in fish trading where women are stereotyped but even in other jobs and professions.
And a male fish trader, Martin Njovu, adds, “Time is now for women to stand up and change this thinking towards them. Such kind of thinking has resulted in women not venturing into income-generating activities. Currently in this country, a woman cannot clinch a job without being accused of landing that job through sex,” Mr Njovu said.
Mr Njovu adds, “It won’t matter if she is a hard worker. A woman cannot get into politics in this country without people questioning the source of her resources. It is socially illegal for a woman to own a house without being accused of reap off a man,” he says.
Despite the stereotyping, Ms Mwanza says the secret to success in the fish trading has always been her positive attitude.
“There is no energy that can mimic what is released when a positive, high-stepping woman enters a room. A positive attitude is the fuel needed to drive us from idea conception to realisation,” she concludes. PUBLISHED ON MARCH 5, 2017. LINK:https://www.daily-mail.co.zm/?p=96038

New-born makes it home, saved by blood donor

DOREEN NAWA, Lusaka
AS Elizabeth Jere, 23 of Lusaka’s Mtendere cradles her daughter, she is grateful that a blood donor has given her tiny bundle of joy a chance to live.
Sitting on the bed waiting to be discharged from the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), she cannot wait to go home and introduce the new member to her family. Her new-born baby was able to go home because an unknown blood donor had donated blood to her through the Zambia National Blood Transmission Service (ZNBTS).
“I never thought my baby would need a litre of blood within two days of being born. I thank God for the blood donor. My daughter has a rare blood type -B negative - and we struggled to find it,” Ms Jere narrates.
And strangely, a few weeks after giving birth, Ms Jere started feeling dizzy; sometimes tired and generally weak.
She initially thought it could probably be an indication of iron deficiency.
“The trouble is that I was not sure if I was feeling that way due to iron deficiency, because during antenatal lessons, we were told that most new mums usually feel tired. So I thought I was feeling low because of the baby blues, or the other challenges that come with caring for a new-born,” she says.
Ms Jere tried to observe if she had other symptoms of iron deficiency, such as irregular heartbeat (palpitations), breathlessness, and paleness, but she had no such warning signs.
A few days later, she just collapsed while coming out of the bathroom.
“The next thing is that I found myself on a hospital bed in UTH with a tube of blood streaming into my veins. My daughter, Grace was nowhere near my bed. It was like I had woken up from slumber, not knowing what was going on,” Ms Jere said.
Grace is her first child and while she was pregnant, Ms Jere had no idea that she and her new-born baby would be needing blood.
“Until this experience, I had no idea that my daughter and I would have a shortage of blood to a point of almost losing our lives” she says.
After undergoing a blood transfusion, Ms Jere was discharged from hospital and today she is enjoying good health.
“I will forever remain grateful to the blood donors because they saved our lives. My heart is full of gratitude, how I wish I could know the person that shared their blood with us,” Ms Jere says.
As she spoke, she was visibly touched by people who live a lifestyle of donating blood to save the lives of people they hardly know.
“When I reflect on my time in the Intensitive Care Unit (ICU) when I needed three transfusions to stay alive, I also think about the sick babies and young children that hospitals take care of on a daily basis. I have come to appreciate that donating blood is vital and it goes a long way in helping someone in need,” Ms Jere says.
Blood donors do indeed save lives and help the needy live healthy lives, but unfortunately many patients requiring transfusion do not have timely access to safe blood because of the dwindling trends in blood donation.
ZNBTS director Joseph Mulenga says donating blood is a simple process.“It is a four-step process,” he says, “a quick registration, medical history and mini-physical checkup, then donation and (serving of) refreshments. It is a safe process, and a sterile needle is used only once for each donor and then discarded,” Dr Mulenga adds.
He explained that the actual blood donation takes about 10-12 minutes.
The entire process, from the time you arrive to the time you leave, takes about an hour and 15 minutes.
Health experts say that on average, an adult has about 10 pints of blood in his body. Only one pint (450ml) is given during a donation.“A healthy male donor may donate blood every three months, and for females it is every four months because of their nature,” Dr Mulenga says.
But why should one donate blood?
Dr Mulenga says one does not need a special reason to give blood, but most blood donors say they are inspired to so because they “want to help others.”
“Whatever your reason, the need (for blood) is constant and your contribution is important for a healthy and reliable blood supply.
“And you’ll feel good knowing you’ve helped save a life,” Dr Mulenga says.
But collecting blood is not as simple as the process is, and blood transfusions currently face interesting challenges worldwide.
“Transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs), such as HIV, hepatitis virus, syphilis, and malaria have provoked a greatly heightened emphasis on safety with inescapable implications for the complexity and cost of providing a transfusion service,” Dr Mulenga says.
One of the biggest challenges to blood safety, particularly in Zambia and the sub-Saharan Africa is accessing safe and adequate quantities of blood and blood products.
Dr Mulenga says communities in Zambia and Africa as a whole face several enduring challenges such as chronic blood shortages, high prevalence of TTIs, lack of national blood transfusion services, recruitment and retention of voluntary non-remunerated donors, and several myths and fears.
“Addressing these challenges should be a central priority in order to have successful blood transfusion services, particularly in African countries like Zambia, to ensure the uninterrupted supply of safe blood and blood products,” Dr Mulenga says.
He adds that blood donation is a life-saving activity because blood cannot be manufactured in a laboratory neither bought from a pharmacy.
“Blood is in the veins of humans. That is why people have to consider blood donation as an important service to humans,” Dr Mulenga says.
Blood is donated at one’s free will and without payment to the donor.
Zambia has blood collection centres in all the 10 provincial centres, however, the country continues to face a deficit in the supply of blood to patients in need.
According to Dr Mulenga, the country needs about 150,000 units of blood per year to sufficiently cater for Zambia’s growing blood needs.
According to the ZNBTS statistics, the quantity of donated blood has been declining in the past years.
In 2013, collected blood units were 113,386, in 2014 the quantity went down to 109,269 units and further down to102, 341 units in 2015.
“The country only manages to get 100,000 units of donated blood, leaving a deficit of 50,000 units. There is need for more Zambians to come forward and donate blood which can save more lives in hospitals,” Dr Mulenga says. PUBLISHED IN ON MARCH 2, 2017.

Hidden face in free primary education

ANGELINA Tembo, 69, with her grandson Davey

--Poverty is a driving factor in rural areas 

DOREEN NAWA, Lusaka

ANGELINA Tembo, 69, of Kapila village in Chibombo district recalls how she battled for three years to ensure that one of her four orphaned grand-children, a girl, reached grade eight.
The dream was short-lived; in 2012, she fell pregnant and dropped out of school in her seventh grade.
A year later, she was married.
It is Ms Tembo who forced her into marriage.
“I regret allowing her to go into marriage because she is not happily married. She has marital disputes more frequently than expected. Now she has two children and their living conditions are getting worse. She fends for the children more than her husband,” Ms Tembo says.
Ms Tembo’s four grand-daughters relocated to the village in 2010 when their single mother passed on.
Since then, life has never been easy.
It was done due to the harsh living conditions at the village that she received money and allowed her grade seven daughter to get married.
“I tried my best then to meet her school needs like pencils and books, but at times, it was a challenge because I had to take care of the other three children too,” she says.
The struggle has continued, and it is four years now.
She still has difficulties providing school requirements for other three grand-children. In fact, the three are not even in school currently, and there is little she can do about the scenario.
This is in the midst of free primary school education.
“I personally appreciate the provision of free primary education but for us in rural areas, it is still a challenge to get our children into school because of other requirements like uniforms, books, school bags, shoes and pencils,” Ms Tembo says.
“Here in Kapila village, most children of school-going age are not attending school regularly all because of these requirements.”
Put clearly, the high poverty levels in rural areas are contributing to the number of children not attending school.
For Ms Tembo, she knows that education can make a difference in one’s life particularly for the poor and vulnerable. That is why she wants further interventions to enable children stay in school.
“Unless poverty levels are reduced in rural areas, the dream of education for all will not be achieved because of the different barriers that hinder the equal access to education,” she says.
It is 15 years ago since Zambia joined the international community in making a commitment to provide universal primary school education for all children.
While considerable progress has been made, today there are still over 350,000 primary school aged children out of school.
Data published by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) last year showed that there are 150,141 are girls and 200,048 are boys who are out of school.
In 2015, the number of children out of school was over 500,000 of which 242,616 were boys and 261,094 were girls. 
Chibombo, a district sandwiched by Kabwe and Lusaka, was the hub for Kabwe rural under the UNIP government’s decentralisation policy, but it is only now that it is beginning to develop.
Its district commissioner acknowledges that Government has indeed continued to face challenges in ensuring that free access to education meets its intended objectives.
Barnabas Musopelo says while making access to education possible, lack of certain school requirements has contributed to most children not attending school.
“Poverty is a major barrier. It forces children to become involved in raising money for their homes when they are supposed to be in school,” Mr Musopelo says.
“Other barriers such as the lack of books, uniforms and shoes, teenage pregnancy, child marriages and child labour are also contributing to low access.”
Mr Musopelo acknowledges that there can be no greater investment in developing a community than that of educating its children.
“We will continue to partner with organisations that are taking practical steps to rescue the children from harmful labour practices and child marriages by directly supporting children to go back to school and stay in school,” he says.
Mr Musopelo says Government has demonstrated its willingness to not only make primary education free but also allow non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to also play their part.
Prior to 2015, Education for All (EFA), a global movement led by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), aiming to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015 and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), gave developing countries an incentive to attain universal primary education (UPE) through accelerated and scaled strategies and one of them was the abolition of primary tuition fees.
Abolishing tuition fees is one such strategy, which is seen as a measure to improve enrolment and participation rates.
Tuition fees and other private costs of schooling are viewed as a barrier to accessing and completing primary education. 
To cushion the burden on school requirements, Youth First Development (YFD) launched an initiative called the Stay in School Programme, which is aimed at helping children who have lost hope on school get a second chance in life by providing school fees and other basic school requirements.
YFD board chairperson, Cooper Chibomba notes that in advancing the education of children, his organisation is committed to working closely with the government in ensuring that children access education and to partner with every school to track the progress of children in their education.
“We are also entering into an agreement with parents to ensure that no child is left behind. We commend the government for making primary education free. This is a very progressive move and we know that the government means well,” Mr Chibomba says.
But as Ms Tembo’s scenario shows, mere access to schooling by abolishing tuition fees is not enough. Provision of other basic school requirements like books, uniforms and other requirements can help keep children in school. PUBLISHED ON MARCH 1, 2017.