The Republic of Zambia has the highest rate of child workers in the world.
The children range from age 4 to 14 years old and are forced to work as miners, construction workers, pesticide sprayers, haulers, street vendors, full time servants, and prostitutes. According to The New York Times, more than one in four children under 14 years of age works, and in some cases are not even paid for their labor.
Combined with abject poverty, lack of education, loss of teachers, and loss of workers in agriculture are among the many issues which fuels the most horrific problem facing the people of this country: HIV/AIDS.
According to www.avert.org/aids-zambia.htm, one in every six adults lives with HIV. In 2005, nearly 98,000 people died of AIDS. The growing rate of HIV/AIDS has left over 710,000 orphans who have no choice but to work in harsh conditions for their own survival, and millions more are forced to work because their parents are ill with the virus.
Christina Muir, a junior, feels that education is crucial for the youth in Zambia. “Information about HIV/AIDS should be taught at a young age,” said Muir. “Everything starts from knowledge.”
A nine-year-old boy named Alone Banda is one of many children who work in order to survive, according The New York Times. The boy’s mother died of AIDS and no one has seen his father in years.
Alone and his grandmother work in the quarry grounding rocks into powder to be sold for 10,000 kwacha (less than $3.00) to be used to make concrete. After heating the rocks, often by burning rubber, Alone uses a thick steel bolt to ground them into powder.
Alone describes he and his grandmother’s typical day working at the quarry to The New York Times, “I break the rocks. I get up early in the morning, before the sun rises. For breakfast, I drink tea sometimes. This morning, I didn’t eat. I’m hungry.”
Alone also attends school with 300 other children who work in the quarry.
Peter Deng, a sophomore, feels empathy for the situation in Zambia. “It is sad knowing how much the people are struggling,” said Deng. “The children suffer the most because they are forced into adulthood and never experience a real childhood.”
The issues which plague this country and have forced millions of children to undergo hard labor are vast; the answer to one problem only serves to raise another question. To “fix” the problems in Zambia is overwhelming as one broken system leads to another and cannot solve the problems faced in a complexity where each issue is intertwined with another.
If you would like to make a donation to help children in Zambia who are affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and to prevent further infections, visit www.avert.org for information.