Visit to Chisomo – by Charlene

Last week I had the opportunity to spend some time at the Chisomo drop-in centre which is one of MCC’s partner organizations here in Lusaka. We are helping them set up a basic website that they will be able to use in fund-raising efforts in the United States. Chisomo offers schooling, food and lodging to help get kids off of the street and I was there to take photos and get some stories of the children involved in the programs there.

After a very short period of initial shyness the kids warmed up to me very quickly. It seemed that all it took was for me to take out my camera and then they were all ready to pose. Zambians love to have their photo taken and they are aware of digital technology and right away ask to see the picture displayed on the window on the back of the camera. Whenever I took a group photo the question was right away “Can you make them one, one, one?” Which translates to can they have one each.

The kids were keen to show off their talents and soon there were kids hanging upside down out of trees, kids drumming and kids singing and dancing. So much for the idea of being discreet and taking casual photos of everyday life!

These boys are making toy cars out of barbed wire

The Drummers

The Dancers

Most people in Zambia get their clothes from salaulas which are markets that sell used clothes that get donated from North America and the U.K. I got a kick out of reading all of their T-shirts, they said everything from Tim Hortons (sigh…), 4H, Spiderman, the Ontario Rodeo (who knew?) to Siemens electronics.

I also sat with a few of the kids to record their stories to go on the Chisomo website. The stories they told just boggled my mind but they spoke them very matter-of-factly and seemingly without exaggeration. I’d like you to meet a girl named Memory…

Memory

“I will be a nurse” was the statement from the quiet 11 year old when asked what her hopes are for the future. Not long ago, this girl didn’t have any dreams beyond getting her next meal.

Memory lived with her grandmother in Kabwe after her mother had died. While living with her grandmother she was not allowed to go to school and her grandmother would beat her and leave her in a room padlocked from the outside all day long and she did not get enough food. At night she and her siblings were forced to sleep on the floor rather than on the available beds. Memory describes her life there as a constant struggle.

One day she was told that they were going on a trip to visit some relatives and she was brought from Kabwe to Lusaka where her family abandoned her and left her to fend for herself on the streets. At only ten years old she was very scared and she spent the first night in a police station. While walking in town the next day, a woman stopped and talked to Memory and then took her to Chisomo drop-in centre.

Memory was spared from having to live on the streets and she is really enjoying staying at Chisomo. She is currently studying in Grade 4. She has very few memories of her mother but she remembers her as a beautiful, tall, slender lady with a dark complexion and she remembers that her mother said that nurses are good people so Memory has set herself a goal for when she grows up.