Am on the flight from Lusaka to Nairobi,
final destination Entebbe (Uganda) and a final couple of days of project visits
/ trip preparation / time with Natalie before returning to UK.
It’s certainly been a fascinating time with
Aaron and Josephine these past few days – seeing the work of Chisomo, and just
discovering the different facets of Lusaka a little more.
Like any developing city, there are some
parts that feel very westernized and wealthy – not least the brand-new shopping
malls with no end of high-end shops, and eating-places. Those are the places
not to frequent too much after spending time with street kids, or talking about
lack of finance with people serving in such a self-less way. The cost of a
burger takes on a new meaning when viewed in terms of how many meals it equates
to at the drop-in centre – not that I ate any burgers I hasten to add, but
still the prices made me feel very uncomfortable. However, at the same time it
was nice to be able to treat Aaron and Josephine to a meal that is a very rare
treat for them, and that in itself is a thought-provoking point.
But Lusaka also has its fair share of
‘downtown’ – potholed roads, crazy traffic, bustling markets, excess of street
hawkers, rubbish everywhere, pulsing energy, high-volume banter, seedy shops,
Manchester United and Chelsea fans everywhere, and minibuses that only go when
they are twice as full as they need to be – that’s the side of Lusaka I feel
more comfortable in!
But let me tell you about Chisomo Street
Kids project, as that was the real reason for being there. I’ll try and keep it
relatively brief, but there’s a lot of angles to it – maybe I’ll save some for
another day.
Chisomo (which means grace in the local
language) was set up by Aaron and Josephine in 1991 as a result of a personal
challenge they felt the number of kids that they were seeing on the streets of
Lusaka. Initially, they did outreach on the streets – chatting to the kids,
hearing their stories, giving food and drink, and generally getting a better
understanding for the plight of the kids and the reasons for them being on the
streets in the first place.
From there came a drop-in centre, that
provides a safe place for the kids to go during the day – to get a meal of
beans and rice or nsima, to wash themselves, and their clothes, to have a sleep
where they won’t be disturbed or told to move on, and to have someone to talk
to. Some of the kids also express the wish to get off the streets, and so that
option is discussed and further steps taken as appropriate – finding the
family, working with them about the possibility of the child coming home, and
helping to prepare the child for that step.
Returning to family life isn’t
straightforward however; living on the streets means living with a new set of
rules – survival rules – and to transition from that straight to family life
can be one step too far for both the child and the family. And of course there
is also the issue of why the child left home in the first place – did poverty
force them out, in which case can the family afford to have them back; did
death of the parents leave them as orphans, in which case are there wider
family members who would consider taking them in but in a positive way, not
viewing the child as cheap labour; did the introduction of a step-parent to the
family result in the children of the previous parent being forced out, or was
it an abusive family etc? So many possible reasons why the child ended up on
the street, and so many reasons to counsel the family and child through before a
successful reintegration can be expected to take place.
Some of this counseling takes place whilst
the child is attending the drop in centre, but the next step for the child to
take on the road to reintegration is to spend time at The Shelter – kind of
like a half way house, where the children live in more of a family like
environment. It’s a residential place, and the children have to do their bit
with the daily chores – making their bed, washing their clothes, keeping the
place tidy, and just generally getting back into the way of being part of a
family environment. The children also go to school whilst at The Shelter,
helping them settle back into the education system, catch up with their
learning, and be in a better place to cope with going to school when they
return home – an expectation of all reintegrated children.
It was lovely to visit both the Drop-In
centre and The Shelter, and see the work going on there. Unfortunately a reduction
in funds coming in has meant that the numbers that Chisomo can cater for has
dropped, so neither place was as buzzing as they would like to be, but Aaron,
Josephine and the staff keep on going – doing what they can to support the
street kids, and give them the opportunity to change the trajectory their life
was on.
Another angle to the work of Chisomo is the
preventative focus – targeting families in particularly vulnerable areas who
have children at risk of going onto the streets, and working with the women to
set up self-help cooperatives. In these groups the women get training in
life-skills, health and hygiene, parenting and business skills. The women then
get help in setting up small – scale businesses, and developing a savings
scheme that they all pay into as able, and oversee between them. The children
also get access to a range of workshops, including the value of education,
life-skills, and various other aspects of why not to go to the streets.
This is a really powerful angle to the work
of Chisomo, and the staff have found that not only are there less kids running
away to the streets from these targeted communities, but also the success rate
of returning street kids staying at home is higher, as the families have a
better capacity and resilience.
So, that’s the work of Chisomo – all
birthed in a desire to be the hands and feet of Jesus, caring for widows,
orphans and vulnerable children. I’ll write another time about the issues they
are facing as a result of disjointed and poorly thought through government
demands (sounds familiar!?) but thankfully that isn’t deterring Aaron,
Josephine and the rest of Chisomo staff, who soldier on regardless. Thank you
Lord for them.
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