Chisomo and the story of 'F'

Cred partner Chisomo, based in Lusaka, is best known for its work with street kids. The programmes it runs include a drop in centre for youth living on the streets, a transition house for children who were on the streets and are now wishing to be reintegrated into a home (their own or foster depending on circumstances), and community based activities to try and reduce the number of children ending up on the streets in the first place. 

But one of the lesser known parts of Chisomo’s activities is the advocacy work on behalf of individuals. The following anonymised case study outlines some of the issues that Aaron and Josephine and their team are grappling with. 

F is a 14 year old girl who grew up in a poor family in rural Zambia. One day her family were told by a community member that there was a lady in Lusaka who wanted to sponsor a teenage girl to complete her schooling. The family, who felt that they had no chance to fund their daughter themselves, jumped at the opportunity and signed the daughter up to go to Lusaka. 

Sadly the promises didn’t turn out to be true and the lady forced the girl into domestic servitude, knowing that the girl was so far from home that she’d have no chance of escaping. During this time the girl experienced the horrors of physical, sexual and verbal abuse as well as being trapped against her will. 

However, after sometime the girl did escape and managed to find her way to  the Chisomo drop in centre. There she gradually learned to trust the team and shared her story with them. They agreed to help her work out what next. 

However, they were concerned with the declining health of the girl that they were seeing and so the first course of action for the Chisomo team was to take the girl to the hospital for a full check up. It was then that she was diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes, resulting in the need for insulin treatment for the foreseeable future, as well as a complete change to the foods that she was eating. 

This is easier said than done when living on the streets, and considerable input from Chisomo was required to help the girl gain access to healthy foods, and to get her diabetes under control. It was also a steep learning curve for the team, as F was the first street kid that they had ever supported who had diabetes. 

Alongside the health support, the Chisomo team have also been working with F to decide what her options are moving forward re long term accommodation. 
One option was to explore f returning home, but the concern by all, including F, was that the family still live a precarious and impoverished life and might be tempted to send the girl off again. Also, if F returns home, then the original lady might hear about it and come chasing the family for compensation. 
So home isn’t really an option. 

Another option is to find another member of the wider family who might take in F, but the worry is that word will get back to Fs immediate family and result in the same concerns as before. 

A third option is to find a foster family. This is the preferred route, but is not an  easy one to follow. The increased cost of living means that potential foster families are less easy to find, especially for a girl who has medical costs as well as all the usual costs. F prays that a family will come forward, but in the meantime she is now staying at the Chisomo halfway home where she had some stability, can resume school, and build her ability to manage her diabetes. 

This example of Chisomo at work is one slight insight into all the advocacy and support work that they do. And sadly, there are far too many other cases where this input is needed. Indeed, the night that I heard about F’s story, the team also mentioned that the lady who trafficked F has since used the same ploy to entrap 5 other girls age between 14-16. So the next step for the team is to take the information to the police. 

Aaron and Josephine and their team do the most incredible work and it is so humbling to have them as part of the CRED family. As they continue to serve the street kids of Zambia, we pray that they will know many Blessings