Zambia's problems with alcohol abuse

Zambian's the world biggest drinkers

WHO evidence shows that Zambian women are the biggest consumers of alcohol in the world. The horrible reality is that alcohol destroys lives in Zambia. 

The survey shows that Zambia as a nation has the worst problem with alcohol that any other country in the world with men and women consuming enormous amounts of alcohol. Perhaps the most worrying aspect of the statistics presented by the World Health Organization is that the problem is worst among Zambian women with the evidence suggesting that 42% of Zambian women drink to excess at least once a week. The statistics unfortunately do not lie as wherever and whenever one travels in Zambia one will witness drunkenness. The statistics only partly reflect the reality as well as it is commonplace to see men, women and children drunk to an extreme one might consider impossible at all times of day and night. I have seen elderly women barely able to walk due to intoxication in the middle of an afternoon and have witnessed teenage girls taking drinks from much older men in bars across Zambia. Many teenage girls fall into dependency upon alcohol and often will take drinks from men in return for sex. Alcohol abuse in Zambia is explicitly linked to prostitution and subsequently to the spread of HIV/Aids, teenage pregnancy and other associated social evils. The situation is out of control across the country.

The situation isn't confined to cities either - alcoholism extends into the compounds and villages. Cheap alcohol is readily available across the country. Some is sold legally in shops where other brews are made in homes and sold to unlicensed shebeens for sale within communities. One can buy alcohol at any time of day or night from markets that trade all night. Although such trade is illegal the law is not enforced by the authorities.

The problem permeates across the whole of society but as always those who suffer most are those living in poverty and tragically the biggest victims are often children. The most tragic aspect which the statistics do not reflect is the level of drunkenness and alcoholism among children. It is no wonder children turn to alcohol. After all what sort of example are they set by their parents, uncles and aunts and even grandparents? One of the busiest nights of the year in Zambia is when Grade 12 children complete their exams. Children flood into bars and nightclubs and often subsequently in to a life dominated by alcohol abuse.

 I only hope that the Zambian government is now stirred into action and legislates to reduce access to alcohol in the country. President Ian Khama in Botswana adopted hardline measures to reduce alcohol abuse in his country and I would suggest it's time that President Sata adopted similar measures to his neighbours. The banning of “Tujili jili” in 2012 showed the political will to address the issue of alcoholism in the nation but unfortunately little has happened since and traders have now circumnavigated the legislation but repackaging cheap alcohol for sale to the Zambian public.

The unique nature of ZIS

The Thembinkosi Foundation exists to build and sustain Co-educational school in Sub Saharan Africa. We are not the only organisation committed to the building of schools in the region but we are one of a few organisations committed to ensuring the sustainability of the schools we build. We aim to ensure that our project is self sufficient and sustainable through:
The building and running of our own schools. This ensures that the fruits our work is not squandered by corrupt government or local officials, as is sadly so often the case in the developing world. We at Thembinkosi Foundation ensure that our employees are accountable for the quality of education that they provide and that sustainable support is provided to our staff.
The charging of fees for the majority of students attending ZIS. This should ensure financial sustainabilty within the first three years of operation. Evidence suggests that private schooling not only benefits the middle classes in the developing world but benefit all.
Private schools to benefit the poor
Ensuring that day to day self sufficient nature of our community through the keeping of animals, the growing of crops, the use of sustainable bio fuels and the use of solar and micro hydro electric power. ZIS will be built on the banks of the Zambezi thus ensuring a sustainable source of water for our agricultural projects.

Zambezi International School

Thembinkosi Foundation has been developed and has taken on an added dimension. It is no longer merely a blog about my experiences of living and working in Botswana and Zambia and my thoughts about life and religion in Sub Saharan Africa. Thembinkosi Foundation now has a mission to bring high quality education to Zambia. The Thembinkosi Foundation will seek to raise the required funds to build and sustain the Zambezi International School on the shores of the Zambezi River in the Kazangula District of Southern Province, Zambia. The project we invisage is tremendously exciting and we are sure can have a real impact in developing and sustaining education across the region.

TV Evangelism and its impact on Sub Saharan Africa

Being a minister of God may not sound like the normal route to becoming rich. Certainly here in Europe one does not think of one's local Priest or Vicar as being in it for the money. However, in other parts of the world Christianity is big business! The phenonomean of the American TV Evangelist has spread across the world and is particularly influential in the developing world. Millions of people hoping for a better life are taken in by charlatans such as Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Paul Crouch and T.D. Jakes. These ruthless conmen and their associates have broadcasting deals established all over Sub Saharan Africa. TBN and other such networks are broadcast from daybreak to beyond sunset into the homes of millions of Africans. In many cases it is the only channel on air during the morning and afternoon as the national networks often don't come on air until evening. As a result the viewing figures for such programmes are substantial as is influence of these rich Americans who claim to have found blessings and riches through God (rather than through the most sickening exploitation of the world's most vulnerable people!)

Exploitation of the poor by Christian Pastors

One of the worst types of exploitation that I have witnessed in Southern Africa is the ruthless exploitation of vulnerable people by so called Pastors. What I would call the business of being a Pastor is rife across much of Sub Saharan Africa. Self professed ministers of God - often claiming to be literally guided by the voice of God - target the poor, the sick, the recently bereaved and make them promises of great blessings from God. They often convince the vulnerable, and usually uneducated, that they are suffering because they have displeased God and that by placing their faith in Him they will be blessed with countless riches. The Pastor often claims that God has told him, or occasionally her, that if the person repents and puts their faith in Jesus Christ as their 'Personal Saviour' then such blessings will follow.

To be fair some of these Pastors do bring short term comfort to the needy. They are there to comfort the bereaved when the mainline churches often fail to do so. This is largely due to the logistics that the mainline churches face of a handful of priests/vicars/ministers serving vastly populated pastoral areas. The Pastors however are usually quick of the mark when someone in their neighbourhood has been bereaved. The cynic in me can't help believing that this is because they want to comfort the bereaved before their rival Pastors do the same! You see these Pastors are everywhere and their is a sickening competetion between them. Afterall being a Pastor in Sub Saharan Africa can be a profitable little number!

Road traffic accidents in Southern Africa

Road traffic accidents are a big killer across Sub-Saharan Africa. Amazingly Road Traffic Accidents is Africa's third biggest killer! It is amazing just how many people lose their lives or are seriously injured in accidents across the region. A look through any of Africa's newspapers will reveal that they happen with depressing regularity.
Despite public outrage at the time, little seems to happen to ensure safety on the roads.
Governments frequently lack the political will or the funds to improve the situation.

In Botswana, for example, accidents are caused by factors that affect most of the region. Poor roads, animals roaming on major carriageways, excessive speed, badly maintained vehicles and worst of all, drink driving, contribute to the situation. Botswana, as a relatively wealthy country has more scope to deal with the situation than her neighbours but whether its the lack of political will or the complacency of the people little is done to address the situation.

The road that connect Lobaste in the extreme south east to Kazungula in the north runs well over 1000km's, through the cities of Gaboronne and Francistown, as well as the heaviest populated villages in the country. The road is fairly well maintained. There are stretches which are in need of repair but on the whole the road is good. However, the road sees dozens of fatalities every year.

WHO calls for more ARV's for children

THE majority of children in sub-Saharan Africa are not benefiting from efforts to expand antiretroviral treatment for AIDS, WHO has said. In a featured talk at the just ended International AIDS conference in Toronto, World Health Organisation (WHO) director of AIDS programmes Dr Kevin De Cock said 800,000 of the 2.3 million children infected with HIV worldwide needed antiretroviral drugs to stay alive. His comments followed an extensive review of progress in efforts to step up antiretroviral treatment. “Of the 800,000, only 60,000 to 100,000 are receiving therapy.

While the children account for 14 per cent of AIDS deaths, they make up only six per cent of recipients of antiretroviral drug therapy and many of these are orphans,” he said. “We must conclude that the scale-up has so far left children behind.”

Dr De Cock said while rich countries had virtually eliminated pediatric AIDS, less than 10 per cent of pregnant women with HIV in poor and middle-income countries were receiving the simple regimen of pills that could prevent the transmission of the virus to their newborns.

“An urgent priority is improving access to antiretroviral therapy for children, especially in sub-Saharan Africa” he said. Dr De Cock said women in developing countries were receiving therapy in proportion to the female infection rate but added that their access to follow-up care could still be inhibited. “Of the 38.6 million people with HIV, about 6.8 million in low and middle-income countries would be expected to die within two years without antiretroviral therapy. Of these, about 1.7 million are now receiving it, but for many it is coming too late to get the full benefit of the drugs,” said Dr De Cock. “The one million people now receiving therapy in Africa is 10 times the number who were being treated in December 2003 but the figure is two million fewer than the number the late Dr Lee Jong-wook had set as a goal when he became director general of WHO in 2003. The aim was to treat three million people by the end of 2005, in a program called ‘three by five’.”

HIV/AIDS - The Global issue!

I sometimes feel that discussions of HIV/AIDS sometimes miss the point. The emphasis in public debate too often is exclusively on HIV avoidance rather than the treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS. The world has a duty to care for its sick. We have a duty as a global community to to those who are infected with HIV/AIDS as well as ensuring that transmission of the virus is reduced and one day eradicated.

The focus of HIV/AIDS discussion and debate differs immensely between the rich developed countries where HIV/AIDS is still to have an impact on pandemic proportions and those countries of the developing world, and especially Sub-Saharan Africa, where everybody is affected by HIV/AIDS. In Sub-Saharan Africa treatment of HIV/AIDS is of paramount importance as well as the advocating of strategies that reduce transmission rates. In much of Europe and North America the domestic agenda is focused on the avoidance of HIV/AIDS rather than its treatment.

Will HIV/AIDS be taken more seriously by northern hemisphere politicians when white heterosexuals are infected their own countries? Hell yeah...

Protecting Oneself from HIV

I suppose I imagined that an undertaker in Sub-Saharan Africa would be incredibly careful in ensuring that he protected himself against the HIV virus. On reflection I'm sure he was very careful - afterall he is still alive! It's one of those perserve things about the HIV virus in Sub-Saharan Africa that even an undertaker would have many sexual partners. My friend is a happily married man but I know that on business trips he would not pass up the opportunity for a one night stand with a beautiful woman. I know that condoms are 93-97% effective in protecting one from HIV and other STI's but my preconceptions led me to believe that if one suspected that a potential sexual partner might be positive then one would pass up the opportunity of sex. This was certainly not the case with my friend the undertaker and neither was it the case with the rest of the guys I knew in his circle of friends.

My friend the undertaker

Another friend of mine in Botswana is an undertaker. He is a Motswana but has an English father. After spending a few years in the UK he returned to Botswana to start up his own business - as an undertaker. His business grew from fairly humble beginnings to become one of the largest burial services in North East Botswana. He estimated that on average he will oversee at least 15 burials every Saturday. Sometimes he had to pass up business and refer potential clients to another undertaker - such is the demand for undertakers in Sub-Saharan Africa. He, like a handful of others who started up as undertakers in the early to mid 90's, is a rich man.

The journey to the graveside

Following the body viewing a few more prayers were said before Boipelo's body was carried to the funeral car. The hearse then led a convoy of perhaps 50 vehicles to the village cemetry. I was driving my 'bakkie'. I had about 20 people in it or hanging off it. It was expected that anyone with a vehicle would carry as many passengers as was physically possible. The elderly sat inside the vehicle or whilst the young clung to whichever part of the truck they could. I found it most unnerving the first few times I carried so many passengers but I soon realised that no one ever fell off (and even if they had there didn't exist a culture of litigation!)

At the cemetery I noticed at least 2 other burials taking place. This was an unsurprising sight even in a relatively small village. Burials never always took place on Saturday in Botswana and there would always be many taking place at the same time. As we walked to the place where Boipelo's grave had been dug I couldn't help notice the countless white crosses that stood mute in the ground. Each cross would have a name and a date on it. The vast majority of the crosses were for young people who had died in their late teens or early years of adulthood. It was quite rare to see the grave of an elderly person.

This is the legacy of HIV/AIDS. Parents and grandparents burying their children. And this was not just the case in this cemetry but all over Botswana ... and Zimbabwe... and Zambia... and South Africa ... in fact all over Sub-Saharan Africa. The implications of this is something I will return to in a later post.