DanChurchAid
Zambia
Life of a family on the Zambian flood plains
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| Margaret with her homegrown cabbage. |
It is midday and the glaring sun casts no shadow on the almost treeless plain. At the makeshift thatched structure we find 4 children aged 1 to 10 and a middle-aged blind man. But in no time the message is conveyed that visitors have arrived and soon we spot in the horizon 3 women approaching with hoes over their shoulders. This is Margaret and her two eldest daughters of 18 and 14. They have school holidays and are helping their parents out in the field from early morning. With own children and orphans to care for, a family of 12 has to be kept with food, clothing, shelter, schooling.
Change is coming
Margaret explains that the coming of Women for Change to the area has made a big difference in their lives. First and foremost men and women now share more equally the hard work that goes into feeding and maintaining a large family. Secondly, people have learned to rekindle the old tradition of working as a community. When individualism sets in and some prosper more than others jealousy arises and those who manage better are often accused of using witchcraft to amass wealth. This can result in destruction of their houses or theft of their property or even flight from the community.
Women for Change brings awareness raising about rights to the marginalised rural areas. Margaret spontaneously lists all the basic rights she and her family are entitled to: food, clean water, shelter, education and health. She knows that she and her family have to put a lot of work into meeting these needs, but also has an idea about government as a duty bearer that has to be addressed in claiming these rights. She also knows that men can no longer get away with beating their wives, because complaints can be brought to the police victim support unit with the help of civil society organisations like Women for Change. And she knows that even though her daughter of 18 has just given birth to a child out of marriage she still has the right and possibility of continuing her education.
Unused potential
As we look over the fertile Zambezi flood plains where land and water is abundant all year round, it becomes obvious that the potential is vastly underutilised. Before Zambia’s independence I 1964, the Litunga, the traditional leader of the Barotse Royal Establishment in what is now Zambia’s Western Province, initiated a big project of constructing canals that would drain the Zambezi marshes and open them up to cultivation. The work in building the canals was done on a voluntary basis by the local population. Although their resources were limited, the leaders of the time had a vision for the development of their country.
Unfortunately, in the creation of a modern nation state in Zambia, changing governments have not been able to fully follow up on the foundation that was laid at the time. A very centralised government structure makes it difficult for adequate planning and resource allocation to reach the remote places like Western Province of Zambia. The presence of civil society organisations like Women for Change supported by DanChurchAid, tries in a small way to make up for these deficiencies by providing training and input for the poor farmers as well as enhancing their capacity to claim their rights.
Growth and generosity
Margaret is happy that she now knows her rights and that she is getting support from her husband to provide for the family, that she has learnt how to use methods of low-cost sustainable agriculture. She is actively involved in training other local Women for Change groups in what she has learnt.
She is now busy organising the planting of staple food such as cassava, maize, rice and vegetables, which will ripen before the rainy season, when they will have to move from the flooding Zambezi plain back to their village on higher grounds. She still hopes she can soon afford to replace the cattle she lost to disease, so that she can cultivate more of the land made available to them by the local chief. She would also love to have a treadle pump, which would save a lot of labour in carrying water from the shallow well to the vegetable gardens. Although struggling, Margaret has achieved a lot and she still has a dream.
As we leave we are given a chicken and two huge cabbages as a sign of the traditional local hospitality. We feel slightly embarrassed to receive such a gift from a poor family. Fortunately, we have some packets of sugar in the car, so we can at least partly reciprocate the generosity we have experienced during the visit.
By Uffe Gjerding
DanChurchAid Country Representative in Zambia
