Global News by Region: Zambia
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – Comfort Mwansa, 26, says she is working on rebuilding her life after leaving the sex industry in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital.
The middle daughter in a family of three children, Mwansa says her parents’ divorce followed by the deaths of her mother and her sisters drove her into sex work.
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – When Veronica Sampa was growing up, she dreamed of establishing a career in marketing. But now, in her late 20s, she has realized that her passion is fashion.
Sampa is one of the leading fashion designers in Zambia. She has a company that designs and sells items from clothing to jewelry. She has participated in various regional and international exhibitions, and her face can be seen on posters around Lusaka, the capital.
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – Ireen Mpundu, 17, works as a tailor and sells tomatoes, vegetables and sweets at a market near her home in Garden, a compound of Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. Mpundu says she has to earn money to look after her young brother and herself because both their parents died from HIV.
“My mother was the first to die,” she says with teary eyes. “She died in 2008 when I was 14 years old. Then, several months later, my dad also became very ill and passed on.”
Entrepreneurship in Africa: Part 3 in a Series
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – Pamela Polla, who is in her late 20s, says she wanted to be an independent woman, capable of supporting herself and contributing to her family. So she started her own business.
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – Echoes of jubilation filled the city Friday when President Michael Sata, 74, of the Patriotic Front political party was declared the winner of the 2011 presidential election 35 minutes after midnight.
Epilepsy in Africa: Part 2 in a Series
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – Charles Banda, 13, enjoys playing and helping out with household chores like his siblings. But unlike his siblings, Charles has epilepsy.
Wearing a light blue T-shirt, Charles sits on a plastic chair surrounded by his siblings and friends as they sell dried fish and vegetables outside their home in John Laing, a compound south of Lusaka, the capital. Charles is too shy to say a word.
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – Ruth Zozi, 47, dreams of becoming a member of Parliament, MP, and representing her constituency. But she says there are three factors that will never allow her dream to come true: She is illiterate. She is poor. She is a woman.
Zozi resides in the interior area of Chawama, a compound of Lusaka, the capital. Every day she leaves her home early in the morning to sell her fish at Chawama market, hoping to make a living.