13 Year Old Rescued from the Jaws of Child Labour

Damala: flanked by Chitsulo(left) and Madise(right)





A thirteen year old boy from Frank Village in T/A Maseya in Chikhwawa has been rescued from the pangs of child labour thanks to Blantyre Synod’s Church and Society Programme (BSCSP) project funded by the Democracy Consolidation Programme (DCP).
The boy, Alex Sabata, who was found caring for cattle for a businessman in Namalindi village, was being paid a monthly K800 salary at the expense of his school. However through the implementation of a ‘Right to Development’ project in the area, it came to the attention of the Community Based Educator (CBE) for that area, Esmie Chitsulo, who took the matter to the chief for the area for intervention.
The chief together with BSCSP’s District Paralegal Officer for Chikhwawa, Fraser Chinkhande, confronted the businessman and enlightened him on the rights of the child and his exploitation to which he accepted. The child was later sent back to his parents and enrolled at a primary school.
Blantyre Synod Church and Society Programme through the implementation of a three-year ‘Right to Development’ project in the district, has been mobilising communities to do away with evils that impede on the development endeavour in the district.
According to BSCS Programme Officer Cydric Damala, Right to Development is a project that looks at multiple factors that have been derailing the development in the district.
“Within the project, we seek to protect the interests of small business farmers, education and health challenges and, of course, child labour,” says Damala.
He explains why BSCSP included on the project child labour on the problems to be dealt with.
“Lower shire has high illiteracy rates, sugarcane plantations and ownership of very big herds of cattle and this leaves the children in the two districts vulnerable to cheap labour.
“Most owners would employ children to pay them less and we find this to be a great stumbling block to the attainment of literacy in the area.”
“To this end, BSCSP trained about 40 Community Based Educators (CBEs) in Chikhwawa and some parts of Nsanje on the same so that they deal with the problem with a thorough understanding of the vice,” he said.
“We also have 150 Village Rights Committees (VRCs) in all the eleven T/As in Chikhwawa district who work with all the traditional leaders in extirpating child labour,” adds Damala.