•THE ambulance bicycles will ease the problems of care-givers and improve on their work for them to expand their catchment areas.

By MICHELO HIMAAMBO –
THE march towards attainment of human rights may be a lost cause in rural areas where the absence of indispensable facilities remains a pipe dream.
A number of such rural communities lack sufficient water supply, health facilities and schools.
One of the areas with such problems is Chongwe district.
At a village called Mutali Manja, located south of Chongwe, people have grown up to know nothing about gender-based violence.
There is no knowledge about child labour either.
Doreen Chibanda, a resident of the village, recounts how women are battered by their husbands whenever they take long to go to the hammer mill, the hospital and other places.
“We walk six kilometres to the hammer mill and one hour to go to the clinic. For me, it is very challenging because I have two children, my first born who is one-year-six-months and the last born is six months,” Chibanda narrates.
She says the fact that the hammer mill is far makes things hard for her.
As if that is not enough, there are times when she finds there is no gas in the hummer mill which means the family has to starve for that day.
“We usually don’t have money to buy maize and save to go to the grinding mill earlier before our mealy meal is finished,” Chibanda says.
She says most women have lost their marriages because of issues relating to the time it takes to go to the hammer mill of the clinic which their husbands do not understand.
She says the most throbbing part of having important infrastructure further apart and far away from the community is that women like her cannot go and seek quick medical help because they have to walk with children.
In her case, she has to strap all the way tagging along her one-year-old child, while carrying the six-month-old baby on her back.
But these women would now have a different story to tell after World Vision Zambia donated a hammer mill, 20 bicycles and three bicycle ambulances, or Zam-Ambulances, in an effort to mitigate these challenges.
The 20 bicycles worth K36,000 are meant to ease the problems of care-givers and improve on their work as they would be able to expand their catchment.
The three bicycle ambulances worth K12,000 have been allocated to Katoba Rural Health Centre for emergencies as people there rely on oxcarts to transport the sick, especially expecting mothers.
World Vision’s Operations Director Fordson Kafweku says his organisation wants to create a long lasting relationship with the Chongwe south community, Government and SARO Agro industrial company, to meet the needs of the vulnerable.
“We want to equip the Chongwe south community with an effective plan to manage and increase household income among the vulnerable members of this community”, Mr Kafweku narrates.
He says World Vision was given a hammer mill worth K23,000 and their board of directors decided to donate it to the people of Mutali Manja Village because the members of the community walk five kilometers to reach the nearest hammer mill.
World Vision Zambia has also donated 20 bicycles worth K36,000 and three Zam-Ambulances (bicycle ambulances) worth k12, 000 which are meant for Katobo Rural Health Centre.
“World Vision hopes that the bicycles received will enable improvement of work done by care-givers in the communities”, he says.
Chongwe District Commissioner Kebby Kashinamilunda says Government is delighted with the development that World Vision and SARO Agro Industrial had taken to Chongwe.
He says Government is also going to supply beds and blankets for a new hospital to be opened in the same area.
“Our Government is committed to taking care of the people’s wellbeing and hence we will continue with the partnership we have with World Vision”, Mr Kashinamilunda says.
A member of the community Sumili Mukwela appreciated the gesture that has been shown to the community by World Vision Zambia through the donated items.
“Our children have been walking six kilometers to the hammer mill and sometimes you find that there is no fuel in the hammer mill so they walk back home with nothing and there is nothing to eat at home,” Ms Mukwela said.
She felt the reason why households resorted to sending their children to the hammer mill was because the women feared their husbands would become insecure and suspicious when they took long at the hammer mill because of distance and queues.
But that would soon be a thing of the past.
Chongwe ward councillor Oscar Kalapa said Chongwe had undergone proper development since World Vision area of development was established in 2012.