Help Silverest children with bicycles

Dear Editor A stretch on Great East Road between Matipula Primary/ Secondary School and Silverest Primary/Secondary School in Chongwe is about 25km and has no School in between. This region is occupied by Commercial Farmers.

Whilest Maamba Coaliers in Maamba has embarked on a vigorous corporate Social responsiblities by upgrading township roads, our farmers have paid a blind eye to such. A drive around Silverest between 17:00hrs and 19:00hrs will reveal desperate young girls and boys by the roadside asking for well wishers to give them lifts. These are children of poor workers in big farms who can not provide transport to their workers’ children. Our cries to have a school constructed on one of the farms have fallen on deaf ears, as no one seems to have a heart for these innocent and vulnerable children. My heart bleeds for the girl children as young as 10 years old who walks such distances in this cold weather, hot and rain seasons. With the advent of gangsterism, Satanism, child trafficking as well as serial killings on the increase, I fear for these children. Time and again we see bicycles being distributed for party mobilisations. Why cant some of those bicycles be donated to Silverest primary school so that they give families whose children walk that long distance? Our Government together with our NGOs operating in Chongwe need to take keen interest in the welfare of these boys and girls. It is common in African setting, Zambia inclusive to organise more that K10000 for a funeral which could have been avoided had one spent K500. We do not want such to happen, should the unthinkable happen [God forbid], to see some organisation buying plenty of food stuffs and expensive caskets as well as bringing in a lot vehicles to ferry mourners when time is now that we can spend on average K300, per family for a bicycle for the children. Please those that have the heart for the children kindly help. You don’t need to be multi millionaire to assist. Just recently the nation saw a young man who has a heart for street children and over 5000 widows, sponsoring them with his meagre earnings. We have spoken, now the onus is on you. Do not say you didn’t know about the plight of these children. God Bless Zambia, and Chongwe.