By ANNIE ZULU
Bare feet, dirty clothes, foul odour and holding small
transparent bottles filled with water-like liquid close to their mouth, is a
sight that everyone is quite familiar with of street children in Zambia´s
Capital Lusaka.
In those small bottles is a drug, which they call
sticker, and it is currently their hot favourite.
Homeless as they are, they run menial errands, beg from motorists
and at the end of the day, whatever little money they make goes into buying
sticker.
But has anybody asked the obvious questions; What is the
composition of this sticker? Where is it coming from? And how does it get
down to street children?
To find the answers to these and many more questions, this
reporter delved deep into the operations of the
street, uncovering an epidemic that is destroying the lives of vulnerable
children on the street.
Survival on the Street
The investigation began with a series of
interactions with the street children at two spots where street children are
found namely, the church road
underbridge and National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) area.
In
order to have access to these spots and the children, this reporter had to
engage street leaders who are the street adults because the street is like a
government, it has its own rules and leaders who can be brutal.
At
Church Road under-bridge, almost every child had a bottle of sticker in their
hand, and it was being sold in the open.
Shaky
and attired in a dirty old t-shirt, a 14-year-old boy “Dalitso”, whose real name
has been changed like other children in this investigation to protect them,
inhaled the fumes from the bottle in his hands and smiled in relief.
When
asked what was contained in the bottle, Dalitso said it was jet fuel, but
it's called sticker on the street because of its addictiveness.
“It
comes from the airports, there are some people who gets it from there and sell
it to us, there are found at city market. My everyday sticker budget
ranges between K1 to K20,” Dalitso said.
According
to him, sticker inhalation is a survival mechanism on the streets, as it
helps him cope with cold, hunger, fear and struggles.
Like
most children, Dalitso cannot survive a day without inhaling and recalls
how he was once sodomised by an adult for sticker.
“Young
girls are sexually abused for a drop of sticker and the boys get sodomised in
exchange for sticker, it happened to me once when needed it badly, but had no
money,” he explained.
Another
boy “James”,16, also disclosed that he buys sticker from agents on the street and
City Market.
He
acknowledged that despite sticker being a survival lifeline for him and his
friends on the street, it was highly dangerous.
“It's
an instant killer. It can rip off intestines when consumed and it is
flammable. I am always careful when inhaling it,” James said.
At NIPA
area, street children were stranded, as they had fled
the Bombay drainage, a place they considered their home due to
flooding caused by heavy rains and despite this predicament, they had their
sticker intact.
“Precious”, 15,
told this reporter while pulling a bottle of sticker to her nose, that she
was introduced to it by her friends on the street.
Like
her fellow street children at the Church Road under-bridge, she also attested
to sticker being jet fuel, but however said she gets it from Chaisa compound,
one of Lusaka´s highly densely populated low-income neighbourhoods with high
rate of crime.
Another
girl “Grace” ,15, who is also addicted to sticker explained how she has
mastered the art of begging for money from motorists and passer byers to
buy sticker.
“You
need to look very hungry for people to feel sorry and give you the money. It
usually works,” she said.
And one of the sticker agents found on at this spot who sought
anonymity, said he orders sticker mainly from City Market and Chaisa
Compound to resell to street children and expressed guilty about his business.
“I know this is not a good business, the only way
to stop this is by arresting the people that package and supply it,” he said.
The
exact number of street children in Zambia remains unknown, with some reports
suggesting a figure of 75,000, while others argue the population has more than
doubled.
Lusaka is believed to house the highest number of street children,
with majority of them being addicted to drugs.
Gaps in the law
Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), which is a department under the Ministry
of Home Affairs mandated to prevent and control illegal cultivation,
production, trafficking and abuse of Narcotic drugs, Psychotropic
substances and money laundering activities in Zambia is aware of sticker and
its composition.
DEC Head of Chemical Department Choolwe
Kaliba confirmed in an interview that sticker was made of Jet fuel.
Mr. Kaliba however, said the commission
cannot investigate or make any
arrests with regards to sticker, as it was not listed under the unlawful drug
substances in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of the Laws of
Zambia, where one can be charged if found in possession or trafficking.
“We are already given a mandate to look
at narcotic and psychotropic substances, but sticker does
not fall in those we are mandated to control. It has remained a substance which
has an effect in the line of what we control, but not among the product we are
controlling, so that’s the challenge we are having,” Mr. Kaliba said.
The dangers
For
over a decade, Footprints Foundation for Children in Zambia has
been providing outreach support to vulnerable children in Zambia,
particularly those living on the streets, orphans and victims of abuse.
The
organisation´s Director Vasco Svellino, noted that sticker
inhalation severely affects the sight, which has resulted in many children
being hit by vehicles.
“We
provide decent burials for children who die on the street and most of the
deaths we deal with are of children who are bashed by vehicles. When they are
high on the sticker, their sight is affected,” Mr. Svellino said.
According
to Medical Expert Dr. Bright Makenzie benzene exposure and inhalation
causes serious health implications to children, especially to their brain.
“In Science we call them hydrocarbons,
when they take that benzene, it has an effect on the transmission of
neurons. The way at which the natural body responds to information is different
from when there are chemicals involved,” he said.
Tracing the exploiters
Undercover operations were conducted in
the two places that were mentioned as the major suppliers of sticker in Lusaka
during interactions with the street children: City Market and Chaisa Compound.
With the help of a Sticker Agent and while
posing as a street adult, putting on dirty clothes with unkempt hair, this reporter managed to buy a 750ml bottle of
sticker from a restaurant along the Lumumba Road at City Market from a man who seemed to be in
his late 40s.
In Chaisa Compound, a 20-year-old ex-sticker
addict “Muzo” who is also in support of ending substance abuse among children
agreed to go undercover to reveal some of the places where sticker is sold like
hot cake.
In a video captured on a hidden camera, he
exposed a man selling him a 250ml bottle of sticker at K150 on a road leading
to Chaisa Market where all sorts of illicit alcohol, including drugs are sold
along this road.
Muzo also visited a house in with Chaisa
Compound where a small crowd had assembled, including young children waiting to
be sold different drugs.
The Children´s Code Act
In 2022, Zambia´s President Hakainde Hichilema signed into law the
Children´s Code Act, which seek to promote the rights of children
and protect them from all forms of abuse and exploitation.
Section 20 of the Act states that “A person shall not subject a
child to the use, production, trafficking or distribution of hallucinogens,
alcohol, tobacco products, drugs or precursor chemicals.
It further prescribes a minimum sentence of 10
years imprisonment, or a fine not exceeding one million penalty units to
the offender.
Department of Child
Development Director at the Ministry of Community Development and Social
Services Beatrice Muyambango said the Act was in effect and warned
perpetrators taking advantage of vulnerable children by supplying them with any
form of drugs.
“The Children´s Code Act Compels everyone
who comes into contact with children to be aware that these little human beings
have rights, despite their age or irrespective of where they find themselves.
Selling drugs to children is a crime ant it goes with a punishment,” Ms.
Muyambango said.
Call for Action
Regional Psychosocial
Support Initiatives (Repssi) Zambia,
Head of Programmes Chilekwa Chisanga called for inclusion in the
implementation of the Children´s Code Act, stressing that the plight of street
children is seemingly invisible.
“Let the implementation of the children´s
code act also touch on children who are living and working on the street. It’s
a child protection issue. And if the Government says every child is the child
of the state, we must then think of children in all set ups,” she said.
This investigation unearthed a distressing
reality of street children being trapped in a cycle of exploitation, violence,
and manipulation, with stickers being employed as a cruel instrument of
control.
The sticker leaves indelible physical and
emotional scars on their innocent souls, therefore urgent action is imperative
to address this grave issue.
Immediate measures must be taken to
safeguard these vulnerable children, providing them with comprehensive support,
rehabilitation, and a pathway to a brighter future.
Furthermore, those responsible for
perpetuating this heinous abuse must face swift and resolute justice. Let these
findings serve as a clarion call for accountability and change in the face of
this abhorrent injustice.
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