Unreliable sources of water in rural communities can be devastating for children and their families, leading to life-threatening illnesses, diarrhoea and even famine. ChildFund sponsors have helped a young boy and his family in Zambia overcome these challenges.
Joshua is a shy nine-year-old boy from a remote community in south-central Zambia where, for generations, hundreds of families struggled to access water.
For Joshua, the water challenges in his community forced him to grow up too quickly, too soon.
Up until he was six years old, he spent most of his time looking after his two younger sisters while his parents collected water throughout the day.
His parents were out for hours at a time, and he would often have to soothe his little sisters when they cried.
“They would cry because they were hungry,” Joshua said. “I would try to make them stop crying. I used to hold my baby sister until my mother came, and give her some leftovers from the previous night.”
Education is one of our strongest tools to end child poverty. Meet Ma Nwe, a former child labourer who is now on the road to success, receiving the education she deserves.
Below we explain Ma Nwe’s experiences as a child labourer and how education has helped her learn the skills to follow her dreams.
From child labourer to dressmaker
Ma Nwe has a big smile as she admires her new sewing machine. It’s a fine-looking Singer with a shiny gold and black body.
For the 20-year-old dressmaking student (pictured above) the machine represents a new beginning. For the first time in a long time the future looks good. Really good.
A new life, and a new home for her mum and sisters, Ma Nwe imagines. And, one day, a tailor shop for herself.
How different things are now, compared to just a few months ago when she was working seven days a week at a manufacturing factory, checking the quality of drinking flasks, day in, day out.
It had been her job for the past seven years, since she was 13 years old.
Leaving school to earn an income
At the age of nine, Ma Nwe dropped out of school to help look after her two younger sisters so her parents could go to work. When their father died she was forced to go to work to make up for the family’s loss of income.
She worked 70-hour weeks, earning an equivalent of about US$60, at the manufacturing factory, and only had one day off a month. All her earnings went to her mother to keep the family afloat.
“If I continued working there, I think nothing would have changed in my life because my earnings were just spent on food,” Ma Nwe says.
