written by Aaron Chilunjika from Chisomo, Zambia
This is 19yrs old Rose who has been coming to Chisomo Drop-In centre since she was 15yrs old. She is a single orphan since the death of her father and her mother is very vulnerable and lives in poverty. Rose comes from a family of 4 children and she is the first born. She and her siblings don’t go to school as her mother cannot afford.
When Rose ran to the streets, she found Chisomo outreach team. Initially she wanted to try school but when Chisomo team took her to the transition shelter so that she could go to school, she decided that she doesn’t really seem to like school and she ran back to the streets.
It was on the streets that she eventually got pregnant. After giving birth she knew that she couldn’t stay with the child in the streets and so she took the child to her mother even though the mother was still vulnerable.
Rose finally decided to come back to the Chisomo transition shelter, and since our policy is never to give up on a child, we decided to engage her in the tailoring program going on at Chisomo which she seems to be very much interested. She has since started the lesson and all she needs is support with sewing materials.
