Chilanga instant justice: rolling in mud for impregnating an adolescent
TO serve as punishment for impregnating an adolescent, some community members in Shimabala ward of Chilanga district resort to soaking a perpetrator and making them roll in mud.
Rose Kalima, the headwoman in Chitalu village, revealed to #Kalemba that the punishment is served before a matter goes to court, just after it has been established through investigations that an older man has impregnated an adolescent.
“As a community, we give our own punishment so that the perpetrators do not engage in such vices again,” said Kalima.
“If the older man is in the wrong, timaba nyoweka (we soak him) by taking him to the hand pump until he is wet and we make him roll over mud several times.”
She said teenage pregnancies and early marriages are a huge cause of concern in the area as they are rampant.
Kalima said due to poor standards of living, young girls are lured by older men into sexual immorality, as a way of getting out of poverty.
The traditional leader said some older men, who own makeshift shops, go about calling themselves as chief executive officers, as a way of enhancing their value on the romance market.
Kalima said in an attempt to either get money or some groceries like body lotion, most younger girls from poor families succumb to the sexual bargains of older/married men.
“There are a lot of cases here where you find a girl child gets impregnated by a married man, especially when the girl is coming from a poor background and the man seems to have something such as having a kantemba (makeshift shop). And with hope that they will get money and some other material stuff, they get involved into sexual relations at a young age,” the head woman said.
Kalima said in order to restrain teenage pregnancies in Shimabala, there is need for massive sensitisation to educate the girl child in rural areas and more importantly to uplift the likelihood of impoverished families.
Meanwhile, Agness Mwala, a resident in Shimabala, hopes that the increased Constituency Development Fund (CDF) will help to alleviate poverty in the ward.
By Moses Makwaya
Kalemba