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4 Girls Who Were Allegedly Sold To Businessmen Have Been Rescued
Four more girls out of the 11 who were allegedly sold to Tanzanian businessmen by their parents in the border town of Nakonde have been reunited with their families.
This brings to nine the number of girls that have been rescued by Zambian security wings after being trafficked to Tanzania.
Department of Immigration director general Moola Milomo said recently that the girls have been reunited with their families and they are enrolled at Tawela Primary School.
Mr Milomo said of the nine girls that were rescued, eight have returned to school while one has refused.
“It is like she was abused and she cannot cope with going back to school,” Mr Milomo said.
He said the girls were retrieved from Tanzania by immigration officers with help of other security wings.
Mr Milomo said efforts are being made to ensure that the remaining two are brought back home safely.
“We have information that one is in Morogoro while the other one is in Dar-es-Salaam and we are working with security personnel in that country to ensure that they all return safely,” Mr Milomo said.
The parents of the girls sent their children to work in Tanzania as maids so that they could raise some money but that this is being investigated.
“These parents were promised K35 per month but one parent did not receive an instalment and decided to report the matter to authorities,” he said.
Mr Milomo said the case is still under investigations and the parents will be taken to task if an element of human trafficking is established.
He said the Department of Immigration is working with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to sensitise citizens, especially in border towns on the dangers of human trafficking.
In September, the Daily Mail exposed a child-trafficking syndicate in which Tanzanian businessmen allegedly bought 11 girls aged between 11 and 17 at K36,000 each from some parents in Nakonde.
Nakonde district commissioner James Singoyi said it is suspected that the children are being engaged in illegal sexual activities although they were being taken to Tanzania under the pretext that they would work as housemaids.
Posted by Kunda
on November 6, 2014. Filed under LATEST NEWS.
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IF NOT
November 6, 2014 at 2:37 pm
How would the relationship be between the gals and their irresponsible parents?
Judge Joe Bidden
November 6, 2014 at 2:49 pm
Just prosecute the parents that’s shameful those are stories I hear in other countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia but yet we have such cases home? Thats sad thats poverty.
petros
November 6, 2014 at 2:50 pm
they were sold by there parents & now reunited with there parent it doesnt make sense.those girls are just prostituts who thought they wiil make it big pa TZ
grazaccs
November 6, 2014 at 2:53 pm
abafyashi babo fipuba.under wat circumstance cn u sel yo own child @ k35per month?its toto nonses!they ar liein thy colected alot of money and they were nt 2b employd as maids.hw many maids hav ben employd in our country?o thy thot in tanzania thy wil get trilions?shamles parents n thy ned to b punishd by the law thy ar human trafikers as wel
Lobola
November 6, 2014 at 3:41 pm
Where poverty is acute, giving a daughter “away”in marriage or otherwise.. allows parents to reduce family expenses by ensuring they have one less person to feed, clothe and educate. In communities where economic transactions are integral to the marriage process, a dowry or ‘bride price’ is an expected income for poor families.
Chimwemwe
November 6, 2014 at 4:03 pm
Two years ago, when she was 12 years old, Chimwemwe K.* married a 17-year-old boy. She had started a sexual relationship with him when she was 10 because, she said, he gave her money and small gifts, while at home her parents could not afford to buy her clothes or provide enough food. Chimwemwe became pregnant shortly after, and their families forced them to marry.
Chimwemwe said about the marriage: “It was my only solution from poverty, and I was pregnant.”
Chimwemwe today says, “I’ve never experienced happiness in my marriage. I’ve never seen the benefit of being married.” Her husband beats her and she almost died when she was giving birth: “I bled a lot and I was in labor for two days.”
Chimwemwe has not reported her husband to the police for the violence because, “I fear my husband will be arrested and I do n’t want to go back to my parents. So I would rather live with him even if he beats me.” Chimwemwe has never thought of leaving her abusive husband because, “I cannot manage on my own. Also, if I chase him away I will face stigma from the community.”
Chimwemwe dropped out of school in standard four (equivalent to fourth grade) but says she does not want to go back because “I was not good with books.”
Chimwemwe’s experience reflects a common reality for many girls in Malawi, which has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. On average, one out of two girls in the country will be married by her eighteenth birthday, according to the United Nations.
In 2010, half of women aged 20 to 24 years were married or in union before they were 18. Some are as young as 9 or 10 when they are married.
john kerry
November 6, 2014 at 9:24 pm
isonde nefipapwa
Marie-Ann
November 7, 2014 at 8:12 am
When our economy fails, this is what happens. Poor economic policies have led us to become destitute to even countries like Tanzania, sure-sure!!
Young girls are also working as maids, plaiting hair, prostituting themselves in South Africa.
kasantana
November 7, 2014 at 8:55 am
sad indeed,you go anywhere in south africa,there is s zambian
kaysis
November 7, 2014 at 9:02 am
Thats poverty for you.
Stuart
November 7, 2014 at 9:21 am
K35 per month! That money is too little.
Chief Of Grief
November 7, 2014 at 10:18 am
What poverty can do!K35pin/month ZO’oona elo fintu naishiba abapa TZ baabah nemi swibo,mipini elo balya akanono nowonder ako aka mwaiche takalefwya ukuya kubondi pantu balyonaula kwisamba,tek them 4 therapy…..