A jobless 34-year-old man of Lusaka’s Kaunda Square township is seeking the adoption of his six-year-old son, whom he says he cannot look after because he has no means. Emmanuel Malunga, whose wife died last year, wants an orphanage to take over looking after his malnourished son, who has been in his care since his wife died last year.

Mr Malunga said in an interview that he also faces challenges leaving his son to do odd jobs because he always goes missing. “My son is not okay. I am not managing to provide for him. It hurts me to see him suffer when I am still alive.

I am calling on other people or orphanages to adopt my son,” he said. Mr Malunga, whose other child is being looked after by his mother-in-law, said he has on several occasions tried to approach orphanages to adopt his son but he has been turned away. He said his son rarely talks and that he only does so when he is hungry.

Mr Malunga said his child has been behaving strangely since the death of his wife and he often fits. “My wife and I were on separation when she died and my son was staying with her. But when my wife died, her family gave me the child just after burial,” Mr Malunga said. He said his family is in Zimbabwe and the only relations he has here are those of his late wife.

Mr Malunga said he survives on begging. His neighbour, Ackim Banda, said he shares whatever little he has with Mr Malunga. “My friend is struggling. Urgent attention is required to save the life of the innocent boy. He fails to look for something to do because his son always gets lost whenever he goes out,” he said.

A check at Mr Malunga’s home revealed that the house he is living in is not conducive for habitation. Meanwhile, Families Are Nations has called on some parents to regulate what their children are watching on digital satellite platforms and social media to curb the dwindling moral fibre among young people, especially in urban areas.

And Chilanga Member of Parliament Maria Langa has called on parents to partner with the church to curb moral decay among young people She said this at her office on Friday when she received SAREL tours, an Israeli Christian tourism agency. Organisation president Judith Mwila says most parents do not spend time with their children and this has contributed to moral decay and bad behaviour in the young people. She said parents are too busy to spend time with their children, exposing them to bad behaviour.