Priest says poverty, AIDS cause Zambian street children problem

Published: 2006-04-18

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Government-run camps where young people are taught skills are not the solution to Zambia's growing number of unemployed youths living on the streets, said a Catholic official. Poverty is the core problem, said Father Joe Komakoma, general secretary of the Zambian bishops' conference. Zambia, with a population of about 10 million, is one of the world's poorest nations. According to official figures, the southern African country has about 75,000 street children, but analysts say almost double that number live on the streets and turn to begging or prostitution. Many are orphans whose parents have died of AIDS in a country with an adult HIV-prevalence rate of 16.5 percent, Father Komakoma said in an April 10 telephone interview with Catholic News Service from Zambia's capital, Lusaka. "Others have parents who can't find jobs," he said. The government needs to draw up "a coherent, comprehensive policy that deals with poverty, education and the employment of young people," he said.

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