Zambian Child Labor protection

I was reading www.zambian-economist.blogspot.com and was on the post 'a positive step for our children'. I liked what cho had to say, and in addition would like to add a story.
When I was last home we had a million and one guests over at house and needed extra help because the maid was ill and couldn't help out. While I wasa looking for someone affordable, I was approached by a little girl.. probably 12 years old. She told me that her parents had died and she was living with her siblings the oldest who was 16 and they really had no money and no one to help them and she really wanted a job. So me not knowing the new rules in Zambia gladly hired her and took her home. My mum was 'like oh no! we're not allowed to hire children any more, she can not work here or we'll be arrested!' So I paid the little girl anyway for coming home with me...but i was sad to see her go. What choice did she have? how would she help the family get by with no money? Youu can say that she could have gone to an orphanage, but orphanages also have criteria and also sometimes separate families. Also who is out there to tell children like this what their options are?

I would say the policy makers really need to scruitinize what they are doing. Traditionally I guess you can say all young girls in Zambia are abused then because by our pre-teen years we're expected to know how to cook, clean and take care of kids! So if you can already do that, why can't someone hire you to do those jobs within reason?

The people that ruin it for others are those that enslave these children and don't pay them what they are owed and make them do work beyond their abilities. I personally don't see anything wrong with hiring those kids to do little jobs around the place...i.e wash a few dishes, play with a little child, sweep the veranda...etc
This will atleast give them alternatives to starving or child prostituition.

I think it's right that they are making rules, but they need to Zambianize those rules and not westernize the rules. Maybe if they had a department that children reported to in each district if they wanted to work, and the department would be responsible to make sure the children report abuses back to them or something like that. The social system in zed is already taxed to the max with the high poverty rate and I'm sure a lot of children living with relatives are also getting abused and don't have too many safe guards in place to protect them.

You can say the kids need to be in school, but the basic schools are nothing but basic information which wont necessarily take you too far. The free schools in the shanty compounds only teach kids basic english and math...nothing that you can take to college and college aint free!

Putting the street kids and double orphans or the likes in orphanages also doesn't always work as we saw with the street kids that ran away from one drop off center stating "takwali life!" Give them real choices or make free skills centers or schools so they can have something to fall back on. If people can afford $200 000 houses in Zambia...then there is money to help formulate something for these children!

Besides...exactly how will the government impose such rules and monitor them? They just can't go around putting words on paper to please the western world. They have got to make plans suitable for the Zambian culture. Where will the million children employed in agriculture go when they are banned from working?

In the words of Oliver Mtukudzi 'wake up, open your eyes'

The T.B guy.

I am sure you have all heard by now about the lawyer that is in isolation for an interesting case of T.B. Many people were alarmed that they had to travel with him, and he was out in the community...blah, blah, blah. The thing is though, I work in the health care field and I can tell you that many times, tests are done this week, and two weeks later they inform us that it turns out Mr. whats-his-name in room four 2 weeks ago has something contagious! In the mean time Mr. whats-his-name has been walking around town and being in closed spaces with people. Mr T.B guy was getting married and was around a lot of his family. If he seriously thought he was contagious I think he would be stupid to stay around his new wife and daughter. What a wedding present though! damn! for better or worse...for sure!
You would have though the CDC would have encouraged him to buy and use an airborne mask to decrease passing it on to others. Maybe they did...who knows. Dude says his dad has a recording of the CDC/ doctors telling him he was not contagious before they left for Greece-- well in lawsuitville you have to be prepared for anything!
Any way, my point is you never know who is contagious. Sometimes they know, and other times they don't. So you never know what you can catch from those around you:-)

F.Y.I

Those of you with young daughters in Maryland need to know this. As a health care professional it is actually against HIPPA for me to even acknowledge to a parent that their daughter is on birth control or had an abortion without the daughter's permission. The kids still can't legally drink alcohol, nor can they vote though.

Maryland's Minor Consent Law (Article 20-102 of the Maryland Annotated Code)

This law permits minors to receive contraceptive services on a confidential basis. The law states that “a minor has the same capacity as an adult to consent to treatment for or advice about drug abuse, alcoholism, venereal disease, pregnancy, and contraception other than sterilization.” This means minors can get the following services without parental knowledge or consent:

Pregnancy testing
Birth control
Exams
Testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs)

Maryland's Parental Notification for Abortion Law (Article 20-103 of the Maryland Annotated Code)

Maryland law requires that one parent or guardian be notified before a minor has an abortion. The parent/guardian does not need to consent (agree) with the minor's choice, but does need to know the minor is planning to have an abortion. Maryland's parental notification law says specifically that no notification is required if, in the judgment of the doctor performing the abortion:

1)The minor is mature and capable of giving her informed consent to the procedure, OR
2)Notification would not be in the minor's best interest, OR
3)Notice may lead to physical or emotional abuse of the minor, OR
4)The minor patient does not live with her parent or guardian, OR
5)A reasonable effort to give notice has been unsuccessful.

And don't you just love the media??? I love the stress on the fact that the VT shooter was Korean, even though he has permanent residency and has lived here for the past 15-ish years (technically after 10 years you can file for citizenship). According to McCain, lets keep the guns in the hands of law abiding citizens...Ummm...the dude was law abiding before he went on a shooting spree! Lets stress that the shooter was Korean so it appears like a one off thing because...well Americans don't go around shooting one another!
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Side bar:
My friends sister in Law goes to VT, they finally heard from her and she's alive...a friend of her's though is feared dead. By the time my friend and I were going to lunch yesterday, we were unsure if er sister in law was okay.
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