Advocacy and work for transformation
In Zambia, access to alcohol has increased greatly as multinational breweries have purchased small breweries and increased production. Alcohol consumption and widespread poverty point to a dark future if nothing is done.
In the rural areas of the Mpongwe area, we work with advocacy and work for transformation due to the high alcohol consumption among both children, young people and adults. The project also includes women's projects and football projects. The people in the villages lack knowledge and information about the negative impact of alcohol on the body and the consequences of abuse for the individual and the family. Local breweries distill spirits that are not controlled by any authority and the price of alcohol is extremely low. In the past, it was mainly men who were responsible for most of the abuse, but now there is also an increase among women. As a consequence of hunger and bad role models, even children begin to use alcohol. It is cheap and there is plenty of alcoholic waste dumped in the region. The consequences of the high alcohol abuse results in an increase in unemployment, prostitution, domestic violence, child marriage, increased crime, early pregnancies, traffic accidents, diseases related to alcohol abuse, children dropping out of school and mental illness. Most people do not know how to change their behavior and have no methods of how to go about it.
Education makes a change
The local organization is working to reach goals agreed upon together with village leaders and on an individual level. Change work has already begun in the first village, Kantatamwe, and the village management has identified its biggest problems. Together with a network of organizations that are specialists in psychosocial health, mental health and addiction, they work to make the children feel more secure in the environment they are in. Alcohol use during pregnancy is unfortunately common and a survey of pregnant women shows that 98% drink alcohol and 86% are considered to have alcohol problems. As a result, the health clinics began an active work to inform about the consequences of alcohol consumption. The women receive advice and help to reduce or completely stop their intake. To give women an opportunity to support themselves and their children, it is now possible to attend a sewing course. On the course, they also are able to share their story with others. Stories which includes abuse, abuse, struggle, grief, anxiety and depression. Some have been abandoned by their husbands and have a big family to support. Now we see women full of life and they have regained hope back, thanks to the courses.
– We want to create conditions for change, where popular movements become a driving force to shape a better and safer society,
says Annette Sandwall who, together with her father doctor Gunnar Holmgren, is the initiator of the project.
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