Maybe it was just luck that my bicycle tire blew out right in front of the bike repair stand in the Freedom Compound shanty town. I took that same road every time I travelled between my village and the town of Monze during my Peace Corps service in Zambia. I usually pedaled as quickly as I could through Freedom Compound in order to avoid all the beckoning calls of “Mzungu”, white person or foreigner. This time I had no choice but to stop. As soon as I slowed down I was rushed by people trying to help me. “No, no, it’s fine, I can manage myself” I told them. Then I noticed a young man just a few feet away from me already working to repair tires. He gave me a look as to say “Don’t be a stubborn mzungu, just let me help you”. I begrudgingly rolled my bike over to him and the camaraderie was instantaneous. “What are you doing here?” he asked. I explained that I was a volunteer working to promote education in the rural areas through the use of radios and the Learning at Taonga Market [15] program. “Why only in rural areas? None of the children in Freedom go to school”.
It was true. I was always struck by how life in the peri-urban areas seemed much more squalid than the open space and fresh air of village life. “Why not?” I thought. “Even though they are closer to town, this community could also definitely use some sensitization about the value of education”. And so our work began. My new friend and expert bicycle technician, Neo, began our work to open the “Freedom Compound Community School”. The photo is of me addressing the community toward the end of my service urging them to keep up the good work and progress toward adding a new building to the one school room you can see in the background. The man in the picture is not Neo though. By this time, Neo had died of AIDS. I write this story on December 1, World AIDS Day [16], in Neo’s memory and in honor of all the orphans and vulnerable children in Zambia struggling to get an education.
It is estimated that roughly 15% of Zambia’s population is infected with HIV/AIDS and in 2009 alone 600,000 children were orphaned due to the virus (UNICEF, 2010).