Can anything good come out of Chibolya?

 

Abraham Tembo wants to have a music label to promote talent in Chibolya. Pictures by Jack Zimba.



Ethel Kasabi dreams of becoming a model.

Ethel poses for a photo.

Many household in Chibolya live in poverty.



Lushomo Mweemba plays for the women's soccer national team.

Players vie for the ball during a soccer tournament.



A billboard showing Augustine Mulenga, the national soccer team player who started his career in Chibolya. 

Can anything good come out of Chibolya?

JACK ZIMBA

Lusaka

VERY few places in Zambia are as forbidding as Chibolya Township in Lusaka. It has some of the dingiest houses, and drug dens where roughnecks and lowlifes spend hours lifting weights and openly smoking marijuana.

Here, you don’t need sniffer dogs to sniff out the illicit drugs; the smell of weed fills the air like smoke at a barbeque party. 
About three weeks ago, police and the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) raided the township and rounded up over 100 suspected drug pushers in an operation codenamed Chalo.
Currently, 37 of those are facing trial for drug-related offences.
According to the DEC, the raid on Chibolya yielded 114kg of cannabis, plus 480 bottles of the cough syrup, Benylin, which contains the opioid codeine. Also seized were 2,170 tablets of diazepam.
But three weeks after the clean-up operation, nothing seems to have changed in Chibolya. The drug dens have reopened, and the drug pushers are back in business.
To many outsiders, Chibolya sits like a blotch on the city, its proximity to the central business district only adds to its incongruity.
In fact, many outsiders would rejoice to see bulldozers roll into the township and erase it from the city’s map.
But a group of residents think Chibolya has unfairly been given a bad name and bad publicity. The residents are now trying to change the image of the township.
Benjamin Phiri is the president of a non-governmental organisation called Chibolya Community Trust Fund (CCTF).
The organisation is barely a year old, and its major goal is to discover talent among the youths, and help them attain their dreams.
It is mid-day and I meet Benjamin and members of his executive at Lavania, a popular joint in one corner of the township.
The joint is run by Abraham Tembo. The business was started by his parents back in the 1980s, and it was passed down to him.
Abraham is also part of the CCTF in charge of edutainment.
All the leaders in the organisation were born in Chibolya and grew up in the township.
The members say they are driven by the love for their community.
“We love our community. We were born here and we grew up here and we are still in Chibolya because we want to provide solutions,” says 35-year-old Benjamin.
He adds: “We have all grown up here, and we have seen what it has become because of our silence.”
The NGO works with schools on sensitising pupils about the negative effects of illicit drugs.
“Our vision is to make Chibolya a better place, so that everyone can walk in and walk out freely, and it’s possible,” says Benjamin.
Desmond Sakala is the general secretary of CCTF. He was born in Chibolya in 1974.
He says Chibolya has not always been a lawless township. He says back in the 1980s, life here was different.
Desmond has a chilling illustration of how life in the township has changed over the years.
“Back then, if you dropped your wallet, people would pick it and hand it back to you with the full amount, but not anymore. Now if you drop your wallet, before it hits the ground, it will disappear,” he says.
But Desmond is optimistic the drugs problem in Chibolya will one day end, although he thinks the authorities are going about the problem the wrong way.
Desmond says the best way to win the battle against illicit drugs in the township is to engage the residents.
He thinks by conducting clean-up operations, the authorities only address symptoms, rather than the root cause of the drug problem, and only end up alienating the residents.
“They ambush us like Chibolya is a settlement for rebels,” complains Desmond. “They just come, teargas the whole area, surround it, not taking into consideration that there are old people, pregnant women, asthmatic people, and small babies. They don’t care.”
Desmond also thinks there is a link between the COMESA Market, some 400 metres away, and the drugs that are found in the township.
He is not the only one who sees the link. Webster Chomba, who is a member of the organisation, agrees with him.
“It plays a huge part because most of the traders there are foreigners and drugs come via Tanzania,” he says.
He says drug pushers take advantage of the poverty of the residents in Chibolya.
According to Webster, hard drugs such as heroin and crystal methamphetamine have also found their way into Chibolya.
But he insists Chibolya is merely used as a market for the hard drugs. Webster says the big drug dealers are not residents of Chibolya.
“The people who sell drugs here do not live in Chibolya. They just bring the drugs, sell them and take the money elsewhere, and our people remain poor,” says Desmond.
He says many of the residents abuse cheap alcohol and marijuana, others also abuse cough syrups such as Benylin and BronCleer, but the hard drugs such as cocaine are for outsiders – people who come from privileged communities and can afford to buy them.
The organisation has a number of activities for young people to keep them away from drugs, but big on its calendar is a soccer tournament which is under way.
It has attracted 16 teams, some from neighbouring townships.
It is past 16:00 hours, and at a dusty football ground at the edge of Chibolya, a game is in full swing.
There are clouds of dust as the men dash across the field and kick the ball around. It is Blaza versus Young Stars.
Blaza are wearing the Barcelona replica jersey and clearly have an upper hand.
I meet up with Benjamin again, who is seated on a bench on the side-line, under a large billboard bearing the name and face of Augustine Mulenga.
In fact, the tournament is named after him. Why not?
A few years ago, Augustine used to play on this same dusty pitch as a boy born and raised in Chibolya, but he now plays for Orlando Pirates in South Africa, and no doubt on some of the best pitches in that country.
In January last year, Augustine moved from Zanaco FC to Orlando Pirates at a cost of over R4 million (about K3.5 million).
That was after the 29-year-old, who also plays for the Zambia national team, was named Zambian Footballer of the Year in 2017.
Augustine’s success is no doubt a steroid for many of the young people here dreaming of escaping the griping poverty and hopelessness that life in the township offers. 
In fact, a few have followed in his trail, perhaps not just closely enough. 
One of those is Lushomo Mweemba, who plays as a defender for the women’s national soccer team, or She-polopolo.
The 19-year-old was born in Chibolya and started soccer on this dusty pitch before she was identified and called to join the She-polopolo.
Lushomo’s talent has taken her to four different countries, so far. For a girl who grew up in these slums, it is a major achievement.

Today, she is back where her career started from and little has changed. The pitch is still turf-less and uneven. And yet neither spectators nor the players seem to bother much.

There are cheers when Blaza score their second goal.
Desmond says the Augustine Mulenga Challenge Cup is diverting the attention of young people from destructive behaviour to concentrate on something positive.
And yet, even here at the soccer pitch, the smell of weed is unmistakable. In fact, looking around, I see a young man a few metres away smoking a joint.
Benjamin calls the young man and very politely asks him to stop smoking.
“We are all here for football,” he tells him.
The man is very cooperative. He stabs his joint into a metal pole to put it out.
There is a glint of satisfaction on Benjamin’s face. It is a small success in this drug war.
But a few metres away, three or four men are blowing away in a carefree manner while rooting for their teams.
In fact, one of the teams is believed to be sponsored through drug money.
When the game breaks at half-time, I head back into the township with Benjamin and Abraham. We pass a den where a man is packing marijuana into balls for sale.
Even being in the company of Benjamin and Abraham – who are well-known in the community - does not guarantee my safety. They, too, are very cautious where we can go and not go.
They are clearly flustered having me with a camera slung over my shoulder. But I know better not to use it anyhow.
“As a team, we have faced a lot of intimidation and threats, but we are the ones doing the right thing and so why should we be afraid?” says Benjamin.
A dingy short alley leads us to an enclosed house where I meet Ethel Kasabi. 
The 21-year-old dreams of becoming a top model. Ethel also fancies herself as a talented singer. She has so far recorded 10 songs.
But she has had to deal with the stigma of growing up in this community.
“It hasn’t been easy growing up here because many people picture us as bad people who do drugs,” she says.
Although she expresses love for her township, Ethel has not been left unscathed by its roughness.
“It was around 18:00 hours one day,” she narrates, “I was coming back home from shooting a video for my song. I was alone and about six boys attacked me. They got my phone and my bag.”
Ethel now lives in fear.
But she is still optimistic change will come to Chibolya.  
“Something good can come out of Chibolya because there is a lot of talent, like me. We can change it,” says Ethel.
At the Inner Circle, a studio at the Lavania, is where the young people showcase their talent.
Every Friday is freestyle and attracts hordes of young people hoping to break through the music industry. Many of them do rap songs.
Abraham’s dream is to have a record label.
“It’s a journey of a thousand miles, and we have just begun,” he says.
Last year on December 28, Jamaican reggae band, Morgan Heritage, visited the small studio.
Abraham has photos of himself with members of the reggae outfit, which won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2016.
“We were inspired when they visited us, and it gave me hope,” he says.
Back at the football pitch, the game is in its dying minutes. Blazer are leading 3-0.