World Day of Social Justice is an international day which recognises the importance of promoting social justice by addressing issues such as poverty, marginalisation, gender inequality, unemployment, human rights, and social protection. The World Day of Social Justice is observed every year on January 20th.
To mark World Day of Social Justice this year, we spoke to one of our Sisters in Zambia, Sr. Kayula Lesa, who is a director of the Talitha Kum Project Zambia. Sr Kayula kindly spoke to us about the work that Talitha Kum Zambia carries out.
Talitha Kum Zambia (TAKUZA) is a faith-based National Network Organization that aims to end human trafficking through education, research and advocacy, while also offering support to victims of human trafficking. Since 2021, The Religious Sisters of Charity are a lead Congregation for the Network, which is composed of 47 member Congregations of Religious women who also make up the Zambia Association of Sisterhoods (ZAS).
While the project focuses its efforts on stopping human trafficking at large, there is a specific focus on targeting young people as part of this mission. Currently, the project sponsors 170 youth in five different locations where labour trafficking runs rampant, as Sr Kayula explained to us.
“The young people are involved at two different levels; firstly, the Network sponsors the youth in hotspot areas for human trafficking to reduce risk; and secondly, the youth are trained to raise awareness on human trafficking.”
Under the sponsorship programme, there are currently 170 young people in vocational training in various skills ranging from food production to dressmaking, to help them enter the world of employment. This opportunity of independence further reduces their chances of becoming victims to human trafficking.
The second category of youth are trained as Youth Ambassadors, who are guided to raise awareness on the issue throughout their communities and through social media. TAKUZA brings them together for monthly online reflection meetings which are held online so that they can report back the work being carried out, share information and learn from others about what is happening in the various areas our ambassadors come from.
“The youth have provided a significant contribution to public education on the issue of human trafficking in Zambia. This is necessary because one of the factors driving human trafficking is limited or lack of information amongst the general population. Human trafficking is often associated with cross-border trafficking despite internal trafficking being widespread”, Sr Kayula concluded.
The pictures represent the activities of the TAKUZA Youth Ambassadors in different areas of Zambia on human trafficking.
