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 Commercial sex workers in Zambia are returning to work this week. Thanks to sanduka (“transformation”), a job-training program run by World Vision and local churches, they are now employed in safe, healthy and dignified professions, many as seamstresses and tailors.
The program’s first class of 17 graduated this week. The program works in conjunction with World Vision’s Cross-Border Initiative, which brings awareness and education about HIV/AIDS to commercial sex workers at truck stops along the Zambia-Zimbabwe border. In addition, local churches provide these women with psychosocial counseling to help them make the transition to their new lives.
“In a way, this is like passing on a baton,” said Pastor Michael Wembya, who represented the churches at the graduation ceremony. “World Vision started with treatment and care, then moved on to rehabilitation. Now they are passing the responsibility of caring for these women on to us.”
In addition to the 17 graduates, 23 women and girls are in the process of completing the program. Thirteen young girls have been sent to boarding schools to complete their primary educations. Some 260 women are registered for the program. World Vision is seeking additional funding to continue the program.
Richard E. Stearns, president of World Vision in the United States, was on hand to congratulate the graduates and distribute diplomas after meeting with Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa.
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