Biology practical maybe…

Almost all the daily tabloids, radio & TV stations carried the story of pupils in chingola who organized a sex party at a named residence. The reports suggested that a group of more than 40 grade 10 pupils organized a party at a residence in Riverside Chingola at which alcohol was drunk in excess. What followed the heavy drinking was pairing and group sex by the pupils in different areas of the residence.

It is not the first time that a story has broken out in the media regarding pupils engaging in group sex. Late last year 16 pupils at Chikankata secondary school who had stayed behind at school during the holiday to prepare for their exams were expelled after they were caught having sex in one of the dormitories. It was not long before another Chikankata pupil was also sent home, only this time for being found having canal knowledge of a pig from the school’s Production Unit.

At that time I made light of both Chikankata situations by picking on my Tonga tribal cousins by claiming that such abhorrence as having canal knowledge of a ‘beast’ only happened in the southern province of Zambia. I gave examples of news reports that had emanated from Mazabuka before, where men had sex with chickens, dogs, infants etc. Forget the jokes on my Tonga tribal cousins, the truth is that these things happen everywhere.

The cases of pupils organizing parties where alcohol and sex are in abundant supply are many and happen in many places. This has been going on for a lot of years now. Most cases just never make newspaper stories or radio and TV news headlines. The culprits just never get caught, or as in the case of the chingola pupils, neighbours and onlookers never call the police.

Considering the fact that grade 10 pupils are usually between the age of 13 and 16, most of these cases can actually border on under age sex and underage drinking. In Zambia, sex under the age of 16 is illegal to the best of knowledge and so is alcohol consumption under the age of 18. Consequently marriage is illegal under the age of 16, which bothers me quite a lot why one can get married at 16 but still can’t vote or allowed to drink alcohol. If one is old enough to sign a marriage certificate then they are ready for self-determination and therefore should be able to choose who governs them. Anyway, one can only vote at age 18 while they have been married two years prior but that is not my topic of discussion now.

In Chikankata, when the teachers found the boys having sex in the classroom, it was reported that the teachers ordered the boys and girls to continue with the acts or they would face the full wrath of the school law if they did not comply. So the pupils continued their orgy while the teachers feeling so voyeuristic, looked on and even shot videos from smart phones. Maybe this was a biology lesson on reproduction. Yes a biology practical lesson.

What has made it become normal for teens to organize alcohol and sex parties, is too much exposure. At every corner, there is someone drinking and scantily dressed while exhibiting all sorts of uncouth behavior. Add to that, uncensored exposure through various media. Alcohol is sold anywhere any time and advertised anywhere anytime while sex images are exposed all the time from video and still images.

In most African nations, there are no restrictions on alcohol advertising while the restrictions on alcohol sale are lax. In my neighbouhood, a street name has even been nicknamed as devil street (topic for another blog), because the street houses night clubs, pubs, and all sorts of alcohol joints. I have used the street many times and seen scantily dressed teens with alcohol in hand not even inside the many bars but just on the road side. The street is usually full with vehicles and many will take their drinks inside the vehicles or beside them and the whole scene just looks very confusing.

I have nothing against people consuming alcohol. But there has to be order. In the street I have made reference to for example, there are a lot of bars to house all the patrons, who are allowed by the bar owners to take their drinks from the road side which is what I don’t understand. Mind you, the opposite side of this road there are houses where families with children reside. I’d imagine the children look on the other side of the road and see all sorts of uncouth behavior and dress which are worsened by alcohol influence. Those children are growing up believing this is how normal life should be.

These are the same children when they turn 13 they organize alcohol and sex parties. As if having children growing up near ‘devil street’ and subliminally imbedding in their minds that life is all about the parties, alcohol and sex was not enough, there is also lazy men’s area in Chilenje. A friend of mine once lived right across lazy men, and it was difficulty for her. She could not come home and just park her vehicle outside the gate to just pick up her visa card or anything she might have forgotten inside, as she would find drunken youths sitting on her car bonnet while imbibing their favorite intoxicating beverages.

In addition, there seems to be a shortage of toilets at these drinking places as the patrons use the fences of houses right across these joints. Having your fence or gate as a urinating spot is bad enough, but a urinating spot for alcoholics is way too bad. The stench that comes out of the fences and gates in such places is terrible and I really wonder how the people that live there survive. Someone would have done something about it really, unless the councils have vested interests in keeping all the non-complying joints in business.

If I mention Chilenje, it would be folly not to mention Chris’ corner. I do not think all the bars that operate in that area meet the minimum requirement and follow regulations. What about that place called M’s? And it is right opposite a church and on Sunday it is bad enough to walk out of that church and the first sight that greets one is that of teens and young adults engaging in alcohol and coarse behavior. You drive past Kalingalinga, Kabwata, Libala, matero, Lilanda and everywhere around Lusaka the situation is no different. I believe it is the whole country.  

Plenty alcohol billboards, this should not be the case.

More ads that glorify alcohol consumption 

Where is the alcohol consumption regulation from the civic authorities? One evening I got home and I found my DSTV subscription had expired and meant I couldn’t watch a UEFA champions’ league match between Manchester United and Real Madrid so I decided to watch it from any of the many bars housed in the famous ‘devil street’. I didn’t want to go further into the street, so I found parking space just two or three joint from the southern side of the street. I got inside the bar that was straight where I parked. Had it not been for my love of Manchester United, I’d not have lasted 5 minutes in that bar.

I lasted 45 minutes and at half time I decided to find a much more decent place else where to finish the game from. It was a Wednesday night and one wouldn’t have expected that many people in a bar. Not on this street. I was sat on the bar side and looking directly at the TV that hang over an entrance to the dancing hall which was dimly lit (or not lit at all) and there was a constant movement of people coming to buy beverages to the counter and all of them I can attest seemed younger than 18. The girls especially seemed much younger. Where I sat, near the bar counter at least there were much older persons, others even older than me.

Sometime later, as looked at the main entrance into the bar area from the outside I saw a very young couple that was kissing passionately and touching indiscreetly. Before that there had been an altercation just outside the entrance that I never paid attention to while many people inside had rushed to witness the fight. So when the half time whistle in the game that I had been watching blew, it was chance for me to leave and find another joint. I found a slight mature drinking place called shades in on the side of Lumumba road where I finished the game from. I have gone to Shades in another 2 times and even though I am usually the youngest of the lot and the only sober among them, I find this place much more tolerable.

Unless we have rules which are implemented and bar owners and patrons abide to them, we will be fighting a losing battle expecting school boys and girls not to organize a party at any residence, where the menu is alcohol and sex, served as starter, main course and desert or whatever order the party goers so wished.

My son since birth has lived in Libala stage III area right opposite Katungu shopping area and I really fear what perception of reality is sinking into his brain. There are far too many drinking places there and they all drink outside the bars. If it is not law, someone needs to legislate that all night clubs and bars must keep patrons inside the bar. Adults of legal age must be allowed inside these joints while activities that take place there must be kept inside and not outside for everyone’s eyes.

As a matter of fact I wouldn't careless less if there were a million drinking spots or even worse brothels at every corner of each neighborhood as long as the activities there are not exposed outside the confines of those premises. Obviously mine is a school of thought many bar owners do not subscribe to. Especially that most people who operate alcohol businesses do not subscribe to the concept of societal marketing. As long as they make profit, they don’t care what happens to those communities where their money comes from.

Not only do our children see drinking and all kinds of unsocial behavior taking place right in their neighborhoods, they are exposed to alcohol advertisements every day. Alcohol advertising is totally uncontrolled in Zambia and many African countries.

Some countries, such as France, Norway, Ukraine, Russia,India, Sri Lanka and many others have banned all alcohol advertising on television and billboard. The sponsorship of sporting events and sportspeople is banned in many countries. For example, the primary club competition in European rugby union, the Heineken cup, is called the H Cup in France because of that country's restrictions on alcohol advertising. For those who are fervent football followers, they will note that advertising boards for UEFA champions’ league games held in some countries only read 'RESPECT', as that replaces Heineken ads and or betting ads etc.

We need such laws to arrest teen alcohol abuse that certainly breeds the emergence of sex parties. Once this is done, pupils will not find it that easy to just organize a sex party or lock themselves in a dormitory and engage in unrestrained sexual intercourse- free for all sex I must mention.