By Leopold Munhende recently in Binga
WITH his wife seated on the carrier and their one-year-old son on her back, Honest Mudenda (28) cycled 10 kilometres on a perry bike to register a birth certificate last Wednesday, a two-hour ride through dense forests lined with all manner of wild animals found along Lake Kariba.
Only those who witnessed the couple’s smiles would understand how something so ordinary, so simple for most urbanites, can make a villager in far-flung Siamusanga, Binga happy.
The Mudenda family is one of many villagers in “hard to reach areas” that have benefited from a Civil Registration Department (CRD) led, Swedish government-funded and UNICEF-supported initiative to register birth certificates, national identity cards and death certificates.
Wearing brightly lit smiles, Mudenda said they were confident the certificate would change fortunes for their baby.
They live at Mujere Fishing Camp, some 198km from Binga Centre, on the shores of Lake Kariba, where internet is a luxury, radio signal is yet to reach and Zambia is a herd man’s whistle away.
That Siamusanga is hard to reach is not up for discussion.
Elephants roam freely on the shores of the mighty Lake Kariba, and leopards and lions are not a rare sight too deep amongst the Tonga-speaking communities there.
Honest Mudenda, a beneficiary of the ongoing programme, called for it to extend to their fishing camps that are also hard to reach.
Honest Mudenda, a beneficiary of the ongoing programme, called for it to extend to their fishing camps that are also hard to reach.
“I never believed that one day my child would have a birth certificate. A lot of people in our community do not have these documents because there is nowhere to get them and Binga Centre is too far for them to travel to,” said a visibly happy Mudenda.
“There is no transport to get here from the fishing camp I work at, I for one used a bicycle to get here with my wife and child on the carrier, cautiously riding through forests which are usually full of wild animals.
“We hope this programme continues so as to benefit more people; if it is possible, they can actually visit our camps too.”
Before the satellite registration centre was opened, villagers had to travel 183km to Binga Centre, a distance that would be short were it tarred.
It is, however, a gruelling seven-hour drive, and costs no less than US$15 when using public transport, which is a fortune for simple fishermen.
Source: Newzimbabwe
