Pornography, Zambia Style
By Pat Racimora on July 16, 2009 at 8:01 PM in Current Affairs
This story is about something obscene all right, but not in the way we usually think of the term. No naked bodies engaging in unseemly acts using odd equipment. Only a pregnant woman, unable to afford private care, desperately trying to find a hospital to help her give birth to a baby who was about to be born breech. But two clinics and Zambia’s largest hospital would not admit her because the staff was on strike. The naked mother lay on the street outside the hospital. The baby’s feet were dangling out.
Family members took photos. The baby died.
But wait! The story takes an even more bizarre twist.
The harrowing photos were sent to Chansa Kabwela, the news editor of the Post, Zambia’s best selling newspaper. The editor chose not to publish them because they were so upsetting. Yet she did decide to forward them to government ministers as a way of starkly illustrating the plight caused by the hospital strikes in the hopes that they would become involved in alleviating the crisis.
So, did the sad photos cause government officials to attempt to alleviate the situation by finding ways to help desperate people in need to immediate care?
Well, not exactly.
Ms. Kabwela has been charged with disseminating pornography. Her trial is set to begin in August.
Now, that’s obscene!
(See more on the story here and a protest editorial appearing in the Post here.
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