This is a story from Gloria, a Zambian business woman, and Ella, a Zambian Consultant.

They have increased the fuel costs, so now people are walking because they can not afford the bus. The food is too expensive, people are having one meal a day. Some do not even have that meal. A loaf of bread costs $0.70 which is prohibitive.

The households are being run by children, orphans, who have nothing left, the eldest at 12 years of age is looking after all the other children, so they have to stop school. Because of SIMS (HIV/AIDS).

The new “investors” come in and abuse the wage structure. You are so happy to have a job, but you do not even know how much you are going to be paid. You can not even afford transportation to work, you have to walk. The job does not have a pension, so once you are off, that is it.

Gloria says, What I want is to increase the salaries, take care of the doctors and nurses salaries, then they will remain with us. Create job opportunities, screen the investors who come in. They only have the profit in mind, they will do what ever they can to make money, at the expense of the worker who will not get anything. They are employed on a casual basis.

Ellas says, the wages must be increased and the health sector salaries must be increased. The anti-retroviral drugs must be moved to the rural areas so that the people there can access it. We need more counselors so people can understand what AIDS is.