Zambian students in Russia are starving again!

Letters from Zambian students in Russia

I would like to thank you for standing firm in your beliefs to give correct information to the Zambian people even at the time when everyone is praising failure so that they can be employed.

I trust you to convey this to HE Edgar C. Lungu, president of the Republic of Zambia, to the ministry of Education (specifically deputy minister-Chairperson of Bursaries Committee), the minister of finance and national planning, secretary to Bursaries Committee and to all authorities it may concern.
Zambian students in Russia have not received their top up allowances. The Bursaries Committee was supposed to pay students at the beginning of the academic year, it has, however, been 2 months now.

At the beginning of every academic year, students are required to pay for visa extension, medical policy and accommodation. While failure to pay for the latter leads to eviction from hostels, the former are offenses that lead to expulsion and deportation.
“These months have been hard for us. We have exhausted all our sources of income. We are starving, and we cannot borrow anymore- our Zimbabwean creditors are waiting for us to settle our debts. We have no money for bus fares anymore. It is affecting our performance in the university. The situation is bad.”
When student representatives contacted the secretary to the Bursaries Committee, she said that the BC has not been funded and she has no idea as to when the funds will be made available.

I have no idea who is sitting on the funding. However, I plead to HE Edgar C. Lungu, president of Zambia to look into the welfare of foreign students. Whether funding is coming from the ministry of finance or education, I appeal to the president to help us. I ask you to show us love as your children, as children of Zambia who are suffering abroad trying to acquire an education that they could not probably get in our motherland. I, sadly, remind you that most scholarship students abroad are coming from poor families and they completely depend on the top up allowances for their survival.

I would like to stress that if students do not pay for their hostels, they will be evicted from hostels. If they do not renew their visas, they will be deported. If they are discovered that they do not have medical policies, they will be deported. If they do not have money for their bus fares, they will be missing classes and that will lead to expulsion. If they starve,…while I do not know what happens to them.

Thank you.
By Zambian student in Russia.

Dear Editor,

I write this letter with so much sadness, anger and frustration that mere words cannot reflect. The extent to which the Zambian ministry of education has neglected students studying outside the borders of Zambia can no longer be ignored. It’s for this reason I write to you.

Zambian students in Russia have not been paid their keep up allowances (stipend/BC) for over 3 months. For the past week we have been seeing pictures and reading news articles about UNZA students who are rioting for an increase in their BC. Sadly, we as Russian students can not riot as we are located in a country that’s not ours and we are obliged to follow the rules and regulations of the country. So we are forced to stay silent like slaves and not do anything about it.

But truth be told, we have remained silent too long. We are suffering! We go to lectures hungry with no food to eat because the government has not paid us. All the food we have to eat is boiled. The other day, a friend of mine from Estonia asked me why we Zambians are always boil our food, he asked if it was a traditional way of cooking. With so much shame, I answered “yes” hiding the fact that is due to the extreme poverty we are going through that we cannot afford to buy cooking oil and fry some food. Some of us have forgotten the taste of chicken. This may seem exaggerated but it’s true. Students can’t go for lectures because they feel dizzy when thy walk from lack of food. Our diet has been reduced to boiled potatoes and salt which are the most affordable commodities. Winter is her and it’s cold, we can’t even but warm jumpers to keep us warm, so we are forced to bombasa 4 layers of clothing which forces us to walk like penguins. We are contantly asked why we are thin, and this is very shameful.

When students come to Russia, they are from different backgrounds, some come from families that can take care of them, some come from families that can’t send them money. In fact they are the ones who send money back home. So when money is held for over three months, one starts to wonder how people will survive. We have a lot of things to pay for, hostel fees, medical policy, visa fees, registration fees and personal up keep. Things are very expensive now in Russia with the fall of the Ruble and one is left to wonder how people survive. Students are forced to do humiliating and degrading things to survive instead of going for lectures, like working in grave yards, giving out fliers in markets, lifting boxes, giving massages to old women, dancing in public, cheat english to little kids just for a sack of potatoes in order to survive.

When we contact our government officials, nothing is done about it. Mwebantu twafwa. Please we need help.