Their father had died of AIDS, contracted from one of the multiple prostitutes he wastes his meagre earnings on in the dark streets of the city.

The mother, had also died of AIDS, contracted from no other than her loving husband.

This is not an unusual occurrence. The village of Pisti has lost several people like this in recent months. Men working in the cities bring home HIV to wives who are in the village, patiently and happily welcoming their husbands home from the city on their monthly brief visits.  Many children have been orphaned. Sadly, the elders of Pisti community had no understanding of this scourge and had ostracized these children from the rest of the community, refusing them the rights to be human on their own terms.

Alone and Hungry, Lungu goes off to the city to eke out a living in order to take care of his siblings, Adari and Tobe. He told them he would be back every week and will bring money. Apparently, he forgot that it is the big city we are talking about. He didn’t realise the city has no soul. He arrived in a big city, knowing no one, and within days, his money ran out. He could not find a job. No one wanted him. He had no skills, and had barely gone to school. He is angry and frustrated. A gang found him, gave him food and shelter, gave him hope. It was a fait accompli. He joined them. On their first operation, he was the only one caught by the police. He ends up in jail, awaiting trial.

Adari waited for her brother’s message for weeks. None came. She asks everyone coming back from the city if they had seen her brother. “The city is a jungle”, they replied her. They run out of food. She had no money, and her credit standing at the local store had been revoked. The store owner, a pot-bellied middle aged man with 4 wives, told her she either pays up with cash or she can do what the other young girls in the village does, and for a girl as pretty as Adari is, he would wipe her slate clean.  She felt she could do neither, so she left.

Then Tobe took ill. She could not get medicine for him. She was desperate. Lungu is nowhere to be found. No one in the village would help her. The village head didn’t want to see her. Tobe is in pain. She went to the dispensary where the nurse comes to once in a month. She is in luck; the nurse was there. She got some medications for Tobe, but he has to eat before taking them.

She wondered if she can appeal to the store owner’s sense of humanity. She headed off to his store. The lusting look on his face when she entered told her already that no appeal will work with this one. She contemplated walking out on him. Tobe will be waiting for her to perform a miracle. How will she go home to a hungry and sick Tobe? With a sinking feeling, she knew what she had to do. It was getting late, but there were still many people in the store She waited by a corner till the last paying customer left. Hastily, the shop owner came over to the door, shut it tight, signalling business is finished for the day, except for his prize that is waiting to be claimed. He laughed like a hyena as he came over to hold her. She felt trapped.

Afterwards, armed with supplies for about a week, she hurried home. It was dark now, but as she nears her parents’ home, it appeared as if the sun was just beginning to rise around there. Then she heard shouting. “What is going on?”, she thought. It was a fire. A house was burning. She came round the bend to her house and found people standing outside, crying helplessly. It is her house. The fire was fierce.

“Where is Tobe? I left him sleeping”, she cried out.

Over the noise of the onlookers and the licking sound of the fire, she shouted, “Tobe, Tobeee”. No one answered. No one had seen Tobe.

“God, let this not happen, please”. “Tobe cannot be inside this fire”

Dropping the supplies that she had recently lost her virginity for, she made a dash for the door of the burning house. Powerful hands gripped her. “You cannot go in there, child. It is too dangerous”.

“Let me go, let me go please. My brother might still be in there”

“No one can be in that fire. He probably has run away when it started”, people affirmed by way of encouragement.

She continued to wail, shouting her brother’s name.

The fire truck from the district office finally made its way to the scene of the fire. It was almost burnt out by then, so in about 10minutes, they were able to put it out. The building was charred and burnt out. Fire officers went into the building to look around. The whole assembly waited with bated breath. After what seemed like an eternity, one man came out, carrying something that looked like a log.

As he came out into the open, Adari saw the form, and a scream escaped from her. The rest of the community joined the crying. It was not a log. Tobe was sleeping in the house when the fire started!