Human traffickers targeting students, warns NGO
By Thandizo Banda
LEAD Foundation Zambia has warned that Zambian students are being targeted by human traffickers using fake foreign scholarships and job offers abroad.
In an interview with The Mast yesterday, Lead Foundation Zambia chief executive officer Lucky Kalunga said desperate youths were being lured through glossy adverts on social media promising fully funded international education and jobs only to end up trapped.
Kalunga said the foundation had rolled out an aggressive awareness campaign in secondary schools and universities to stop the vice.
“We are currently distributing flyers at Mulungushi University before we move to Cavendish, the University of Zambia and other tertiary institutions on the Copperbelt and other parts of the country,” he said.
Kalunga cited reports that some Zambians recruited abroad under the guise of education were allegedly being deployed into risky activities far from what was promised.
“We are seeing young people recruited under the guise of education but ending up in risky and exploitative situations. This is why verification and awareness are critical,” he said.
Kalunga said the intervention would go beyond the distribution of flyers.
He said the foundation was engaging students in open conversations, social media outreach, and using trafficking survivors to share first-hand testimonies.
“The intervention is designed not simply to distribute flyers, but to create awareness, encourage informed conversations, and help students make safer decisions about opportunities abroad,” he said.
Kalunga urged the government to activate foreign missions and local structures to protect youths.
“Government must use available structures and foreign missions to raise awareness and guide and protect citizens, particularly youths, against the vice of human trafficking,” he said.
Foundation Mulungushi University chairperson Jerome Chishala said students were easy prey because of desperation for opportunities.
“As students, we see adverts for scholarships abroad on social media and we get excited without verifying. This project has opened our eyes to ask questions and verify before we apply,” Chishala said.
Anti-human trafficking advocate Mulenga Kasongo also said young women face double risk.
“As a female student, I know how easy it is to be lured by promises of a better life abroad. This awareness is helping us as girls to be more alert, to support each other, and to report suspicious offers,” Kasongo said.
