Photo of the week | Meeting people on the move

This photo was taken in Chirundu, Zambia by Gideon Mendel and shows the truck parking area around customs buildings at the border.

Chirundu is situated on the border to Zimbabwe in the South-East of Zambia. The largest sources of formal income are retail, freight and customs. The largest sources of informal income are vending and sex work. Careful observation showed that between 100 permanent and 200 mobile sex workers work on the streets and bars of Chirundu. They charge their suitors between 2-10 euros.

The North Star Roadside Wellness Centre (RWC) at the border provides, for most of the truckers, sex workers, and community members, the only possibility to get access to basic health care and HIV testing. During the last few years, North Star has expanded the network of RWCs to ensure to meet truck drivers where they have to wait – like ports, transshipment points and border-crossing points.