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April 11, 2005
The Cost of Corruption
What would you pay to remodel a youth center in the middle of nowhere? When I showed up in Buzi, off the beaten path on the way from the ocean to Zimbabwe, it was a rainy afternoon and no one was on the streets or in the town's new-looking sports complex. Inside the barn-like youth center, however, about 25 high school-aged kids were getting a lecture on reproductive anatomy. A debate broke out about the meaning of virginity in this context and the teacher had to step in to settle the issue - I'm not quite sure what it was. These kids were supposed to take these lessons back to their peers in the district.
The training and the half-completed remodeling, designed to provide areas for peer counseling on sex and, eventually, disease testing, are funded by a large, international group working on dozens of these sites in Mozambique. If the group finds a contractor to do the work, it may cost $3,000 or $4,000. When the government does the work, the group gets a bill for $7,000, $10,000, once even $25,000. "I respect all cultural issues, but corruption, no," the group's director tells me in the library of its Maputo office. "It's a question of human rights. People are dying."
Posted by Adam Graham-Silverman at April 11, 2005 02:09 AM
Comments
But can't they play basketball in the center???
Posted by: Tim at April 22, 2005 06:54 AM