OUR HISTORY

TAKUZA was founded in 2021 by three Religious sisters, Sr. Kayula Lesa from the Religious Sisters of Charity, Sr. Mutinta Simaanza of the Religious Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Sr. Veronica Ramotse from the Congregation of Little Servants of Mary Immaculate. The background to the foundation is that in 2020, Talitha Kum International invited applications from individuals committed to addressing human trafficking to participate in a leadership formation course which they offer in conjunction with TANGAZA University in Kenya and The Pontifical Antonianum University in Rome, Italy. Thirty-five (35) applicants from around the world participated in the formation course which ran for nine months. One of the results of the course was the formation of National and Regional Networks around the world, that would work towards combating human trafficking, by course participants often referred to Talitha Kum Leaders.  In Zambia, therefore, the three Talitha Kum Leaders formed Talitha Kum Zambia in January, 2021 upon completing the course.

With financial and other forms of support from Talitha Kum International, the leaders began the formation of the Network by approaching different leaders of Religious women Congregations and individuals to assess the level of interest and commitment to the issue of human trafficking. These efforts led to the formation of the Network as Congregational leaders were keen to be members. By April 2021, the Network had 25 Congregations as members and by May 2022, membership grew to 45 after the TAKUZA leaders conducted a human trafficking workshop in Lusaka in which 34 sisters from different Congregations took part. The participants were drawn from 8 Dioceses.

At its inception, TAKUZA operated loosely as the TAKUZA leaders were in full- time ministries in their own Congregations and doing TAKUZA work in their free time. That said, the Religious Sisters of Charity offered an office in Ndola which provided a physical structure where TAKUZA could be located. Efforts to raise awareness through radio programmes and talks in schools and community were made by the TAKUZA Leaders in Monze, Lusaka and Ndola where they worked, respectively.

In March, 2021, the Conrad Hilton Foundation expressed interest to ZAS that they were willing to support the work on human trafficking among the sisters in Zambia. ZAS indicated that there was already a National Network, TAKUZA, working to stop human trafficking. Therefore, with financial support from Conrad Hilton Foundation, TAKUZA began to operate formally in May, 2022. It now has three full time employees at national level and Outreach Teams in the 11 Catholic Dioceses. The Project is currently being implemented by the Religious Sisters of Charity.