By Richard Kagunda:

It is a Friday night and Kasungu Town is pulsating with nocturnal life. The party mood has been activated and drinking joints are filled to capacity with patrons enjoying their night emptying bottle by bottle.

At American Filling Station Bar, the dance floor is a busy arena as drunk bodies — both males and females — surrender their bodies to the blasting sound.

A 16-year, old boy covering his head with a cowboy hat and sunglasses sneaks in, defying a signpost restricting under-aged children to enter the bar.

The signpost reads: “Ana ochepela zaka 18 asalowe muno” or “persons under the age of 18 are not allowed in these premises”.

He is, however, quickly noticed and flashed out.

“We do not want children here under any circumstances. We are always alert and we easily identify them when they try to sneak in.

“They will never be successful. They are chased before they do anything inside here because we quickly identify them,” says Gift Rabson, a bartender at the drinking joint.

He says the bar ensures at all times – day or night – that under-aged children do not patronise the premises.

“They try to sneak in to buy beers but they are not served. We actually flush them out. We are well aware that this is against the law and that we have a duty to protect children,” he says.

Section 74 of the Liquor Act criminalises selling alcohol to persons below the age of 18.

At another famous spot, two young girls also unsuccessfully attempt to get into the bar in search of men.

As they try to enter, one of the sex workers hovering in the room notices them and blocks their way in before calling a guard who chases the girls away.

We followed the two girls to inquire about what they intended to do in the bar.

“We stay on our own and do not have any one to support us. So we visit bars searching for men. That is our easy means to surviving,” says one of the girls.

“I am 16 years; my friend is 15. We both live in a rented room. We have to pay rent, buy food and clothes. Where do we get the money?” She wonders.

The younger girl reveals that she resorted to going to the streets after her parents divorced, leaving her with her jobless mother who cannot meet her needs while the other one says she was chased after she refused to be forced into marriage.

“We know we should not be doing this because we are young, but what can we do in these circumstances?” They say.

The girls say life for them has been difficult because they are denied entry into most of the popular joints where they feel they can find better customers.

“Access to most of the bars is difficult because we are chased away. On a lucky day, we meet the customers in the streets. But we could be making more money if we had easy access to drinking joints,” one of them says.