Zambia faces an enormous challenge to cope with this trend, not only to lure people back to the country to cultivate the land, but to ensure the people who won't leave the cities, are gainfully employed. Rural Life Africa's economy, before Europeans arrived was essentially a rural one. Fishing, hunting and agriculture were the means of survival and because numbers were small, these activities were viable. With the increase in community sizes and the lure of the cities, rural life has undergone fundamental changes. Most villages are dominated by women who now have to depend on their own ingenuity to generate cash to support their many children and very often their elders.
Adulthood comes at an early age to rural children, especially the girls.
Few manage to start school before ten and only five years later they are considered adults with all the attendant responsibilities of marriage, child rearing and tending to crops. Only a small percentage of children finish primary school due to the high cost of uniforms, books and various school funds which parents must contribute. Usually a woman will have between 6 and 12 children and the cost of schooling for all of them is usually out of their reach. The desire to have many children still remains, even with the attendant hardships. The idea of long term insurance overwhelms the sacrifices.