A 23-year-old woman who pays rent to live in her mother's house says her mother has forbidden her from going on a trip with her boyfriend, and she is refusing to obey, according to a report published by Home on October 18, 2026. The young woman told the outlet plainly: she was not going to argue about it, and she was still going on that trip.
Let that sink in, Zambia. A grown woman, 23 years old, handing over her hard-earned money every single month for the roof over her head, and the parent still wants to sign off on her travel plans like she is a child in Grade 4 asking for permission to visit a friend. This is not parenting. This is control dressed up in a chitenge.
What exactly happened?
According to Home, the daughter lives at her mother's house and pays rent, the same amount each month, as an arrangement between them. She wanted to travel with her boyfriend. The mother said no, on the grounds that the daughter still lives under her roof. The daughter's answer was direct and, frankly, correct: she told her mother she was not going to argue and that she was going anyway.
The report raised a fair question that many Zambian families should sit with. If you are over 21 and you are contributing money to the household, are you still a minor who must seek approval for every move? The answer, in any sane reading of adulthood, is no.
Why more young adults are still living at home
This is not a Zambian problem alone, and it is not a sign of laziness. The Home report points out that young adults across the world are staying with parents longer because moving out has simply become unaffordable, especially for those still studying or working entry-level jobs. Many contribute a set monthly amount to the family, a form of rent that costs far less than renting a flat on the open market.
Sound familiar? In Lusaka, in Ndola, in Kitwe, our young people are doing exactly this. They work, they bring money home, they help with the lights, the mealie meal, the school fees of younger siblings. They are not sleeping in their childhood beds out of laziness. They are holding families together in an economy that gives them little room to breathe. That deserves respect, not surveillance.
And our youth are capable of far more than some parents and some elites give them credit for. When young people are trusted, they build. Young inventors elsewhere have filed patents for real devices, and there is no reason