Arjen Westra’s African Weblog

Been a bit hectic the last days: Nairobi-Amsterdam-Nairobi-Lusaka-Kabwe-Lusaka. Finally some time to write a bit on my mobile. Arrived from Kabwe last night. Visited the town that according to a report is considered as one of the most polluted places in the world. Prepared for the worst, I arrived and was a bit surprised to see a happy town with a lot of activity. But generally spoken poor people in Africa are not proud to be poor: they dress up smartly. So you dont notice. Until i visited a heavily polluted dumpsite were scavengers were looking for scrap metal to sell so they can buy some food. People started talking. More van 80 percent of the population is jobless at the moment. It used to be different: almost everybody had a job. But the mines closed and all that was left was the dumpsite. Was guit hard to find a hotel: local hotel business is picking up because of all the workshops dealing with the pollution being organised.