Zambia and the constant struggle for survival

A POOR country getting poorer.

Not what I had hoped to find in Zambia but sadly it is the reality.

Fr PJ Gormley, the Tyrone missionary priest who has spent decades here, summed it up well when he spoke of the “never ending struggle for survival – too little food, unsafe water, little education”.

It is nine years since I first touched down at Kenneth Kaunda Airport in Lusaka, greeted at that time by Omagh SMA priest Fr James O’Kane.

I write this article from Ndola, the country’s third largest city, six hours by road from the capital. It is mid-afternoon and the sun is shining down a 29 degree heat. This time Fr James’s brother, Fr Brian O’Kane, is my host.

It is my third visit to what is a truly fascinating corner of the world, one where the rich are rich indeed while the poor are left to survive by any means necessary.

Why that is, why many Africans have so little when their continent sits on gold, silver, diamonds, copper and other valuable minerals while the fertile land and swathes of forest produce rubber, fruit, spices, coffee and tea, is not a straightforward question.

The obvious reply would be colonisation. Europe’s bid to ‘enlighten’ and ‘civilise’ what was regarded as a dark and mysterious continent thinly masked the true intention: To exploit its wealth and enslave its people.

The 21st century reality is more complex and for me to pass broad comment would be clumsy, shallow and almost certainly highly inaccurate.

What I can do though is write of my observations, including the glaring contradictions.

For example everyone has a mobile phone but often no steady electrical supply in their home to charge it.

Within a stone’s throw of a vast multi-million dollar sports stadium men, women and children scrape a living selling fruit, animals, shoes, sim cards, charcoal, sugar cane.

People, some with barely a shoe on their foot, go to church constantly but never complain when their prayers are not answered.

A land of contradictions indeed.

The Chinese have an enormous influence here in the copper belt and are responsible for many major infrastructure projects.

Malls, roads and mines all have the fingerprints of eastern contractors on them.

At the recently built Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport, details of the few flights in and out of Ndola each day are flashed up on screens in English and Chinese, not in any Zambian dialect.

The previously referred to Levy Mwanawasa stadium, an architecturally impressive structure to rival many international grounds, was the work of the Chinese.

What the Zambia government gets in repayment for awarding them these contracts is not clear and the Chinese certainly aren’t saying. Clearly very little is trickling down as far as those living in the filthy shanties and villages, many of them in houses lit by candles and without a functional water supply.

Hakainde ‘HH’ Hichilema – the country’s richest man with an estimated personal wealth in excess of $350 million – was elected in August as Zambia’s seventh president under a banner of new hope, a new beginning.

With his country in billions of dollars in debt it is impossible to see how he can fulfil the promises of prosperity and employment made on the campaign trail. In 2020 Zambia missed an interest repayment, making it the first African country to default on a loan during the pandemic. It is also facing difficulties repaying other loans.

While elected on a wave of popularity, that will almost certainly start to subside if the president cannot start fixing some of the financial problems and quick.

Ndola sells itself as ‘The Friendly City’.

That is fair enough if talking about the people. Less cordial are the roads.

It is hard to put into words just how woeful the driving surfaces are.

In Ireland a single pothole would stir angry discussion on social media. Here it would be a struggle to find a road without a crater just waiting to snap an axle, bust a spring or rip up a tyre.

Since my last visit tolls have been introduced at some locations to fund a ‘sustainable road system’. Ironically my effort to photograph a sign for one of these toll systems was thwarted when the vehicle I was traveling in struck a massive pothole.

Exasperated I asked a young woman why the city council doesn’t stump up and do something about it.

Her reply was telling: “Because our ministers don’t need roads, they fly everywhere”.

But if the roads are shambolic, what of the healthcare?

Sadly it appears responsibility for orphans and those with special needs has been surrendered completely into the hands of charities.

In St Anthony’s Orphanage children with cerebral palsy, unable to walk, lay on either tiny mattresses or cold tiled floors.

The sisters who run it have dedicated their lives to helping such youngsters but are fighting an endless battle against under-funding and lack of resources.

The Ndola Lions School for the Visually Impaired is another wonderful facility supported by money donated from all over the world. But it too is struggling.

The work being done by the Luigi Project, a facility for young people who have either lost their parents or whose parents were unable to care for them, has to be seen to be believed. But again it appears to be surviving without any obvious help from the Zambian government.

If I am wrong then I am happy to be corrected. But the photographs speak for themselves and frankly they would shame all the devils in hell.

Zambia has become even more desperate since my last trip. It certainly hasn’t improved any, despite the soundings of successive governments.

People have got poorer, jobs have become fewer and the infrastructure has crumbled even further. Add to that a mountain of debt and it is hard to see how this country is ever going to rise up off its knees.

Yet despite the obvious need for financial intervention on multiple fronts the Zambians remain a resilient people.

They view Ireland as an ally and know how much organisations such as the SMA, the Lions, Rotary, the Dominican Sisters and many other groups have done for them.

All we can do is keep reaching down and offering a helping hand up.