ZAMBIA 5th to 17th JULY 2008: 14th July 2008 Chingola

JULY 14th 2008.

A late breakfast today. Into the dining room at 8.30am for the now customary buffet with fried breakfast options as well as cereals and fruit. Many of the other residents seem to be mining engineers with South African accents to the fore. Most are immaculately dressed, have laptops and they sit around in the dining room, the patio, the bar and reception tapping away.

We abandon the cars for the morning and walk up the hill into Chingola town. Sue and Paul met and married in Chingola and Sue's family were long time residents.
Although slightly run down its a much neater town than say Kitwe or Kabwe and we all feel at home despite the lack of white faces. We walk through the town to Fourteenth Street where Paul lodged for a time with his mate Eddie Kirkham, his late wife Sheila and young daughter Julie. The street is untidy and has little tarmac left but otherwise looks the same.

The Kirkhams old house, 30, Fourteenth Street.

Back in town we walk through the main street. Most of the old shops have gone now but Stubbs the Chemist where Ann Goddard worked forty years ago is still there and has the same name. The shops seem upmarket compared to those in other towns that we've been to but security must be an issue. We see a policewoman carrying a rifle walking down the street, concrete bollards are positioned at the ends of streets presumably ready to block them off and we have to hand our backpacks in when we browse in a large store.

On through the town down to Tenth Avenue where one of Paul's old drinking haunts, the theatre, is located. Rob and Hazel were once stalwarts there and this is where Paul met them. Hazel trod the boards many times; Rob but once, memorably, in a WW2 play. A brilliant piece of typecasting. The first blond Japanese soldier.

At this time of the morning it is not open and a little chat is needed before a young woman removes the big chain on the door. We're allowed to go in and and find it little changed. A framed list of members from 1960 in the foyer, old and modern posters plugging shows. The reception and bar have not been changed.

The friendly manageress tells us that they still put on plays but only average about 20 paying patrons. They get more for bands and other events. We take photos. Paul poses in his usual spot hoping for a game of liar dice to start..

We walk out and along the main road to the Catholic Church where Sue and Paul wed on 3rd July 1971. The friendly, young priest, Father Brian Mutale, takes time out and opens the church for us.

The church remains in excellent condition, still painted in blue and white, and the inside has gained a balcony where, according to Father Brian, an excellent choir sing.

We walk around remembering. Many who were there are still friends albeit rarely seen; the Husseys - Rob was Best Man -, the Green family, Ken Barclay.

Back in Chingola we walk through a market just off the main road. Dave D. calls in for a haircut - £1.50. We're all struggling with Zambian money. Its 6,600 Kwacha to the pound and everything seems expensive until its calculated. To confuse the issue we've also brough US dollars as these are accepted by most traders and we sometimes have to make another calculation.

In essence most prices are cheaper than the UK.
Pictures below show the market and Dave D. getting a Number One haircut.

Pam and Posh Spice blouse ..... ............We then walk up to a cafe for a drink on the outside patio.

We walk back down to the Protea and for the only time on our holiday spend thirty minutes sunbathing by the pool. Alison Hart, the manager comes over and introduces herself and we discover that the Goddards who Durbers were friendly with in the sixties are still here, that Ann Goddard is still working at Stubbs Chemists in town and that she is Alison Hart's best friend.

Alison also tells us that we stand no chance of getting to see the Open Pit on the mine. Access is strictly controlled now since an Indian consortium took control. This is a blow as it was a spectacular sight in the seventies and we know that it has doubled in size.
Thirty minutes in the sun and we are burnt. We go inside for lunch.

After lunch Dave M drives Sue and Paul into Chingola; we go into Stubbs the Chemists and wait for Ann Goddard to appear. naturally she is bemused at seeing blasts from the past but promises to come to the Protea for a drink that evening.

We walk around the corner to the BCEL. This is the British Commonwealth Ex-Servicemen's Club, once a watering hole for expats and Paul and Gordon's (Sue's father) main boozer. It is still a drinking club although it is used as a church on Sunday mornings. We go in. A barmaid - Charry - lets us look around and we have a drink. Charry is pleasant but doesn't have much English and her maths aren't very good as somehow Paul doesn't get any change. The club has not changed in 40 years except for the substitution of a TV for the dartboard.

The same regimental crests - some now missing - adorn the pelmet above the bar, the same WW1 posters, badly faded, are on the walls and the footrail around the bar -perfectly postioned for the stand up drinker - is still solid.

Even the furnishings, the bar stools and seats along the window care the same and Sue suspects from the colour that it is the original material.
A beer, photos and we move on.

Dave drives up to Kabundi, a residential estate a couple of miles out of town. Sue's family lived at 4, Mupundu Street and we search for it. The roads are the worst we've been on and we bemoan the fact that we didn't hire a jeep. However, we didn't know that an off-road vehicle would be needed to get round the residential areas.

A few false leads then we find it. Two Zambian women at the rear see us at the gate and disappear. A young girl comes to the gate - an English speaker - and we tell her why we are there.

Nothing happens. We take a few photos and leave. Once again the house is in reasonable condition but the roads are terrible.

Back at the Protea we make calls to organise the rest of our trip and then meet in the bar at 630pm. Waiting for us are Tony and Ann Goddard. Tony was the 'official' photographer at the Durber's wedding.

He now works on a brickfield and brings us up to date with Chingola and people we once knew. Most are now dead (including Zebron the BCEL barman who lived at their house for a few years) and many others that he mentions we cant remember but the beers flow freely. Tony tells us that a new and bigger copper mine has opened in the northwest and that big money is being earned. He confirms that we wont get to the Chingola Open Pit but tells us of another viewpoint on the Konkola Road.

They confirm that crime is a problem and Ann had been tied up whilst their house was robbed a few years ago. The crooks got seven years. Neither wants to leave Zambia.

After a fairly hectic little session the shake hands and leave. We eat.