The legend of the Copperbelt

The final chapter on the follow-up was a conglomerate trip 'up North'. When I looked at the map the ralisation sunk in - North is vast! When Zambians refer to North they actually speak of Northern province . North of Lusaka is termed the Copperbelt - the industrial heart of the country due to the plentiful mineral mining! A pretty massive travelling area in under a week - made worse by the fact that it is not advised to travel across the Congo - outlined by dashed line across the pedicle. However we started as per usual at the crack of dawn!

Map of Zambia outlining some of the towns visited for follow ups in Copper belt and Northen province

As we left we passed by the new football stadium and home to the Chipolopolo (Copper bullets!) and many markets along the way alongside the huge industrial farms. These had the massive irrigation booms set up to accomodate the huge fields of maize. However the local produce showed more variety with watermelons and pumpkins and beans as well as the traditional tomatoes! There was even an opportunity to purchase more meaty foodstuff such as a bull!

Our first port of call is Kabwe (also known as Broken Hill in the colonial era). Its probably more notable not for the zinc and lead mining carried out here now but for the almost complete skeleton unearthed in the 1920's thought to be about 200,000 years old and the oldest remains in central southern Africa - (Homo Rhodesiensis or affectionately known as Broken Hill man!). Travelling on from here we hit Kapiri-Mposhi. Which is an otherwise unremarkable sprawl of a town that is made important for two reasons - it is the end of the (functioning) trainline to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and it is also the site of one of very few road signs in Zambia! It's the fork in the road that sends people on their way to Democratic Republic of Congo via Copperbelt or Tanzania via Northern province. The road was now thick with either lorries or buses each overtaking the other and generally causing wear and tear to the road surface.

Lorry for Copperbelt and bus to Tanzania note deep ruts
forming in the road surface

The markets also became a bit more industrialised with more and more charcoal colouring the earth besides the roads black. Soon enough we hit the Copperbelt itself, and Ndola the provincial capital was the first stop at the end of the afternoon. Interestingly the colour of the hospital's main building was grey - maybe a deliberate ploy not to show dirt, maybe the sign of smog over the years - although there is little evidence of this now as it is a leafy surburban feeling town with little evidence of mining other than the occasional slag heap on the outskirts. However whilst I went to the hospital for the follow-up it gave Patrick an opportunity to get the car cleaned (as is mandatory on a daily basis here it seems!) It may also be because Ndola is deemed to have some of the purest water supplies and is why it is the home of the largest Mosi brewery in the country. Shame they don't do tours!

Charcoal piles discolouring the earth even

Car getting its daily wash!

It seems that Ndola must have a particularly noisy population as there were large signs stressing forcefully the need for silence at every corner of the hospital. Either that or they were pre warned of my imminent visit!

I then spent a fantastic two and  a half hours chatting and being shown around the 4 main theatres in Ndola by the enigmatic Dr Hamdy. Every region needs a local hero - well here was my pick of the region! A coptic Christian, he came across from Egypt over 30 years ago and set up as the only anaesthetist in Ndola. Since then he has singlehandedly been in charge of the department and nurtured clinical officers through training. The signs of working on his own are clear from the multiple objects he has attached to his person - the standard stethoscope with his own personal finger pulse oximeter hanging off it, two pens - in case one finishes, a flannel (in case it gets too hot for him) and a pocketful of neatly written notes and his glasses case! The facilities are not that bad here mainly due to Dr Hamdy's personal crusade to stock it with equipment he buys when he visits home in Egypt. The follow up takes more than twice the normal length as it seems not only that he can out talk me but he is genuinely wanting to discuss various new techniques. He continues to strive to learn and improve every day and is certainly an example to many other physicians.
 He is now 72 years of age. I ask him about retirement... He peers over his glasses at me and taps my hand, "My dear, I am too old to retire - what would I do?! When I was younger I was the all Zambian Judo champion, now I struggle to walk up the stairs. No, I will continue to work until I drop". He is a total legend in his own right.

The unique Dr Hamdy in theatre

That evening we press on as far as Kitwe - which paradoxically is a bigger town than Ndola and has certainly got a far more industrialised feel to it. Not only for the amounts of lorries we were passing but also the more common sights of industrial chimneys and machinery. By the time we'd got to Kitwe it was dark and the next hour was spent driving around trying to find accomodation - apparently booking up front is not the 'in thing to do' even when arriving in a busy town towards the weekend!

Another lorry overtaken enroute

Industrial chimney