I’ve been here over 2 months now, so it’s long overdue that I should tell you something about the place that we’ve been living in. So here goes….
My rough guide to Chingola
Chingola, is in the Copperbelt province in the north-west of Zambia, close to the Congo border. It has been a copper mining town for many years and today a large number of the population are miners, though the town has developed a bit with one supermarket, a number of banks, and many markets. It also has much evidence of the British colonial times here such as cricket and rugby clubs and plenty of roundabouts!
Photo: Industrial Chingola from a distance
Photo: Welcome to Chingola
Transport
As with many former colonial towns the black and white curb stones are essential. The streets are all very wide, and although street names and can be seen on maps of the town, there are no actual road name signs, but as there is no door to door postal service or home delivery of any kind this is less important, unless of course you actually want to find a specific road. Many Zambian towns are very much into their speed calming, and Chingola is no exception with humps a plenty, and also of particular interest to any traffic engineers reading, there are a number of roads with speed dips, or hollows, which have taken me by surprise on occasion, as they are unmarked!
Traffic rules – On entry to Chingola a sign states ‘Observe rules’. I’m not sure what all the rules are, but I’m not convinced that everybody is observing them! Giving way on a roundabout depends on the size of your vehicle. HGV’s tend not to stop, as I found out recently, when I just managed to stop in time while I was going round the roundabout. The wide roads mean, that overtaking can happen often in towns, and on either side of you. Essentially it’s a free for all!
Photo: Observe rules
Parking – Parking costs 1000 Kwacha (15p) and is valid all day. Tickets are purchased at manned gates along a number of town centre roads.
Photo: Parking payment at barriers at end of street
Fuel – There are a number of petrol stations in Chingola, 5 within about 500metres of each other, which would appear to be excessive, except that they often wont have any fuel. If they do have fuel, then pump attendents will fill you car up as used to be the case in the UK - (I guess the British introduced this system even), and you pay them while still in the car. You’ll also get your windscreen washed for free, and someone can even check your tyre pressures. Basically it's about giving people more jobs, and with labour being so cheap here, this is replicated all over the town in various ways. Somehow I quite like the human touch and the smile which Zambian's will always give you without fail, an yet it's not a forced 'customer service' smile, it's genuine. Unfortunately in the UK the human touch is rapidly disapearing, as we continue to replace peoples jobs with machines.
Public Transport – There is one bus station in the centre of Chingola, which is basically a road filled with the blue and white minibuses famous over much of southern and east Africa. It appears to be chaos as there are no signs telling you which bus to get, but people just know where to go. On the outskirts of Chingola you find some more bus stations which will provide buses to other further a field places. The main problem with the minibuses is that rather than having a timetable, they wait until they are full, so on a less popular route, you could be waiting a while!
Photo: Bus pick up street
The railway – There is a railway running through Chingola, but this appears to be largely for freight, taking copper and associated products away. These run through the night, and you can often here train horn warning people as it passes through the non-gated level crossings.
My rough guide to Chingola
Chingola, is in the Copperbelt province in the north-west of Zambia, close to the Congo border. It has been a copper mining town for many years and today a large number of the population are miners, though the town has developed a bit with one supermarket, a number of banks, and many markets. It also has much evidence of the British colonial times here such as cricket and rugby clubs and plenty of roundabouts!
Photo: Industrial Chingola from a distance
Photo: Welcome to Chingola
Transport
As with many former colonial towns the black and white curb stones are essential. The streets are all very wide, and although street names and can be seen on maps of the town, there are no actual road name signs, but as there is no door to door postal service or home delivery of any kind this is less important, unless of course you actually want to find a specific road. Many Zambian towns are very much into their speed calming, and Chingola is no exception with humps a plenty, and also of particular interest to any traffic engineers reading, there are a number of roads with speed dips, or hollows, which have taken me by surprise on occasion, as they are unmarked!
Traffic rules – On entry to Chingola a sign states ‘Observe rules’. I’m not sure what all the rules are, but I’m not convinced that everybody is observing them! Giving way on a roundabout depends on the size of your vehicle. HGV’s tend not to stop, as I found out recently, when I just managed to stop in time while I was going round the roundabout. The wide roads mean, that overtaking can happen often in towns, and on either side of you. Essentially it’s a free for all!
Photo: Observe rules
Parking – Parking costs 1000 Kwacha (15p) and is valid all day. Tickets are purchased at manned gates along a number of town centre roads.
Photo: Parking payment at barriers at end of street
Fuel – There are a number of petrol stations in Chingola, 5 within about 500metres of each other, which would appear to be excessive, except that they often wont have any fuel. If they do have fuel, then pump attendents will fill you car up as used to be the case in the UK - (I guess the British introduced this system even), and you pay them while still in the car. You’ll also get your windscreen washed for free, and someone can even check your tyre pressures. Basically it's about giving people more jobs, and with labour being so cheap here, this is replicated all over the town in various ways. Somehow I quite like the human touch and the smile which Zambian's will always give you without fail, an yet it's not a forced 'customer service' smile, it's genuine. Unfortunately in the UK the human touch is rapidly disapearing, as we continue to replace peoples jobs with machines.
Public Transport – There is one bus station in the centre of Chingola, which is basically a road filled with the blue and white minibuses famous over much of southern and east Africa. It appears to be chaos as there are no signs telling you which bus to get, but people just know where to go. On the outskirts of Chingola you find some more bus stations which will provide buses to other further a field places. The main problem with the minibuses is that rather than having a timetable, they wait until they are full, so on a less popular route, you could be waiting a while!
Photo: Bus pick up street
The railway – There is a railway running through Chingola, but this appears to be largely for freight, taking copper and associated products away. These run through the night, and you can often here train horn warning people as it passes through the non-gated level crossings.
Food
The grill – This is probably the best restaurant in Chingola, although they close if there is a power cut – which is unfortunately one of the times when you want to eat out, because you cant cook in the flat. The Mona Lisa – This is more of a bar that serve food, which is ok, although portions a bit small. They do have sport on the TVs, but occasionally have some strange characters drinking there. The Protea Hotel – This is one of the favourite haunts, which has premiership football, nice surroundings but only average food, although the ham and cheese toasty is particularly good. So yes, in general not the best cuisine on offer. However, I cant not mention the infamous ‘Pie City’ of which I have talked about on a previous blog. Many pies of different kinds all with a special code carved into the pastry, just so you know you’re getting the right flavour! …and they actually taste very good.
Photo: Pie City 'Home of the perfect pie'
Power supply – Most buildings near the centre have electricity, however, there is load sharing here, as in much of urban Zambia, which means that in our area there is no power on Monday and Friday evenings and Wednesday mornings. Street lighting is an optional extra which the council don’t choose to power, although there are street lights, which were once powered I presume. This means that it gets very dark in the town in the evenings, and walking is not recommended as there are many potholes and worse still, uncovered drains which would give you a nasty surprise and a fairly bad injury. Which brings me onto the hospitals. There are 2 of these. One for everyone, which is old, fairly dilapidated, in need of a lick of paint, and some windows replacing, but on the whole clean, although cockroaches could be seen running through ward 6 when we visited our friend Caspar. There is also the mine hospital, which is for workers at the copper mines, or for people who want to pay. This hospital looks altogether much nicer with beautiful grounds as well.
Sports facilities include a rugby ground, cricket ground, which so far have been rarely played on, but last week I did notice a cricket match taking place.
Photo: Chingola cricket ground
Shopping Shoprite is the main supermarket, which has narrow aisles, and is always full of people. Supermarket congestion at its worst in fact.
Photo: Shoprite supermarket
They do however have mini trolleys which can fit two baskets on double-decker style. Another great idea, which does help the narrow aisle issues. There is also a ‘Manchester’ isle. Yes isle 3, which isn’t the 3rd isle from either the left or right, but the sign states it is the 3rd isle, sells Manchester apparently, and for reference, Shoprite in Ndola another town in the copperbelt region also has a Manchester aisle. Once you leave shoprite, this is not the end of the ordeal. If you remember that you must show your receipt to the security guard on the way out (if not you will be hauled back in) then you have to get passed the masses of street kids trying to offer to take your bags to your car for money. In the heat, this can be very stressful.
Photo: Shoprite aisle 3 - Shoes, clothing and Manchester!
Photo: Double-deck basket trolley
There are then a great many shops that seem to all sell the same things, but just a random collection of non-food items. Walking down the isle you’ll see soap, mugs, pegs, plugs, tea, a keyboard, chairs…. And so on. Then there is Rekays. This is the shop that is recommended by every other shop if you’re trying to buy anything DIY related. However, when you get there, they rarely have what you want. Banks will have a security guard with a gun, who will make sure customers are safe while drawing the money, but who will not tell you that the machine has run out of money before you go to it. At the end of the month, there are long queues to get money out, and after some time, all the cash machines run out of money.
Photo: Rekays on Kwacha Street
The grill – This is probably the best restaurant in Chingola, although they close if there is a power cut – which is unfortunately one of the times when you want to eat out, because you cant cook in the flat. The Mona Lisa – This is more of a bar that serve food, which is ok, although portions a bit small. They do have sport on the TVs, but occasionally have some strange characters drinking there. The Protea Hotel – This is one of the favourite haunts, which has premiership football, nice surroundings but only average food, although the ham and cheese toasty is particularly good. So yes, in general not the best cuisine on offer. However, I cant not mention the infamous ‘Pie City’ of which I have talked about on a previous blog. Many pies of different kinds all with a special code carved into the pastry, just so you know you’re getting the right flavour! …and they actually taste very good.
Photo: Pie City 'Home of the perfect pie'
Power supply – Most buildings near the centre have electricity, however, there is load sharing here, as in much of urban Zambia, which means that in our area there is no power on Monday and Friday evenings and Wednesday mornings. Street lighting is an optional extra which the council don’t choose to power, although there are street lights, which were once powered I presume. This means that it gets very dark in the town in the evenings, and walking is not recommended as there are many potholes and worse still, uncovered drains which would give you a nasty surprise and a fairly bad injury. Which brings me onto the hospitals. There are 2 of these. One for everyone, which is old, fairly dilapidated, in need of a lick of paint, and some windows replacing, but on the whole clean, although cockroaches could be seen running through ward 6 when we visited our friend Caspar. There is also the mine hospital, which is for workers at the copper mines, or for people who want to pay. This hospital looks altogether much nicer with beautiful grounds as well.
Sports facilities include a rugby ground, cricket ground, which so far have been rarely played on, but last week I did notice a cricket match taking place.
Photo: Chingola cricket ground
Shopping Shoprite is the main supermarket, which has narrow aisles, and is always full of people. Supermarket congestion at its worst in fact.
Photo: Shoprite supermarket
They do however have mini trolleys which can fit two baskets on double-decker style. Another great idea, which does help the narrow aisle issues. There is also a ‘Manchester’ isle. Yes isle 3, which isn’t the 3rd isle from either the left or right, but the sign states it is the 3rd isle, sells Manchester apparently, and for reference, Shoprite in Ndola another town in the copperbelt region also has a Manchester aisle. Once you leave shoprite, this is not the end of the ordeal. If you remember that you must show your receipt to the security guard on the way out (if not you will be hauled back in) then you have to get passed the masses of street kids trying to offer to take your bags to your car for money. In the heat, this can be very stressful.
Photo: Shoprite aisle 3 - Shoes, clothing and Manchester!
Photo: Double-deck basket trolley
There are then a great many shops that seem to all sell the same things, but just a random collection of non-food items. Walking down the isle you’ll see soap, mugs, pegs, plugs, tea, a keyboard, chairs…. And so on. Then there is Rekays. This is the shop that is recommended by every other shop if you’re trying to buy anything DIY related. However, when you get there, they rarely have what you want. Banks will have a security guard with a gun, who will make sure customers are safe while drawing the money, but who will not tell you that the machine has run out of money before you go to it. At the end of the month, there are long queues to get money out, and after some time, all the cash machines run out of money.
Photo: Rekays on Kwacha Street
Finally I should mention the Purple trees. Yes purple trees exist here. Not the actual tree, but the flowers in the tree. It’s called the Jacaranda tree, and was introduced from South Africa a number of years ago, and is extremely popular in Chingola.
Photo: Purple trees
I hope this has given a bit of an impression of where the team have been based. It’s certainly not one of the most idilic places I’ve been to, and doesn’t get a mention in the Lonely planet guide, which is not surprising really, but there is no doubt that people are friendly, and there is a positive vibe about the place.
******
Weather update: This week the first clouds were spotted since we arrived! – Locals say that this means the long-awaited (by locals, not us!) rainy season is on its way, possibly around 2 weeks time. Joel has predicted 24th October. If he’s right, we may have to give him a job at the met-office as the 24th is still over 2 weeks away, but then again his name is Joel, so it could be prophetic!
Next time on the blog…. Caspar returns to Chingola Hospital to speak to the patients on the ward he was on, I turn taxi driver for 10 people and discover a whole different side to Chingola, and Jude and I meet the pastors to try and confirm a plan for how they can support themselves while doing their important work in their communities.
3 comments:
Very interested in your rough guide. The Manchester aisle is a conundrum. Does it sell Cotton and Guns, or is it mock Man U shirts?
Very interested in a purple tree. Had there not been a picture I would have had my doubts!
You obviously neglected to mention whether the supermarket was left to right or right to left. Does the double deck trolley lead to uneccessary fumbling at checkout?
Mark, thanks for your question. You enter Shoprite in the centre, but with checkouts either side of the entry gate. Most people tend to head to the fruit and veg on the left first, so in the sense that fruit and veg are on left, I guess it's really a left to right supermarket. Manchester aisle sells things like shoe polish, hairbrushes, car cleaning equipment, plastic plates and cups - generally random non-food items. Double decker trolley is just fine - no fumbling, apart from with all the notes that you need in order to pay for things. I hope this clears things up for you.
This was a very interesting blog. I lived in Chingola from 1970 to 1987 and went to the Sacred haert Convent School and then to Chingola Secondary School. back then it was labelled the cleanest town in Zambia and was a great place to live. It was great to see some pictures 20 or so years after I left. The main shopping street (Kwacha Street) looks pretty much the same. I think the Shop-Rite used to be a ZCBC store which sold everything from clothes to groceries. At the other end of the street used to be several Indian owned stores. Very interested to hear and see more of the life in Chingola today.
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