Saturday, August 25, 2007

More Hills of Kafue



Training for Marathon cannot be any better than Kafue where hills provide the necessary endurance.

Kafue Pictures



Picture on right shows the changing face of Kafue town of Zambia, just 48km south of Lusaka. The red building under construction will process recycled scrap metal. It is expected that the plant will go into production in 2007.

KAFUE


Situated at about 48km from Lusaka (the capital city of Zambia), this sleepy town which derives its name from the Kafue River is slowly waking up and thanks to the efforts of the political leaders. Flanked by the Munali Hills to the east, the setting is almost picturesque. The town and especially the Estates (a garden like complex of low to medium dwellings and retail business operations) was founded on the premise that it would be an industrial giant that will eventually decongest Lusaka. It would serve as the economic growth pole of the predominantly rural hinterland. Thus the Nitrogen Chemicals plant was located here. It miserably underperformed and now operates at just a fraction of its potential. A few other operations were set up such as the Kafue Textiles which still produces the chitenje or wrappers for women besides sheets and other fabrics. Brick works and an abattoir/leather tanning plant were added to the list of industrial operations. These industries have just limped all along and the growth in social and other economic infrastructures that was envisaged never materialized. As a result, the living quarters for the workers that were designed in an Estate like manner have collapsed.

In recent years however, there has been a movement towards resuscitating the town. A metal fabricating company is under construction (see photo) and a new hospital to serve the burgeoning population has been completed. A piece of land has been set aside to construct a private university (Cavendish) which at the moment operates from Lusaka. I can only wish Kafue well and look forward to seeing a vibrant town in the near future.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

DURBAN -KWAZULU NATAL

I arrived in this historic part of South Afrca 2 days ago. I was looking forward to seeing the Indian Ocean and its famous beaches. The weather has not been very nice. I arrived under very windy conditions and landing by plane was not the most comfortable. It has been rainy and generally colder than expected (the daily max did not climb above 16 degrees C today). I also planned to do some running as means of conditioning myself to rugged terrain (Durban is quite hilly). Unfortunately, my luggage did not arrive. I packed my running gear in the my checked bag and now feel sorry for not packing my running gear in my carry on. The airline was not very helpful even though they told me that I could buy some essentials and keep the receipts. I almost got angry, yet the scripture I read yesterday reminded me tobe content that God's grace is sufficient to sustain me (2Cor12:9). I was also reminded of an old hymn to count my blessings and name them one by one. It just made my day and made up for the lost luggage and poor weather in Durban.

Followers