My Dad spent his career teaching Afro-Asian geography in Niskayuna, NY which I learned today means "Land of Much Corn". This entry is for Dad and anyone else who is interested in learning some facts about Zambia. Our trip will take us to Ndola where we will teach our sanitation classes.
Zambia:
Zambia is a landlocked country in southern Africa, with a tropical climate and consists mostly of high plateau with some hills and mountains. At 752,614 sq. km (290,566 sq. mi.) it is the 39th-largest country in the world (after Chile) and slightly larger than the US state of Texas. Zambia is drained by two major river basins: the Zambezi River basin, in the south; and the Congo River basin, in the north.
The official language is English (a remnant from British colonization), used to conduct official business and is the medium of instruction in schools. There are seven commonly-spoken indigenous languages including: Chibemba, Chinyanja, Lunda, Chitonga, Kaonde, Silozi and Luvale. These 7 languages are taught in schools and broadcast on national radio and television. There are many more languages spoken by the various tribes in Zambia, in fact a Zambian languages website lists 78 languages.
The country is 44% urban. Most rural Zambians are subsistence farmers. The predominant faith is Christianity which is also the official national religion. Expatriates, mostly British (about 15,000) or South African, live mainly in Lusaka and in the Copperbelt in northern Zambia, where they are employed in mines and related activities. Zambia also has a small but very economically important Asian population, most of whom are Indians. In recent years over three hundred dispossessed white farmers left Zimbabwe at the invitation of the Zambian government and have taken up farming in the southern region.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic is ravaging Zambia. Nearly one million Zambians are HIV positive or have AIDS. An estimated 100,000 died of the epidemic in 2004. Over a half-million Zambian children have been orphaned. Life expectancy at birth is just under 40 years
Ndola:
Ndola is the second-largest city in Zambia, with a population of 374,757 (2000 census). It is the industrial, commercial, administrative and distribution hub of the Copperbelt, Zambia's copper-mining region, and capital of Copperbelt Province. Ndola was founded in 1904, just six months after Livingstone, making it the second oldest colonial-era town of Zambia. It was started as a boma and trading post, which laid its foundations as an administrative and trading centre today.
Ndola is the industrial center of Zambia and part of the Copperbelt province which is very rich in mineral deposits. It was the backbone of the Northern Rhodesian economy during British colonial rule, but its economic importance was severely damaged by a crash in global copper prices in 1973 and the nationalization of the copper mines by the government of Kenneth Kaunda. There are no mines in Ndola itself but the Bwana Mkubwa open-cast mine is only 10 km south-east of the city centre. Copper and precious metals used to be brought from elsewhere in the Copperbelt for processing at the Ndola Copper and Precious Metals Refinery. Copper exports provide 70–80% of Zambia's export earnings, making the city very important to the country's economy. The Indeni Oil Refinery in Ndola supplies the whole country, and was repaired in 2001 after being severely damaged by fire in 1999. Ndola is home to one of the country's national newspapers, The Times of Zambia.
