ZAMBIA LETTERS, 25

15/07/2025

Woke up at 0630. It was still dark and the electricity had run out. The solar panel was beeping in the scrub behind the kitchen and I couldn't turn it off. I ate yogurt and made soluble coffee. I then boiled wheat flour and water to make paper glue and tore the Daily Mail into strips for paper mache.

Called Mr. Mumba at 0918 but he did not answer. Called the taxi driver but he didn't answer either. After a while he called me back , saying that Mr. Mumba had told him to ask me when he should come to pick me up. Yes… you were supposed to be at my place at 0900. But where would this conflict get me? I let the matter rest. He went on saying he would pick me up first and that we would then go to Mr. Mumba's house to pick him up too. On the way there we drove past a wall with barbed wire and a large mountain of black slag rose behind it. 

-Black mountain, he explained and turned right. 

We now drove along the wall so that we had the facility on our right hand side. Further ahead I could see the factory itself with its enormous chimneys. To the left was an open area and behind it a residential area. We turned a sharp left, going towards it but before we could drive into it we met Mr Mumba. He came walking out of the area, heading towards us. I got out of the car to greet him. He immediately began to explain. 

-So most of these houses are damaged to different degrees. This you see here, he said and pointed to the junk on the lawn, is where they throw garbage.

I look around, taking in the experience. So this is the area he wants to show me, it is only a couple of hundred meters from the mine itself. It is built adjacent to it, so to speak.

The houses are simple. Low one-story houses with corrugated iron roofs. They all have small gardens surrounded by wicker fences, but nothing grows in them. A strange mixture of planned order and lived destitute. On the one hand, these almost identical houses are lined up side by side in a carefully laid out pattern, not unlike the workers' houses built in Bromma, Stockholm. On the other hand, the standard is very low. This is a shantytown.

-Do the people who live here have any problems with the emissions from the factory?

-We can ask them, let's talk to the two of them, we can talk to the big man.

Mr. Mumba shouts something in Bemba to two men who are wandering around among the garbage. One has a long blue overall. The other is wearing a colorful red T-shirt. They answer him and start moving, slowly, towards us.

-It feels like pain in the chest, says the man with the T-shirt, and it hurts the throat. It stings and it is dry.

-Do you know anyone who has died as a result of the emissions?

-We have lost three. Mrs Miti and the Taxi Driver. And the young man.

-How did they die?

-They collapsed and then they died.

-What do you mean? Did they collapse without warning? Didn't it happen after a long period of illness?

-They collapsed suddenly, some are afflicted more severely, and were pronounced dead in the hospital.

-Did you know them?

-Yes. Mrs Miti was the District commissioner in Mufulira. She came here for a meeting with the town board to inspect the situation and to discuss the emissions. When she got to the area, she was exposed to emissions and then she collapsed.

-How is that possible?

-Sometimes they die. It's the lungs. If you're an asthmatic, you're extra sensitive. There are asthmatics. They're more vulnerable.

The wind changes and a thick fog embraces us. I can see with my own eyes that it's coming from the factory area. The smoke is white. It smells like it does when you light too much wood in a poorly ventilated space. I only have time to take two breaths. Now it's inside my nostrils. The feeling is very sharp and burning. A substance is corroding it from the inside. At the same time, I get a sharp sour taste in my mouth. My throat becomes dry.

Mr. Mumba and the taxi driver remain completely unmoved. They continue talking to the men. A woman is squatting in a ditch in front of one of the houses. She is filling her water jugs. There is a small child on her back and another, slightly larger child, is playing next to her. The white smog surrounds them too, just like me, but no one shows any signs of being bothered. They continue the same way they did a minute ago, only embedded in a smoky, corrosive, emission.

I wonder how they manage to stand it? I want to ask them. Isn't it unpleasant for them too?

I take a breath, but nothing happens. It's the lungs. They refuse to expand. I concentrate and think, I'm going to take a breath. It's disgusting and my throat hurts but I have no choice. I do it now. Still doesn't work. Even though I do exactly what I usually do, my lungs just simply will not obey.

I have time to think I was actually asthmatic for a period when I was five, or six, years old. I realize it. I have been asthmatic.

I understand that I may have to act quickly. What are my options? Ideally, I want to run straight into the nearest house, but it's over 50 meters away and I'm not sure I can make it. And what if it doesn't help? The most obvious thing would be to dash into the car, but all the windows are rolled down and it's also filled with the fumes.

While I am thinking, the situation is getting worse. My nose burns alarmingly. It's like using nose spray, but it won’t go away, instead it just deepens. My eyes sting. My throat is feeling rough and constricted. My tongue stings too, just like the eyes. It has a thick, bitter-sour taste, not unlike the one you get from chewing on a lemon core.

The only thing I can think of is to lift the notepad and to hold it in front of my nose. A space forms between me and the notepad. Does it work? No, nothing does.

I remember waving my arm anxiously. We have to go, says Mumba interrupting their conversation. I don't know if he's saying it to me or to them. I throw myself into the car. The men remain where they were. The driver takes us a bit forward and then to the left. We're out of the wind's direction. My acute discomfort disappears immediately and I manage to take a long, deep breath.

———-

We walk through the area. Mr. Mumba greets the people who live there. They are happy to see him. He shows me facades that have fallen apart. An elderly woman meets us outside her house. She invites us in and shows me the place where the short wall is falling away from the long wall. There are deep cracks in her walls. They are so wide that I can stick my hand right into her house. She invites us in so that we can see the damage from the inside. It is a poor an simple home that is very difficult to keep clean.

-She is afraid of sleeping in the house, in the kitchen, it's  the crack.

-What’s she saying?

-She is saying she has had to move from this bedroom she is now sleeping in the sitting room, she is afraid cause anytime this can collapse.

-When did this happen, did it happen recently or was it a long time ago?

-Due to blasting it started a long time. Now she has no money and the company has neglected us, if she had money she could have done something.

-How does she experience the fumes from the factory?

-When the sulfur dioxide comes she is saying she feels bad. To minimize that pain… unless water is just near… so that she drinks it.

———-

We continue. See more houses. Meet people going about their everyday chores. There is a booth where some women are selling tomatoes. They haven't grown them here, Mumba explains, they buy them somewhere else. Most of the people who live here make a living selling alcohol.

-There was a house here that collapsed?

-Yes. And most the people here they don’t work. They just, ah, do manual business and most houses they sell uh… beer, selling of liquor

———-

We come to the end of the area. This is facility four, Mumba explains. It looks abandoned. Next to it, there is a burned-out school building. Riots, he says. The young people go crazy when someone dies and then they destroy something. But the school was already destroyed before. Everything is destroyed by the emissions.

We meet a family, but only the men. One is older then the others and he is doing most of the talking. There are also three younger men and two small boys. They show me the walls, with the same sort of cracks, and the inside of their house. The same simplicity as as in the case with the woman. There is fear and desperation in their eyes and I feel that there is something frightening about it. I sense they could easily turn it on me, but today they just want to tell me their story They want to tell, but they don’t have much to say. Only “we are suffering, we are suffering.” They come back to this, over and over again. “It is really bad.”

-They say they survive through washing cars, yes, doing manual jobs. There is no jobs here in Kankoyo, they say. 

-How do they experience the fumes from the factory?

-They are saying the chest has been damaged due to sulfur dioxide. When they go to city …. A government institution where they take x rays… they find that is it is silikon, that is a sort of dust… so they cannot be employed in the mines.

-Oh, because of that injury?

-Yes. Yes, yes…

-And how are your children doing in the fumes, how is it affecting the children?

-We do suffer, all of us who stay here. She was suffocated and she collapsed that’s how she died. (Mumba is coughing over and over again). Her name was Mrs Miti. (Pause) Mrs Miti she was a district commissioner here in Mutufira.

-And she collapsed during a visit?

-During the visit yes. She had a meeting at at a mall, that’s where she met with the sulfur dioxide and she died. She was taken to hospital and was found brought in dead. 

-Did he meet her, did this man meet her in person?

-Yes, she was central commissioner, she was their leader here in Kankoyo.

-Was she very concerned with the situation?

-She was. She was concerned. It’s a long story about this sulfur dioxide. It started way back when they constructed the tank, it was started…

-How are they viewing the future, going forward on this, what are their thoughts on going forward from this?

-Ah, this people, more especially the government… and that’s why yesterday I was telling you that that mineral royalty tax which the company pays to the government, that 10% must remain here in Kankoyo, but it doesn’t because that money can assist people in one way or another. In (Solwesi?) that money is being given to the hosting community but here in Mutufira and in Kankoyo nothing, yes, so ah, we had a meeting short time ago where we thought of engaging the… we call the white council, the MP and the mayor and the community to come together with one solution so that we see the way forward but that 10% of mineral royalty tax is… because this percent should come to the hosting community just like in… all these problems we are passing through should minimize in one way or another yes…. We are suffering. They promised to, ah, demolish all these houses and build other ones isn’t it?

-Yes

-But nothing has been done. There was even a relocation, they said they would relocate (people) to another place, but they haven’t.

———-

Interview with a woman living in a house at the center of Kankoyo, near the factory, translated by Mumba.

-How long have you been living here?

-1970. (Mumba coughs)

-She had any experiences in working, or has she been a housewife?

-Housewife.

-What is her experience with the housing?

-She is saying; yes its true, because of sulfur dioxide iron roofing sheets, they corrode, and due to blasting underground houses develop cracks. (Mumba coughs). Here in Kankoyo every housing has cracks. (Mumba coughs). So, sulfur dioxide has done a lot of damage to ourselves and to our structures.

-When I see her house and garden, it's  very beautiful, very well kept.

(Mumba coughs).

-She paints it every year so that it looks beautiful if we don’t paint the walls will look dirty due to sulfur dioxide so we have to paint it regularly.

-How is it affecting her physically?

-It has affected us physically with chest pains, and it has been coming out since morning. (Mumba coughs). When it comes out we have to take a wet cloth and you cover your nose to minimize the impact of sulfur dioxide. (Mumba coughs).

-Has she spoken to the mining corporation about the situation?

-The company knows about this problem with sulfur dioxide and it happened one day she had a granddaughter who suffocated with sulfur dioxide and she was rushed to mine hospital, where she stayed for a month, and the grand daughter was put on oxygen and she was being sucked to remove that sulfur dioxide which went into the chest to remove it out, nearly every after 20 minutes…

-How did it go in the end, did she become better?

-She got better and… but still she has problem of the chest and some time back they used to come back to visit her here, to see how she is doing, until… then they have stopped coming, isn’t it? (Mumba coughs). They have stopped coming.

-Does she have any friends who has passed away because of the situation here?

-She is saying that yes, I had the ”Dizzy” of Mufulira who died of Sulfur Dioxide and another man from section C where we are coming from, yes.

-And when she speaks to the officials, to the mining corporation so on, and the politicians here, what are the kind of answers they are giving?

-That… (Mumba coughs) she is saying that they don’t respond anything. They promise to minimize the emissions of sulfur dioxide by constructing a city plant, where they wilt turn sulfur dioxide into sulfuric acid, but still it's  all the same. (Mumba coughs).

-Is there any form of organized resistance or activism here in this part of the town, that is working to improving the conditions?

-Yes we have a catholic commission for justice and peace and we have Green and justice, they fought hard, they went even to the vice resident dr Guy Scott, they promised to relocate us from this area to another area, but nothing has been done. (Mumba coughs). Yes.

-What is the situation for the children of his area, according to her opinion?

-Well, their health is not ok. They have chest pains. (Mumba coughs). All the children have chest pains, cause sometimes when this sulfur dioxide comes out, even the leaves get burned ,they get brown, the plants.

-Do they go into the houses when they see this?

-Yes, they do lock themselves in the houses.

-This woman we met, she takes water when she´s suffering. Can you please ask her how that helps?

-When the sulfur dioxide comes out, yes we do drink water, just to loosen up the throat because sulfur dioxide… it feels like it's dry. (Mumba coughs). So yes, you take water and cloth, wet cloth, and you cover your mouth. And sometimes when you put on a white dress or shirt some particles they come and they stay on the cloth.

-How often do this sulfur dioxide come out?

-This season it's nearly every day and morning, afternoon, night. Sometimes when it comes out youths riot. They go to the plant and start damaging some structures, whatever they lay their hands on.

-How does the company react?

-The company doesn’t do anything, they simply call the police to come and displace the… (Mumba coughs).

-How are the police reacting, are they very violent towards the youths or how do they treat the situation?

-They come with tear gass. They throw tear-gasses to displace them.

-She has been living her since the 70s. Thats a long time. Can you please ask her to describe the changes she has been experiencing?

-She is saying that a long time ago there were trees, they were planting trees, and the vegetation was nice. (Mumba coughs). There was grass. This time nothing. (Mumba coughs). They don’t grow. The soil is acidic, so they cannot grow here. She is saying that ”for me to plant these trees here, these flowers, I had to dig about to one meter and I have to go in the bush very far away where the soil is not acidic, bring the soil and put in, then you plant”, so she say. (Mumba coughs). You have to change the soil. 

-How has the social situation changed here, in her words, since the 70s?

-Long time ago we used to enjoy…. (Mumba coughs). We used to hang meat on the ropes outside. Things were better. Food was available. We used to enjoy life. Many people were working, they were miners, and like, today, she say they suffer.

-How is the situation with criminality here, with her words?

 (Mumba coughs).

-Long time crime was not like today. Today, due to lack of jobs, youths have resorted to stealing. Vandalism, stealing electric cables, roadsigns, post signs, they stel whatever material, the pipes, whatever.

———-

Interview with old man in his house in Kankoyo.

-I come here because I am interested in the situation of living here in this area, I wonder if you could tell me something about your experience of life here?

-In short, this area is polluted with sulfur dioxide and dust, so that if you want to plant some fruits… unless you manage it is… is…

-How does this pollution affect you physically?

-I´ve stayed here for so long time I can’t tell you exactly, unless to these young chaps… to our age those who are… it depends on the blood. Some, if they just breath it one day it goes off. But the area, in short, is not good.

-Have you spoken to the corporation and the authorities about your situation, have you ever tried to communicate it to them?

-One time back they came we stayed here for two moths. I told them about the dangers of these fumes, but nothing. Ever.

-What did they say? Did they answer to your worries?

-They said they would come back, and some of the answers they usually give us. They say it could be they can help us, by moving us from this area, and found us there another area, that is suitable, where we can build us…

-They promised to move you to another area, and build constructions there?

-Yes.

-How long ago was this?

-2006.

-Have you heard anything about this after that?

.From there it's  you. And there… it's  you. From 2006.

-I am the only one coming here, on this topic, since 2006?

-Yes.

-How about the NGO organizations, Green justice and other organizations, are they actively trying to do something about the situation?

-They have tried, but no avail.

-How is this situation creating social affects in terms of criminality, is there a lot of criminality in this area?

-Yes, most of the people here they doesn’t work.

-Have you been affected by criminality?

-No, but neighbors. They used to steal electric cables. They come at night and take this. They come at night.

-When I was out here there are a gust of sulfur from the plant and it was a horrible experience, I panicked and couldn’t breath. Do you experience it the same way or have you acclimatized?

-Just the same as you. Every day.

-What do you do when you have that experience, when this happens?

-We close the doors.

-Have you lost friends because of the pollution?

-I lost a young sir, and ”dizzy”, district commissioner, Mrs Miti, yes also kosojesi.

-How are the children affected?

-My children… The same as adults. Sometimes when we have gotten away… I am not sure if we are together with you… one can collapse. So we don’t know. Maybe with the help of the lord we can get it from here and move to the other end. I don’t know.

-What could make this happen, except for the lord, in the the world of humans?

-It is us, the people of the community, together with you! The solution.

-Are the people in the community… are you coming together on this, or do you feel you have given up?

-If we are reallocating to other places, they feel happy.

-Thank you.

(Pause) 

-What do they do about the situation here, the company?

-The company do not help us.

-I understand they say something about giving you milk for the effects of dioxide?

-Yes, they said they would, but nothing happened.

-They promised to deliver milk, but didn’t?

-Yes and no action.

-And what is the status of the emissions? Are they within the levels of what is accepted according to Zambian law?

-It is not acceptable, but the government is muting about it. They will heard only ”we stay here in Kankoyo” and the trouble we are facing. They know the problems we are facing. They promised to minimize it by 95%, that’s what they promised when they constructed the acidic plant, but the emissions has continued just like it used to come out before.

-Is it because the acid plant is not working or not as effective as it should be, or why is that?

-The acidic plant is working and there trucks come to buy sulfuric acid from here, but the emission they continue to come out and it's  different from the past, eh isn’t it? (Pause) It didn´t use to be like this, it has changed. You felt it.

I did I couldn’t breath at all.

-So the government has heard about it. They don’t talk about it. When we complain about it nothing happens. So… and they only promise to minimize it. So when someone dies is when the youth rise, and riot, damage whatever they can. Yes, when they see a company vehicle they will throw stones at it. That´s how we stay her in Kankoyo, so this kind of situation.. only take it somewhere else! Maybe they can help. Because the health department the environmental, they are only after money. Cause these are the people, who can help us…

-Yes, who are supposed to help you…

-Yes, together with the government, to find a solution…

-Yes, that’s what they should do.

-But the situation is…. Do this. Do that. No avail, they are still in the shambles.

-When did you come here yourself?

-Myself?

-Yes, what year?

-My parents used to live here in Kankoyo, and also myself, when I was employed in the mine.

-You were employed in he mine?

-Yes, I was employed, given housing.

-So you were born here?

-I was born here in Kankoyo.

-What was it like working here in the mine?

-Ok, the mines in those days it was nice ,it was working underground.

-Is it deep or horisontal?

-Deep.

-How far did you go down?

-That is… 140…

-(Mumba) Sometimes 240 feet down.

-Was it very dangerous, or a safe place?

-Some of the levels were safe, but the levels below not safe, cause it's  too hot.

-So the heat; would it produce fumes or was it dangerous in itself?

-The heat, plus the fumes. Cause the mini levels from the upper levels were dangerous.

-I guess you didn’t want to go down?

-The lower levels I didn’t work so many years.

-Were there many accidents?

-Yes it happened ,not very much I was there.

-So there was strict safety?

-Yes, especially here In Mutufira the safety department is very strong, but in these two; the Health and the Environmental… they do not help us.

-No. 

-I remember some time back at the inset shaft, there I was working there as a supervisor so one time the acid was contaminated into the domestic water.

-Oh, ok. How did that happen?

-The pump chamber, instead of installing three pumps…

-Yes.

-As soon as they installed only one pump they opened it, then the same pump was blown off, so there was no pump. The pump chamber got filled, then the solution started spilling, going down. But they give us instead of permanent food I was fired. And I was…

-Was that to cover up what happened?

-They knew it.

-How did that effect the water in the area?

-It effected the domestic water.

-Did it go into the rivers?

-They too. It even came into the community. Yes. The people who drank that water at that time had stomach problems and they were rushed to the hospital and the company vehicle started telling people not to drink water, to use even water that particular day. It was hard.

-So you were fired when that happened?

-They said it is us who made that problem, we were even summoned to the police.

-You were summoned to the police. And what did the investigation say, did it say you were at fault?

-According to my explanation there at the police station I was acquitted.

-Ah, you were.

-They say you have no problem this problem is for the management.

-Yes.

-But the management…

-They made you a scape goat.

-They were not listning to our problem. That moment I tried to collaborate with the police to give us a note which we can provide to the management. The police, they lied.

-They didn’t want to go against the corporation?

-Because they were corrupted. And so we lose my job in 2007, with no benefit!

-So, how do you survive today?

-I still cultivate some maize. Sometimes you eat, or you stay with nothing.

-Will your family, the younger ones in your family, be working in the mines?

-No, No, no. My children..

-Because they cannot, or don’t want to?

-They don´t want to because of what happened to me. Two of them, they are just taxidrivers.

.Ok, they are taxidrivers.

-Yes and they stay alone. And the other one is a truck driver.

-Ok. 

-He doesn’t stay here.

-No, he moved?

-Yes,  they only help us. We all struggle. They help us. They don’t have, nothing I can do. That´s how we survive.

-So they help you out with some food, and some basic needs.

———-

Interview with Pepino Musakalu at his house in Kankoyo. 

-So, Green and justice was disbanded and what year was this?

-Well, Its not that it was disbanded. Just like I said, it's  just that the sponsors stopped sponsoring and we all dispersed. But before it was actually dispersed, we dropped into a ditch of inactivity. I myself decided to stand as a member of parliament in this area of Kankoyo the year after, although I didn’t. I was not taken. I was not taken this time but my friends continued and later on, they stopped.

-Ok, they stopped too.

-They stopped activism in terms of environment.

-And if you would just briefly discuss, or please describe, Green and justice with your own words. What sort of organization was it?

-Well, Green and Justice… at that time I was part of the committee to form the organization. And why did we form this organization Because historically we looked at what Kankoyo used to be even before the mines and then we came to look at what it was or what it is now, and we realized that a lot has been damaged in terms of environment and even… so and even in that time sulfur and gas emission was in full blast, so we decided to organize ourselves and then we started up an organization we called Green and justice. Yes. It was all because of the impact from the mine operations. Sulfur dioxide. Even our domestic water was being damaged with the acid because our water used to come from underground and then they did introduce the system of extracting copper from the underground using acid and at one time or another the acid slipped into the main domestic water pond, yes. 

-And was this because of an accident?

-Well, there was no accident, besides… something could have happened that led to that situation, but we were not informed. Yes. Whatever accident was there… I remember that incident when the water was poisoned, many people suffered because of problems. Even the clinics of the hospitals were overwhelmed. Yes. You’d find people sprawling on the floor like maggot, complaining problems, they didn’t know the problems, that was the reason we had to from this Green and Justice, yes. 

-What in your words.. do you feel that you accomplished something in your organization?

-Yes, to some extent. Although we cannot, I cannot claim wholly that everything that has been successfully carried out was because of us. But I would say I am happy because we were a potent part of the fighting force to ensure that things were brought into the right way. Yes.

-Uhu, and during this struggle… how was your relationship to the corporation here, with the mining… how did your dialogue go with the company?

-We had to fight tooth and nail to engage the mines, especially we had to call the local government and we also called the headquarter of the mines and luckily… one time we were lucky. We had an audience with the then vice president of the republic of Zambia, dr Guy Scott, and from that point; because we did complain a lot of things… we were told to mention just one big problem. We did talk about the cracks on the housing units in Kankoyo, and this was investigated. it's  when engaging the mines we came very close to them, because of that high authority, including the local government. Yes. It was not easy.

-No, I can see that.

-It was not easy. (Pause) Did you want me to continue?

-Oh, yes please! (Pause) I was contemplating what you said, but I was also contemplating my experience. Because when I first came here… the first thing that happened was that I stepped out of the car and there came a gust of sulfur acid.

-Sulfur dioxide, yes.

-And my body went into shock. I could not breathe. I was totally shocked. I have never experience something like that before.

-Now you can imagine, all this has been on, all these years since the inception of the mines, so you can see people have suffered, so for instance this place used to be a bush with a lot of trees.

-Yeah.

-But you can see. It's  like a bomb has been dropped and the environment looks like a semi-desert place.

-Yes.

-So, because of sulfur dioxide…

-Yes.

-Its a mild gass but when it mixes with water it turns into an acid for a very long period. There are some effects on the roofing sheets. If for example iron roofing sheets can be eroded, what about the soft inner parts of our bodies? We have tissues inside our bodies. They have been damaged over time 

-Do you suffer physically yourself from living here?

-Yeah, most of the time. Ok this time around I haven’t fought like I did at, say, at first. But whatever what good results that have been achieved, we may not be the only organization who fought for that, but we are happy we contributed our input… Yes. And what it used to be was; emissions of sulfur dioxide every now and again, hard stuff. But this time around… that sulfur dioxide is now being enriched into sulfur trioxide.

-Ok.

-Which is more concentrated than sulfur dioxide. And then that is being converted into sulfuric acid.