Six(6) Things I Love About Kabwe

I recently visited the mighty Kabwe town. It was a pleasant experience. I loved every bit of it. If you haven’t heard about Kabwe, let me give you a brief insight from zambiatourism.com . Kabwe is the capital of the Zambian Central. Formerly named Broken Hill, it was founded when lead and zinc deposits were discovered in 1902. Kabwe also has a claim to being the birthplace of Zambian politics as it was an important political centre during the colonial period. It is now an important transportation and mining centre.

Kabwe is also home to many public figures in Zambia. The town has produced many musicians, political figures and citizens who serve the country in various fields. I have put together some of the things I adored about the town. I hope you’ll enjoy reading them.

1. People take care of their yards

I have been a plant mom for about a year now. I’ll do a post on that soon. I have five plants currently and I am obsessed. I was pleasantly surprised to find beautiful gardens in Kabwe. People take pride in there plants. It was good to see gardening is a prominent hobby among Kabwe residents.

2. Life is chilled

Lusaka is very busy. There is this rush that i can’t quite explain. There are a lot of business opportunities, recreational facilities, job opportunities and so on. It is also a multicultural and multiracial city. There are also a few things that may not shock you once you live there for a long time like homosexuality.

Kabwe on the other hand is a reserved town. People are less “busy” and take one day at a time. Also, there is less confusion in town. When you’re in Lusaka Town, you have to be constantly alert of your surroundings. You are more likely to be hit by a wheelbarrow than a car. You have to have eyes and ears all around you. Driving is the same case. Drivers are “busy” in Lusaka. You will be called an idiot over a very small mistake.

3. Church is an important aspect

Sundays are quiet and slow in Kabwe. Especially in the afternoon. In the morning, you will see families rushing to church together. Women have the babies on their backs and older children following behind. You will see parents driving to church with their families, etc. All age groups attend Church. In fact, even drunk people are welcomed in church. One service I attended had a drunk man that sat at the very end. He was so drunk he could not follow the service properly, so he asked the preacher to speak slower lol. He wasn’t chased. He finished the service with everyone else.

4. Residents like meeting new people

Residents, especially the ones who don’t travel out of town love learning about how people live in other towns. They want to know what life is like where you are from. They basically just want to visit other towns through your eyes.

One day, I was walking to town and got lost. I stopped a woman to ask for directions. Instead of helping me, she started asking me questions: “You are not from here? Where are you from? Are you just visiting? Which part of that town are you from?” These were non-stop questions. I can’t lie. I was taken a bit aback and a little irritated. I was lost and needed help. She wanted to have a full-blown conversation in the middle of the road. However, this woman had nothing but innocence and pure intentions in her eyes. She was just curious about another town she hadn’t visited. So, when you are asking for directions in Kabwe, prepare to engage in a friendly conversation about where you are from.

5. Butternut

If you are a lover of butternut, then you will enjoy Kabwe. There is an abundance there. There is also an abundance of watermelon which I thoroughly appreciated too.

6. Peaceful nights

Maybe this will be an unpopular opinion, but I find nights in Kabwe to be more peaceful than in Lusaka. The town literally goes to sleep. It could just have been the neighbourhood I was in, but I can tell you that I enjoyed my nights in Kabwe. In Lusaka, you don’t realise how much noise pollution you are exposed to. I have slept through noise from clubs nearby, gunshots, fights, cars in the road, etc.

Challenges I Faced

The first challenge i faced is the fact that the town is hard to navigate without a car.

I feel like if you are not from Lusaka you will find this point unrealistic. However, living in Lusaka had me thinking I could find my way anywhere with no hustle. I was wrong. Lusaka is actually very accessible to every class. If you don’t own a car, you have several options on your table. Firstly, there are buses everywhere. You are assured of finding a bus wherever you go. Secondly, there are taxi services. There is Ulendo and Yango that are quite affordable. You get picked up and dropped off at your doorstep. Thirdly, there are normal taxis that are not affiliated to Yango or Ulendo at your disposal.

I went from getting on a bus a stone throw away from home in Lusaka to walking a distance to chance a vehicle going into town in Kabwe. Also, there are only a few designated stations in town to access taxis. This honestly stressed me out. When you go shopping in town, you will have to walk with your bags for a while to that one place that has your taxi that is going to the area you live in. Now, for those wondering how Lusaka is different, let me give you a scenario. If you want to go shopping in Kamwala where there are many beauty stores, boutiques etc, you can do your shopping there and once you are done you have two options. If your bags are too heavy, you can order a Yango or an Ulendo to take you home or to the nearest bus station. Option two involves you getting on a bus going to another station where you can get on a bus to take you home. It also does not hurt that the main bus station is a stone throw away so one can easily walk there to find your bus home. Another example is that there are bus stations at every mall I have been to in Lusaka. If you are shopping at a mall, when you have finished, you can walk outside the mall and get on a bus. In Kabwe, the mall does not have a bus station, and it is miles away from a lot of facilities and residential areas.

I would have loved to visit a lot of places in Kabwe. However, public transport was an obstacle. Hopefully, in the near future, when the town grows even bigger, this will not be an interference to tourists and visitors that want to explore.

The second challenge I faced was the language barrier. Although for me it wasn’t really a challenge as I speak Nyanja, Bemba and Nsenga fluently. However, I had to commit to Bemba at all times for easy communication. Coming from a predominantly Nyanja speaking town, the nyanja would slip out of me here and there. This was a major indication to people that I was a newbie. I would go to buy something a shop and blurt out ‘how much is this?’ in Nyanja and raise a few eyebrows. I don’t like standing out so this kind of gave me a rush of anxiety. If you have no problem being the centre of attention then this experience will be fun for you. However, I was trying to blend in as much as possible.

---

Thank you for reading. You’re a star.

• Blog