Hi Ian
We had a great visit to Zambia, the country
is definitely on the up and up, most main roads have been resurfaced and
are an absolute pleasure. Lusaka is booming with new shopping malls
opening everywhere, but Cairo roads traffic is still a mess, the two
roundabouts at either end are totally inadequate to handle the traffic
volume, took 45 min to get from one side of town to the other. A lot of
Zimbabwean farmers have moved to Zambia and are making a big difference
to the agricultural production, had the largest tobacco crop in Zambia's
history this past year.
Mazabuka is now a major sugar producer, a
South African company has opened a sugar mill and has 22000 hectares of
cane. They have also sponsored small scale farmers and assist them with
production.
Keith Coventry is still there and doing
well, has a farm school on the farm with about 400 pupils. George Reeve
and Anthony Collett are also still in Maz.
Codrington School I'm afraid is quite run
down, it is now a Government Basic Primary School, with about 1400
pupils. The hostel has been converted into class rooms, and they have
two sessions a day, to cater for the increased number of scholars. I
spent a few hours there, and was shown around the school by
the Headmaster who complained about the lack of financial support from
the government, and that most of the parents did not earn enough to
enable them to pay school fees, about $20 a year. There are no lights in
the class rooms, the fittings are still there, but no money for
maintenance, or the electricity bill.
I am enclosing a few photos, quite sad to
say the least.
Regards, Andrew
Looking towards the main classroom block.
Looking from the same position as the previous photo but towards the hostel.
