Home of the Croaking Frog

From Great North Road

Memories of Chililabombwe

By Peter Pratt.

I first came to Zambia in 1966 employed by EW Reed Engineering in Chililabombwe working on Konkola Mine No 1 shaft. Konkola has often been described as the, “wettest mine in the world,” and pumps out 600,000 gallons of water for every ton of copper produced; having worked down the mine, I can believe that quote. At the time I was on single status as my wife and 11 month old daughter had returned to the UK in 1966, two years after we had immigrated to South Africa on the infamous £10 passage system.

Kariba Dam from Kariba Heights.

After 9 months in Zambia I returned to the UK April 1967, but I couldn’t settle. It was then that I returned to E.W. Reed in Bancroft with my wife Pat and three year old daughter Tracey. In 1970 our son Damon was born in the Bancroft Mine Hospital. Chililabombwe was where we enjoyed a wonderful social life; holidays to Lake Tanganyika, Kariba, Victoria Falls and a tour of Rhodesia - before the real conflicts began.

But my memory of Chililabombwe was the streets are lined by flamboyant and lilac-blue jacaranda trees, especially Kamenza Way, the town’s main thoroughfare. Most of the gardens had manicured lawns, with bright-orange-red cannas, azaleas, hibiscus, magnolia and poinsettia. But most fascinating though were the towns street names; Francolin, Spurwing, Ibis, Impala, Duiker, Hartebeest, Sable, Kudu to name a few. Furthermore it wasn’t unusual to see banana, paw-paw, lemons, peach, avocado and mango in residential gardens.

The town was small around 300 expatriate residents, and one could even see if there were strangers in town by the cars; as everyone almost knew who drove what. The shops were designed in a laager like formation; in the centre was an open-market were Africans sold vegetables and fruit. The town’s main shop was without doubt Smartwear; it sold everything, from a needle and cotton to a tin of Mi-Ling baked beans. In the 70s almost everything came from China, part of the deal for building the Tamzam Rail Link.

The town’s shops consisted of, Barclays Bank on one corner of the Midway and Standard bank on the other, a bit like book-ends if you like, sandwiching a row of shops: a Chemist, Smartwear, Star Jewellers, a Butchers, Bata shoes, the Cycle shop. There was the ladies hairdressers owned by Mrs Baratella, Bancroft Trading, the post office next to the municipal building and the Vega Bioscope, a service station, then the Vega Café and Vega Bar and Copperfield Butchers that made up the remainder of our little towns shopping area.

Copperfield Flats and vegetable garden.

Our first home in Bancroft was Copperfield flats opposite the Vega bar. Bill Wynne and his wife lived in No 3. I remember Bill as manager of Copperfield Butchers. Bill had two English border collies; he told me that he once used to breed them. One Sunday he took me to a chicken farm near Mufulira in his Volkswagen Combi to collect chicken manure. He didn’t tell me that we had to fill the 12-sacks ourselves, ‘good stuff this lad,’ he said chuckling amid swarms of flies. Later Bill moved on to run the Bancroft Mine Club.

Tracey with Bill Wynn’s collie Bob under a paw-paw tree.

Some months later we moved to Presidents drive, first into number 41. It had a huge Mango tree where Tracey would sit and play in its shade, even in our winter months, July-August-September, the afternoon sun was hot. But, it was in No 39 that we were most settled and happier. Still on President Drive our neighbours were Mr and Mrs Voyas, who may have owned the Vega Café? Next door was Les and Pat Merrfield, Alan and Iona Goddard and Steve and Judy Olefson, like me Employees of E.W. Reed.

Tracey and Damon with next door friends Christine and Noel Oelefsen. Our garden, 39 President Drive, about 1973.

During our first year we were given an Alsatian called Jessie and a lovable grinning Boxer called Sally, both were four years old and loved children. Jessie took to Tracey as if they had grew up together, everyday he would follow her as she was taken to the primary school and lay outside until she came home.

No 39 being a much bigger house and garden, we employed Boniface a garden-boy and Stephen a house-boy both in their early twenty’s. Stephen spoke reasonable English but Boniface hardly any, although he picked up English fairly quickly. Pat let Stephen do all the ironing until Pat noticed that Tracey had small clusters if pimples in her hair and down her neck. Judy Olefson our neighbour said to call the doctor as it was Putsi-fly. Pat went frantic as she was warned against them by Judy and that’s why everything had to be ironed after washing. The doctor smeared Vaseline on them and after a week or so they had cleared up; Stephen never ironed another thing after that.

Jake Koekomor who owned Bancroft transport was a lovable person and became a good friend. Besides giving us full use of his pool the children loved to see his animals; Duiker, monkeys and snakes. I remember one weekend Jake took us all for a ride in his new speedboat down by the Bancroft Pump Station. He was pulling our friend Malcolm Campbell on skis when the boat struck rocks. Water flooded the boat, luckily Jake could steer it close to the rivers bank before sinking completely. Looking back I think we were all lucky no crocs were in the area.

In Jake Koekomor’s Pool.

Jake’s Bambi with snake hut in the background.

Like all Copperbelt towns Chililabombwe’s sports clubs where the highlight of social life, for what would we have done without them? The clubs were the regular meeting places for families, especially at weekends, and occasionally they would put on a dance or braai (BBQ).

There was a primary and junior school in town but most of the European children travelled by bus to Chingola to attend the ‘Sacred Heart Convent School’ a fee paying school. I think it was Erik Trytsman of Bodwin Engineering who used to service the school bus and ensure that it was in good running order before it left town each day.

The dry season or winter months, May-September was followed by October, better known by locals as suicide month due to the sudden intense heat. It was also when bush-fires broke and was the start of the rainy season. One could smell the rain in the atmosphere days before they arrived. The build up of clouds, the rumble of thunder followed lightening streaking across the night-sky gave a magical display. But it was the staccato of rain on tin roofs that told us the rains are here.

It was the time of year when we saw the Africans laughing excitedly gathering flying ants as they left their breeding mounds. Short lived they flopped wingless to the ground in their thousands only to be gathered and eaten.

Christmas in Chililabombwe was no different to that in England, except that it was hotter being at the height of the Zambian summer. In Chililabombwe, Father Christmas arrived by plane, fire engine or bakkie. The schools, homes and clubs were traditionally trimmed and Christmas trees lit-up surrounded with presents. Church carol singing was a family affair, where our Reverend, David Cruise had us all singing, whether in or out of tune it didn’t matter.

Cast of Jesus Christ Super Star. Reverend David Cruise back row in hat, VSO Stephen in front row with T on tee-shirt

The Bancroft Players put on some wonderful pantomimes, plays, comedies and discos throughout the year. One particular show that comes to mind was Boeing-Boeing. The disco played all the latest hits, we’d jive and twist or smooch to, Neil Diamonds ‘Cracklin Rose’ or the Beatles ‘Hey Jude’ or do the ‘Twist’ to Chubby Checker.

An unusual feature was, Chililabombwe had its own observatory up on Mopani Road, a high point of the town. It was built by the Copperbelt Astronomical Society in the late 1950s and was also where the Bancroft Masonic Lodge held its meetings.

Most people did their big shops in Chingola or in far off Kitwe. We’d occasionally go to Kitwe for a special night out. The favourite haunts were the Golden Parrot, the Chinese Restaurant or Edinburgh Hotel my choice for wining, dancing and dining. The Edinburgh used to put on some good cabaret acts, but those journeys became a hazard by the early seventies with all the police road blocks and robbers coming in from the Congo.

Chililabombwe was divided; one side was Bancroft Mines residential area and the other the private or government sector starting at the shopping area. Being employed with a contractor we lived on the ‘government or private’ side with business people, shop owners, teachers, anyone that wasn’t directly employed by the mining company.

The church of St Barbara, built as a memorial to those who died during construction - Kariba.

My wife regularly attended the United Reformed Church; it was where Rev David Cruise christened our son Damon. In the early 70s the church had a young VSO called Stephen who helped produce the play ‘Jesus Christ Super Star’ in 1974. It was such a hit that the show put on performances in Chingola and Kitwe; we still have wonderful photos of the cast and an original audio tape of the songs sung by the players.

Then there was the United Church Women’s Group who catered for all the town’s major functions. It wasn’t unusual for me to arrive home after a hard day graft to a house full of women and a miserable looking house-boy sat peeling buckets of hard-boiled eggs. Although there were food shortages it didn’t deter those wonderful ladies who seemed to perform culinary miracles.

My wife still has her notebook with the groups’ favourite recipes. There’s a list on names for church flower arranging, Ettie Johnson, Margaret Ramage, Lal Swartz, Jean Reisbeck, Jayne? Ida? Norma?, Jean Mondella, Sylvia Stevenson and Joyce Drisentock. Sometimes we would go out seeking wild flowers - ferns, gladioli and a kind of orchid along the Congo Road.

Chililabombwe Karate Club and Members of Rhokana, taken in May 1975. Back row are all black belts. Ken Henderson our instructor second from left. I am far right bottom row, Jake Koekomor fourth from right bottom row.

The town also had a Karate club; we had at least twelve members and it was run by the late Ken Henderson, 2nd Dan. After three years I earned my brown belt and suffered bruised ribs and a broken toe while taking on the Nkana Karate club in free fighting.

My 1975 last golf club card signed by the late Jack Sammons who was then club captain.

How can anyone ever forget the Bancroft Golf Club, especially if you were a playing member? It is a nine-hole course cut from the verdant bush around a natural lake. It built along side of the Lubengele Stream, a tributary of the Kafue River. The course had the longest par five in the Southern Hemisphere at 620 yards.

The club was famous for its visiting hippo’s, they were a much loved part of the club were a local rule included: ‘A ball resting in a hippo’s foot print, on or through the green, may be lifted and dropped to provided maximum relief.’ The area also an abundant of birdlife that would give any ‘Twitcher’ an organism and crocodiles that would give him the craps! There was a piece in the Zambian times (I still have) that, ‘Jimmy McCabe and Tony Mack beat a crock to death with their nine irons to recover a lost ball.’ A Scotsman will go to any extreme to save a couple of bob.

Another memory was that Jack Sammons, a mine engineer (Sadly Jack died in August 2006, he was 83) kept bees in Eddie Reeds works yard. Often the critters would get disturbed by a falling mango that the hives were under. They’d swarm around stinging anything or body in their path. I would often hear the commotion in the workshops as everyone, including the dogs scattered for cover and knew it was time to close all windows. Eno Barratella, Les Olvitt and Osie Seegers would wave around a lighted oxy-cutting torch to fend off the angry bees.

Eddie Reed loved his dogs, all six of them. One Saturday during a rabies tie-up a young puppy came in the works yard, it was covered in mud. Eddie told Robson our one-eyed tea-boy to wash it. Eddie named it overtime as it was a Saturday; so Overtime stuck and he became everyone’s pet.

I have many memories and stories I have yet to complete of the wonderful times and the people we met in Africa especially Chililabombwe and Chingola. I miss its fantastic sunsets, the lakes and rivers, the aroma of burnt bush and the first smell of rain after the dry season. The reassuring cacophony of its night sounds. Well what would one expect as Chililabombwe is the "Home of the Croaking Frog"?