 |
 |
 |
| WORLD |
| REGIONS |
Americas Asia-Pacific Europe Middle East South Asia |
| SERVICES |
Contact Us Help Text Only Daily E-mail News Ticker Mobile/PDAs |
|
|
|
| You are in: |  |
Front Page > Africa > Focus On Africa Magazine |
|
||
Siavonga |
 Local people fish for fun, but it is the foreign companies that make money from the industry |
The small but splendid Zambian town of Siavonga lies off the shores of Lake Kariba, one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. The name Siavonga is a corruption of the Ndebele word “siyabon’ga”, meaning “thank you”. The town developed when the federation of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland finished constructing a dam wall across the Zambezi River in 1958. The people who stayed along the river were asked to move to higher ground but resisted. However, they were later forced to shift by the rising water levels of the forming lake to the place we now call Siavonga. In the hot season, temperatures can be as high as 39 degrees Celsius but this has still not discouraged tourists and holidaymakers. A number of camping sites and hotels have been established along the coastline. The lake is usually a hive of activity on weekends and public holidays. According to oral tradition, there is a snake river god in the lake, the Nyami-nyami. Whenever this god turns or is annoyed, the town experiences an earth tremor. Woodcarvers have made a fortune out of sculpturing the Nyami-nyami. The baobab and the amarula trees grow in abundance in this place. The local people use their fruit to make porridge and beer, especially during periods of hunger. About 80 per cent of the 64,000 inhabitants face starvation. Most of their food crops failed in the 2001/2002 season due to drought, and now the government has come in with relief food aid. Despite a diversity of cultures, the local people can still be identified by their common phrase, “tuli bana Bachisi” which means, “We are the children of the land”. Fish are abundant but the local people have not taken up fishing as a source of income. Instead, foreigners have monopolised the industry. There is no manufacturing industry and commercial farming cannot be ventured into due to the rocky and acidic soils. Subsistence farmers grow drought-resistant sorghum and millet which are also the staple foods. Kariba hydroelectric power station, the government, parastatal companies and fishing enterprises are the town’s major employers. The MP and all the town councillors are from the opposition UPND party. There is no television transmission in the town. A few months ago the main road was riddled with potholes but it is now being refurbished. This article by Evans Mukate appears in the January-March 2003 issue of BBC Focus on Africa Magazine |
 |
||
|
|
|
|
||
| BBC Focus on Africa Magazine is published quarterly by the BBC World Service. Each edition covers the latest political, economic, social, cultural and sporting developments in Africa. |
||
 |
||
|
|
|
| For information on advertising or to obtain an electronic media pack please email us |
