"Kolwezi - mining town in the copper belt " a Kolwezi Travel Page by ReinhardG

I visited Kolwezi in order to inspect the local hospitals and clinics. The poverty was depressing - Kolwezi is a town of about 300 000 residents. The only public hospital has virtually no medicine, no supplies, not even matresses on the beds. There were four operating theatres, only one globe of the four theatres was working. Instruments are not sterilized, just rinsed.

Expatriates working on the copper mines live in houses on large stands surrounded by 3 meter high walls and steel gates. Everyone has a guard or two waiting at the gate to open the gate when you arrive home.

There are no official petrol station, petrol is sold from canisters next to the road (see picture). The petrol is probably stolen from the copper mine, or from other vehicles.

Vehicles that break down are left where they are, often in the middel of the road or in the middle of an intersection, until they can be fixed.

The closest large city is Lubumbashi, 400 km of severely potholed road away.