Kris Massie's memories of Kitwe.
Part 24
With husband at the Show Grounds just outside Kitwe on the Kitwe-Ndola Road, the position he held was a demanding one. There was an annual show to organise and held over four days in winter. Exhibitors had to be found, spaces to rent out and allocate plus many other events to make it a success. There was a board of directors with a Chairman from Rhokana Mine and there were three secretaries, two of whom became close friends of mine and the other we unfortunately lost touch with.
The Red Cross also provided a First Aid Post. Shifts were organised and there was never a dull moment! When I was still actively involved we fortunately had no injuries from the daily gymkhana (a multi-game equestrian competition held to display the training and talents of horses and their riders, particularly in speed events) but a few of the local people who come in to see us with various complaints. Most were referred to their own doctors but one lady arrived with a deep ulcer mid- calf. She had been seen at the hospital some days before and should have returned for a check-up and new dressing. She hadn’t of course! This really had to be immediately seen to and I took it on. I cleaned it up and decided the best thing was to fill it with Acriflavine (now Acriflex in ointment form), a tropical antiseptic. Instructed to return on the last Show day, I was gratified to see it already granulated and nearly healed. Further treatment was administered and advice given for her to attend the hospital. Many locals actually thought of us as doctors!
Once we decided on the farm husband could not continue with the heavy work load and found a part time occupation closer to the farm. We both needed to work especially in the beginning because of our financial outlay.
In 1976 I finally found ideal work from an advertisement I saw in the newspaper for staff at the new Kitwe branch of British Caledonian Airways. I was successful in my application and joined as Reservations Agent at the beginning of July 1976. The staff numbered seven including a Manager from England. A certain number of our staff had to be Zambian as was my eventual colleague Gladys in reservations, our Telex Operator Charles and our man in the office who kept the office tidy, ran messages and made our much welcomed tea and coffee.
All our flight bookings were manual and taken down on pre-printed cards which Charles via a telex machine would transmit to headquarters at Gatwick Airport. All BCal’s (as the Airline became known) flights operated from Lusaka International Airport to Gatwick and return. Zambia Airways feeder flights transported passengers to and from the Copperbelt (Ndola and Kitwe).
The first block in Obote Avenue had on the corner, a bank, an office machine company where our secretary Terry's husband Ian worked, an alley way and thereafter a doctor’s surgery, our office, an unknown office or two (which means I can’t remember!) and Turnbull Gibson, a travel agency.
We were on two levels, lopsided levels really! As you face our office the reservations department was upstairs on the left – it appeared the office next door was portioned and partitioned off and we had no upstairs access to the rest of the office width so we were really in a room large enough for two desks and the telex machine but, you could swing a cat! Downstairs at the rear was a kitchen and a toilet with a little forward of these, the manager’s office, the secretary’s office and the front office where there were three desks for staff dealing with members of the public.
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