Why this sight is uplifting...

Four years ago on a visit to this place outside the back gates of Mopani you would have seen 200 sulphuric acid trucks vying to get a load. The land was bleached with sulphuric acid spills, broken vehicles were propped up on bricks, and migrant truck drivers had little else to do than wait. Prostitution and crime grew in this area close to people's homes. Young girls skipped school to earn money from the drivers. Then the local mining company was persuaded to create a dry port compound - a place where drivers could park up, where wash rooms and guest houses were provided with stall holders to supply food while drivers rested while waiting for instructions. Suddenly local people saw the old land not as a threat but an opportunity. Good topsoil removed from tarmac-ing the Butondo Road was brought here and local people started planting sustainable crops.