Lusaka is full of ditches. I suppose at some point I would call them gutters but they look more like an irrigation ditch at some places.
There has been a flurry of activity around the city cleaning out the ditches and making sure they are deeper.
It is really digging out ditches and not just cleaning them out. It appears that the expected rain just fills them up with sediment.
This was the one and only time I have seen anything mechanical working on the ditch project. Here a truck with a claw is picking up the dirt that the workers have piled along the side.
This crew was of mostly women. They really had the dirt flying.
They weren't thrilled to have their photo taken.
Some neighborhoods have nice ditches. They are mostly on the high elevations. The sediment ends up down below.
There didn't seem to be much consistency in size.
Or depth.
It was just recently that it dawned on me that they aren't drainage ditches but just catch basins for water.
When the rainy season comes these guys will have to find another checker board spot. There has been someone in this ditch for the last three months playing checkers. Not always the same folks.
This might not seem too safe but it actually keeps kids off the road walking home.
A comfortable place to relax and talk on the phone.
This one is what most ditches look like away from the residential areas.
I am anxious for the rainy season and to watch and see if this debris is washed away to some downstream location or if it just floats on down past the checker players.
