Lead suggestion: The city of Kabwe in Zambia is considered one of the most lead-poisoned places in the world. Decades after a British colonial mine closed, toxic dust continues to contaminate homes, schools, and playgrounds, affecting up to 200,000 people. The United Nations has described Kabwe as a ‘sacrifice zone*’, an area where residents face serious human rights violations* due to pollution. Children here have some of the highest blood lead levels in the world. DW’s special correspondent Mariel Müller reports.

Lower thirds:

0:03  Report by / Mariel Müller
0:18  Jane Nalengo
2:39  Mathias Chatabankna, former mining employee
3:24  Jane Nalengo

Jane Nalengo first sensed something was wrong when she sent her daughter to get salt from the shop, but Elizabeth came back with cooking oil.

Soon, it began to affect the 6-year-old at preschool.

+++ SOT Jane Nalengo 
She would forget what she had been taught. Teachers said she didn’t understand the lessons. So I thought it’s better not to waste money and take her out of school for now and maybe enroll her later again. +++

Jane took Elizabeth to the clinic. The level of lead in her blood was 58 micrograms per deciliter.
 
Anything above 45 micrograms requires medical treatment, according to the WHO.

The doctor said Elizabeth had low red blood-cell levels - anemia, caused by lead poisoning.

+++ SOT Jane Nalengo (Bemba)
I felt so bad. When her father asked about the diagnosis, I couldn’t answer right away. I broke down in tears, then explained that her high blood lead levels were causing her low blood count. +++

Kabwe was contaminated by a lead and zinc mine set up during the British colonial period. It left children in the area with what the United Nations says are some of the highest blood lead levels in the world. 

The mine continued operating until 1994, but lead dust from uncovered waste still affects around 200,000 people, according to Human Rights Watch. Small-scale mining continues at the site even today, and exacerbates the problem.

A class-action lawsuit against mining company Anglo American is seeking compensation on behalf of affected children and women of childbearing age - and an environmental clean-up. 

The claim is that between 1925 and 1974, Anglo American ‘played a key role’ in the mine’s technical, medical, and safety operations.
 
Anglo American says it did not own or operate the mine and provided only technical advice to those who did. 

The Zambian government took over the mine in 1971 and led operations there after 1974. It has acknowledged the need for comprehensive remediation but Human Rights Watch says it has not done much. The government is not part of the lawsuit.

+++

Mathias Chatabankna says he worked at the Kabwe mine for more than 30 years – right up until it closed in 1994.

He was a lab analyst - his job was to test samples of lead and other minerals to determine their quality.

+++SOT Mathias Chatabankna, former mining employee
Sometimes the plant was covered with smoke, heavy smoke, and that heavy smoke contained a lot of lead.
+++

He often  suffered severe constipation, weakness, memory loss, and stomach pains. 

+++ SOT Mathias Chatabankna, former mining employee
I can't explain you. If I continue explaining you, you'll see my tears coming down. We were put in dangerous positions some of us. +++
 03:21

Lead is still in the air, soil and water, more than three decades after the mine closed. Such contamination is  especially damaging to children.
 
Jane knows the water she gives  Elizabeth to drink is probably harming her - but she has nothing else.
 
+++ SOT Jane Nalengo
Sometimes she wakes up weak and I feel very bad when I think of how the whites at the mine caused the whole problem of lead contamination here in our country. My heart is in pain because of this. +++

She hopes the lawsuit will give her the means to move somewhere else – away from the home that's making them sick.