Zambia’s toxic legacy

The danger is everywhere. An invisible poison — lead — has been destroying lives in Zambia for decades.

Headaches, fatigue, stomach pain, memory loss — for many people in Kabwe, Zambia, all that is part of daily life. Children suffer the most. Lead damages their developing brains, slows learning and leaves scars that last a lifetime.

The cause is no mystery: An old lead mine. The United Nations ranks Kabwe among the most polluted places on Earth. Around 200,000 people are affected. Nearly every child has dangerously high levels of lead in their blood.

We met mothers like Jane, whose 6-year-old daughter Elizabeth struggles to keep up at school because of lead poisoning. Former workers, too: Like Mathias, who spent decades working without protections in the mine and now speaks of a toxic legacy no one wants to clean up.

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