Lifeline: Zimbabwe's Ancient Railway


  • Photographer
    Mary Turner
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    Mary Turner
  • Date of Photograph
    July 2013
  • Technical Info
    Digital 35mm, Canon 5D

In 1889 the autocratic Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company began the building of 'Rhodesia Railways' across Zimbabwe. His manifesto was simple and outrageous - to join all the British colonies and their riches, from the Cape to Cairo, by rail. Amazingly, despite the deprivations brought on Zimbabwe in recent years by land reform, record-breaking inflation and disease, the ancient carriages made in far-flung industrial English cities, over a hundred years ago, have continued to stagger slowly through the veld. These fragile relics of another country have become an unlikely lifeline in today’s Zimbabwe; connecting the country's impoverished rural people with food, markets, family and the bigger towns where hope resides.

Story

In 1889 the autocratic Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company began the building of 'Rhodesia Railways' across Zimbabwe. His manifesto was simple and outrageous - to join all the British colonies and their riches, from the Cape to Cairo, by rail.
Today, despite the deprivations that Zimbabweans have faced in recent years, the railways still run - just.
Land reform, record-breaking inflation and disease took away the country's employment and prosperity, but throughout it all these ancient carriages made in far-flung industrial English cities, have continued to stagger slowly through the veld.
To travel on the train today is to collect stories of crashing into elephants and elands, babies being delivered between stops, and fifteen hour delays trapped with giant mosquitoes. To arrive at destination less than a day late is widely considered fortune on a par with finding diamonds.
But this fragile relic of another country is more than just a joke to the poorest people in Zimbabwe today, it is a lifeline. The forty tedious stops throughout the day or night, that keep those in the sleeper carriages awake, connect the country's impoverished rural people with food, markets, family and the bigger towns where hope resides.
Workers, children, families - all will wait for hours, sometimes for the faint first sound of the train's engine. For all they know it may take days to arrive, and even longer to drop them off, but when it does the countryside echoes to the sound of their jubilant voices rushing to catch these ancient but vital monsters from another age.

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