Kaoma, Zambia

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Kaoma is the headquarters of Kaoma District in the Western Province of Zambia. It is a market town of some 12,000 people, lying just off the Great West Road and west of the Kafue National Park. The town is also the junction of the road to Kasempa, which is under reconstruction, with the Great West Road.

Kaoma was previously known as Nkoya or Mankoya District before 1964. The name Nkoya came from the first Zambian ethnic group to settle in the area around the 6th Century. The Nkoya people can be found in Kaoma and the surrounding areas such as Mumbwa, Mulobezi, Kazungula, Mungulula (Mongu), Kalabo, Lukulu amongst other districts. The Nkoya people celebrate an annual traditional ceremony called Kazanga Ceremony which is held between April and August in Kaoma district under Chief Mwene Mutondo and Chief Kahare of the Nkoya people in Kaoma.

The town is home to an airstrip and has a range of District Offices. It also has a local vegetable market, 2 fuel stations, mobile telephone reception and a wide range of shops for basic foodstuffs and beyond.

Kaoma has an 80-bed district hospital, catering for the whole population of the district, amounting to some 200,000 people. A new hospital is under construction through a community initiative, supported by a number of donors, such as:

Netherlands-based Foundation Medical Committee Kaoma [1].
TOUCH Ireland is funding the Children's wing of the hospital.[2]
Orange Babies from the Netherlands is funding the maternity wing. [3]

Additional funding is still necessary for a number of wards.

In Kaoma there are interesting murals by local autodidact artist Kozhi Kawina on the walls of the district hospital, the doctor’s residence and the Cheshire orphanage.

[edit] Kaoma District

Kaoma District located in the north-east corner of Western Province had a population of 162,568 in the 2000 census, mainly around Kaoma town and the northern parts of the district along the Luena and Luampa Rivers. Its south-western portion is relatively uninhabited being very sandy with little water available in the dry season.