The film commemorates fifty years of colonisation in Upper Katanga. The commentator alludes to a population 'stuck in its own traditions' that needs to learn new technologies. Workers from Ruanda-Urundi land at Elizabethville's airport to work in the mines. First they are driven to 'acclimatisation reserves'. Later they will be relocated to workers' quarters. A tribute to the colonial heritage and its creation of, amongst other things, schools, hospitals, maternity wards and orphanages.