Arrival in Luanda, Angola, Saturday November 17th 2006

With my eight and a half hour flight from Heathrow almost at its completion, I looked out my window as we began our descent into Luanda. It was to be my first time in Angola, indeed Africa. As I glanced around the cabin at my fellow passengers, I realised I had already had my first experience of being in the minority. I was one of twelve women on this flight carrying over two hundred passengers. As Africa’s second largest oil producing nation, producing 1.6 million barrels of crude oil per day, Angola has become a key commercial destination for the extractives industry. With conflict only ending here four years ago, Angola’s economic boom is captivating. Angola is awash with natural resources from oil and diamonds, iron ore and copper, to gold and bauxite, to name but a few. A country of vast wealth, and yet, it was recently ranked 161 out of 177 countries worldwide in the UN’s annual Human Development Report. As we broke through the thick cloud cover, which hugged the city and made our final descent, a sea of make-shift housing revealed itself. Thousands upon thousands of these tiny part-mud-part-concrete units enveloped the city, almost spilling onto the runway, separated only by wire fencing and sporadic segments of wall. This is not surprising when over 53% of Angola’s population is urban, a trend that began during the war as those in the rural provinces were forced to flee from their homes and livelihoods to urban centres. I suddenly realised, what people meant when they spoke of “two Luandas”, something I was sure would become all too familiar by the end of my time here as the Trocaire Angola intern.

The air was thick with a sulphur-like scent as we waited on the steps for the bus to take us to the terminal. Palm trees dotted the red sands surrounding the airport and hundreds of high rise buildings dominated the skyline beyond, many of which were only partly completed. The first thing that struck me was how quickly daylight had arrived, as I used my hand to shield my eyes and gain a better view of my surroundings. Once we arrived at the terminal, I joined the crowd at immigration, and passed through rather quickly. I was able to take in much more during the drive from the airport, again, the great disparity in wealth glaringly obvious. Informal traders selling everything from fruit to exercise equipment lined the streets, waiting for the traffic to come to a standstill (sometimes not!). Traffic here seems to defy all logic, well any “logic” I have been used to. A hummer screeches past, the driver sporting a pair of Channel’s latest eye-wear. Wealth and poverty are really two extremes here, where income inequality is a key issue. While poverty levels continue to increase the IMF recently reported that expenditures of the richest 10 percent of Angolans have increased during the same period leading to a wider gap in income inequality.

My first evening in Luanda was spent at the house of a friend of Trocaire Angola, where I met some Angolans over drink and food. The main topic of discussion was the cost of living in Luanda, and the lack of economic security. Luanda is a diverse city, in residential terms, with the vast majority of the population living within the slums or “Musseques”, and living on less than $1 a day and within “illegal” settlements. Meanwhile, the wealthiest members of the city are buying properties, averaging in the millions. Another begins to talk about the many unfinished buildings around the city, some of which have the same crane standing by their side for over 30 years. After gaining its independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola fell into a bloody conflict, as groups, the MPLA and UNITA being the key antagonists, fought for control of power and the future of the fledgling state. The development of the city and the people has suffered greatly. I leave wondering what my first week in Angola will bring.