First "Real" Encounter of Angola, November 27th 2006

one section of a large banana plantation as you enter sumbe
Since I arrived in Luanda, almost everyone I meet offers the same advice, “You must travel to the Provinces, if you get a chance”. Others have said, “Luanda isn’t Angola”. For my first trip outside of Luanda, I would accompany Martina, Trócaire Angola’s Programme Officer for Civil Society Development, to Sumbe, the provincial capital of Kwanza Sul, just under 500km from Luanda. We were to visit our partner Caritas Sumbe on a two-day trip to discuss the proposed global gift project; distributing mosquito nets and providing much needed education and information around malaria prevention and transmission.

We left Luanda at 5:30am, avoiding the early morning rush-hour. Heading south, the views became more and more panoramic, as we drove alongside the Atlantic. Before leaving Ireland, I had heard many stories from people who had been overseas about 12 hour car journeys through barely-existent roads, where it’s more a case of “where’s the road?!” than “dodge the pothole”. Indeed, I was aware that much of Angola’s infrastructure had been devastated by the war, with road and rail networks no longer available in many parts. Flying is often your only option when travelling to some places. However, I was to be spared such an experience. The road was pretty good, with one part newly resurfaced, just one of the many contracts awarded to the Chinese companies now in Angola, who are guaranteed 70% of construction contracts coming from the financial relationship extended by China to the Angolan government in the form of billion dollar loans. As we pass a group of workers, I am surprised to see one Angolan sporting a conical straw hat. This is a rare sight for two reasons- first, and what seems most obvious, an Angolan wearing a traditional Chinese hat is not something you see very often, but secondly, a common feature of the Chinese construction industry in Angola, and other countries such as Zimbabwe and Sudan, is its near-total reliance on Chinese labour and materials. Angolans are not benefiting in employment terms from this new development programme.


As we journeyed further into the country, I began to see a different side to Angola, a much slower-paced, serene and colourful environment. We passed villages with traditional huts in groups of ten or more. Small children played with each other. Further on, some fields came into view, where women and older children were busy collecting fire wood, planting seeds, and fetching water. Along the road side women were walking up and down, carrying baskets on their heads, water, fish, fruit, vegetables; some to be sold, some to feed their families. There were stalls selling fresh produce, men sitting near a stream selling what looked like Dublin Bay Prawns, and Marovo, “the wine of the palm trees”. The roadside was full of energy.

Martina pointed to some fields, which were lined with large concrete posts acting as a fence. She began to explain that these were often an indication of land-grabbing, which has become a key problem in Angola. Since the end of the conflict in 2002, tensions over land ownership have increasingly arisen between residents and internally displaced people (IDPs), and between commercial farmers and pastoralists. Many small farmers have been disenfranchised by the more powerful commercial sector, often with Government support in the form of a land tenure policy which heavily favours the latter. The problem is evident as we pass a number of large commercial plantations. It is for this reason, among others, that the development of an effective and independent civil society in Angola is of the utmost importance. I look forward to meeting with Trocaire Angola’s key civil society partners, who are spearheading Trocaire’s Civil Society Development Programme.

The coastal city of Sumbe is a strange mix of Portuguese colonial style buildings, high-rise apartment blocks, and mud-brick houses. The road into Sumbe is quite picturesque, with a large banana plantation lining either side. The pace of life, however, is much slower than what I had experienced in Luanda. Traffic didn’t seem quite the same issue! People seemed much more relaxed and calm, with much less confusão! My initial feeling of Sumbe was a good one. We arrived at the Caritas Office.

Caritas is a network of 162 Catholic relief, development, and social organisations across the globe, of which Trocaire is the Irish member. Trocaire works through Caritas in many parts of the world, and particularly in our emergency work. Caritas Sumbe has been one of our partners in Angola. We were met by Sra. Lourdes, the Coordinator of the Global Gift project, and later joined by Sr. Abel and Sr. Julio, who are responsible for finance and administration, respectively. They began to discuss the distribution of the mosquito nets and the progress of the education component, which is carried out using radio, educators, and community theatre, in local languages. In the recent past, Caritas Sumbe successfully constructed and developed 14 health posts, staffed by health promoters, with some boasting a nurse. Often the Caritas clinics are the principal health service providers for these communities, outside of traditional healers, as some of the government health posts are often closed for periods. We would visit two such posts the following day.

After a day of discussions, we took a walk around Sumbe. It was evening time, just before dusk, and Martina, Albano (one of Trocaire Angola’s drivers), and myself strolled along the sandy streets towards the Marginal (sea front). We passed a statue of Agostinho Neto, the first President of Angola (1975-1979) and an acclaimed poet, a common feature in almost all cities in Angola. Neto was an important leader of Angolan resistance from exile during Portuguese colonial rule, a figure, as their “first” president, the MPLA continue to use in their current PR agenda. The bust of Neto was closely followed by a mural of Che Guevara, it’s peeled and faded appearance a soft reminder of the past socialist aspirations of the now oil-focused ruling elite. As we neared the sea front, more and more of the buildings took on a Portuguese feel; large cream and white houses with numerous verandas and terracotta roofs. One building, in particular, just on the corner of the Marginal, sits proudly on ample grounds, with a security post outside the well-secured gate manned by an Angolan soldier.

We return to the Caritas office, where we spend the night in the Caritas guest house.