It's almost 2011 (for those who follow a Christian callender), and it's nice to be in a warmer place...
I just wanted to drop a line and wish everyone the chance to have a good time to reflect on this year that passed ... a time to remember...
I'm sure in the end there will be many things to give thanks for...
I also want to wish you in this coming season, all the rest and peace needed for each day... time to stop and simply wonder at the beauty around us... time to contemplate, and eyes to see and realize that beauty...
This was my attempt to make a video of my trip from Luanda to Benguela by car...
I went with my father who drove us, my brother Jorge and his 2 sons, Keanu and Eric... This was the first time I was able to make this trip by car because the previous times the roads were not so safe to drive...
It's been 6 years since I last came here and many things have changed... The war only ended in 2002 (after more than 40 years of colonial and then civil war), and when I came here in 2005 there were still not many changes...
now I see building sites everywhere, lots of Chinese writings in the Industrial areas... the Chinese Companies are building the roads, taking control of electricity and water distribution in the major cities ( most of their workers are ex-cons who will probably remain in the country after their "sentence" is over...interesting).
Luanda is still chaotic to me... but as we drove out of the capital city we would mostly see Forests, the sea and occasional villages of adobe brick houses and thatch roofs that I love so much... I much prefer those regions over the urban ones...
Just for the curious, Luanda is today the most expensive city in the whole world, as hard as it is to understand in a country where there is still so much "poverty"...
For me to get my visa in the Angolan Consulate in Lisbon , I had to prove that I had 200 USD for each day I was staying in Angola (and I am Angolan and I have my parents living there)... I had to borrow 3500e from my cousin to have it in my bank account so I could present a statement from the bank and prove I had what I needed to stay for a month... even the bank was surprised with that... But the truth is that people easily spend that in Luanda if you don´t have family or friends to stay with... 50 USD for a meal is not unusual in a restaurant, and I'm sure that accommodation is way more than 100 USD a day... you are lucky if you find a 3500 USD rent for a flat with 2 rooms, without sanitation nor elevator...
In contrast with Luanda's lifestyle, life expectancy in Angola is still 48 years, half of the population doesn't have access to running water, and 54,3% live under poverty levels...
Things are changing, because in 2003, one year after the end of the war, 70% of all Angolans were living with less than 1 USdollar a day... (with another "detail" that the Angolan President is one of the richest men in the world, and his daughter the richest woman who owns several companies in Portugal)...
Angola, the land of contrasts...
There is real "poverty" here, for sure, and a lot of destruction, on so many levels, of a generation that only knew war...
But there are also those that are called "poor", when they are not really so "poor"...let me see if I can explain myself... in my opinion, there is a sort of "poverty" that is more propaganda than reality... and then , there is real poverty... these 2 pictures above represent that... on the left we see two people who probably don't have their basic needs met, or maybe they were displaced from their land and roots because of the war and got stuck in the city, trying to make a living selling coal... they might have been caught in alcohol addiction, having no other support to deal with their traumas, and they are stuck in the system somehow...
The other picture, on the right, is a normal Angolan village, where everyone lives in earthen huts, probably with a healthy community life where everyone has their role and they all help each other... they possibly plant their own food and there might be chickens and goats running around to become food on special occasions... some of them might go sporadically to the local town to sell their surplus products and bring things like oil, salt and sugar that they don´t produce, and they look after each other, because they are aware they need each other... children are precious and the elders are highly respected and cared for...
I don't see these latter ones as poor, at all... maybe they don't live the same lifestyle as europeans or americans live (good for them), maybe they don't have the same "stuff", and definitely not the same amount of "stuff"... but is that poverty?
Some "westerners" will think they are... possibly the ones who are too blind to see their own poverty...
Basic things are still needed in many places throughout Angola, this I agree... like access to drinking water, sanitation, health care and education... but in terms of natural resources, we can say that all Angolans are rich (or they should be) ...
I'm not speaking here about petrol, diamonds and other minerals...this is what many people and big companies are coming here to exploit and in a way steal...
All these resources were the main reason that kept a bloody war going for so many years (if you ever watched "Bloody Diamond", here is pretty much the same sad reality), while many filled their pockets with millions of dollars a day...
this is what the leaders (Government and the Army) are still holding on to...
I'm talking about the land, the sea, the climate and the many natural building resources... it's simply rich !!!
I also found out that most of the land belongs to the ex- high rank army officers, interesting, isn't it? I remember when I was living there and the war was over because Jonas Savimbi (the leader of the resistant movement against the government) was killed. It´s a long story. I will not share it here, but I was hitchhiking from Catumbela to Benguela and the son of some “big chief commander” gave me a ride… When he said that I said he must be so happy and relieved this brutal war was finally over… His answer was a shock to me when he said “ It could have lasted a few more years”, with a certain interest in his mind… This is sad…
Many foreigners are coming to make looooooots of money now as there is a whole country to be re-built and there are not many Angolans with education to run a lot of the good businesses... And unfortunately that´s what business people found out for many years... War is very profitable, at any time, for many businesses...
Things have improved a bit for the locals and natives, as there are now many more opportunities for everyone to make a living... I don't see the usual beggars and street kids as before... there are lots of people walking around in the cities selling all sorts of things to make a living, and every little business makes some money...
My mum cooks at home and sells for other people and their parties, mostly friends, and friends of friends... A lot of people, especially women, can make a living this way... she doesn't need to work much to make a living, but she´s always busy and people really like her cooking ...
These kinds of entrepreneurial ideas would be impossible in Europe, with so many rules and regulations, but I always liked that about Angola and other "poorer" countries because it´s actually a good way for people to make a living with their own skills without needing to open a shop or a company... There are opportunities for the "little" ones too...
Of course the big businesses are suffering from the global financial crises, like everywhere in the world, but still, I believe it's nothing compared to what we see in Europe or the USA... A conversation that involves speaking about billions of US dollars is still normal around here... unfortunately there is still much corruption, but I hope that will change too... I can see people want change... how that change will look like in some years, we will see...
I do see "the american dream" and a society of consumerism arising, which concerns me, but I also see many good parts of the Angolan culture being preserved and developed, not only in Luanda and Benguela, but throughout the country... we will see...
I have to say... it's a beautiful country with really beautiful people ! I´ve always been proud to say I was born in these lands, in the region of the Ciokwe people, now northeast of Angola, close to Congo.
I will share my "saga" of my trip to the North of Ireland...
I know I shouldn't be flying so much as it´s really bad when everyone does it all the time as if it´s not bad for the planet in so many aspects, but it is not easy to have a fiancé so distant and going through a stage in life when she really needs support...
I was only going for a week, for Emma's birthday, to see her dad in the Hospital and the rest of the family...
I ended up having 5 flights canceled, in 3 different airports, and ended up arriving in Belfast on the same place the Titanic was built... thankfully nothing compared to the Titanic story happened...After all that it would be dreadful ...
