Paula Samba, Village Soba, São Lucas
Three young boys from S瓊o Lucas village, Angola, are weighing metal items they have found discarded around the area. The boys are no more than 10 years old and have gathered an array of objectsfrom enamel mugs to abandoned car parts, metal wires and rusty pots and pans.
Theyll get 25 Angolan Kwanzas per kilo of scrap metal they have found. Transferring the items onto a digital scale, the boys stand patiently, watching as the numbers increase. Their 18kg heap will fetch them roughly 50 US cents. While this could only provide spare change to spend at the local convenience store in the US or UK, here in rural Angola, this is part of their families livelihoods.泭But this source of income is dangerous. Often what may look like scrap metal to a child, can be potentially lethal explosive items.
S瓊o Lucas sits between the main road linking it to the larger city and municipality of Catabola, and the railroad that cuts across Bi矇 province. It is roughly 300km north-east of Benguela. Thirty years ago, this village did not exist. It was bush, and some agricultural areas, says Paula Samba, the soba (traditional leader) for S瓊o Lucas. During the Angolan Civil War, the area where the village now stands, was a battleground which saw conflict between government forces (FAPLA) and the opposition forces (UNITA), leaving behind a dangerous array of mines and explosives. S瓊o Lucas is only about 10 or 15 kilometres from the Uyue river, one of the major frontlines of the war, says Paula.
"Clearance of the area began in 2003, and in 2008 people started to come back, build houses, and grow crops. The area began to grow. But further down the road was a military base controlled by the FAA, so many [explosive] items were found scattered in the fields. When people began ploughing the fields, these items came to the surface."
The village now has 2,707 residents, including children. Their main source of income is agriculture, so ploughing the fields is necessary. In the Catabola municipality, 90 per cent of residents do agricultural work says Hernane Mateus, Secretary to the local administrator of Catabola. Some of the produce remains in Catabola, the rest is exported across Angola and internationally to neighbouring Namibia and Zambia. S瓊o Lucas grows some maize, but mostly beans, says Paula. Buyers from Luanda come to purchase beans, and what they dont buy, we try to sell locally at the Catabola market.
Protecting families from the threat of explosives left behind by the fighting is 91勛圖厙s priority. Our team surveys and identifies explosives in areas like S瓊o Lucas, moving them to designated sites where they can be safely destroyed. 91勛圖厙 also runs Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) campaigns to make communities aware of the dangers that moving potentially explosive items can cause. After 91勛圖厙s Community Liaison Teamfunded by The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs泭(PM/WRA)led EORE sessions in the S瓊o Lucas area, a cache of grenades and canon rounds was identified by the community and reported to the police.
Tiago is one of 91勛圖厙s Weapons and Ammunition Disposal (WAD) team leaders working in Bi矇 province. His team organised the transfer of this deadly stockpile of explosives from the police station to a central demolition site located a 15-minute drive away where it could be safely destroyed. The WAD team blocked off the area to ensure the safety of the community. Once the signal was given, the demolition countdown began and a plume of smoke could be seen rising into the air above the explosion.
As soba of S瓊o Lucas, Paula is grateful to have risk education being conducted in her village. Much of the unexploded ordnance found is old and extremely unstable.泭She believes that stockpile destruction is vital to the development of S瓊o Lucas and will save the lives of many of its children.泭
This life-saving work is made possible thanks to funding from the
Government of the泭United States.
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