Landmine Monitor Field Research in Angola: 9-17 March 2006

Landmine Monitor writer and editor Patricia Campbell recently returned from Angola, where she her field research focused on victim assistance. Here is her report from the field.

Patricia Campbell conducted victim assistance-focused research on her field mission to Angola in March 2006. Credit: Patricia Campbell.

On the evening of the 8 March 2006, I touched Angolan soil for the first time. It was the beginning of my ten day visit, which was both intense and tough. Intense because one can still sense and see a country recovering from the scars of war; people though friendly seem to be reserved in expressing their opinions. Tough, because transportation congestion and the dire road infrastructure conditions poses serious challenges to any previously set agenda, like the one I had.

I organized my visit in a way that would allow me enough time to visit Huambo province. I spent the first two days in Luanda meeting mainly with national institutions working directly or indirectly on victim assistance. The National Intersectorial Commission on Demining and Humanitarian Assistance (CNIDAH) had provided me contacts of representatives from national institutions before my arrival, and thanks Handicap International France generous support I had most meetings arranged for previous to my visit; thus I was able interview key representatives.

I held meetings with CNIDAH, the Ministry of Health (MINSAU), Ministry of Assistance and Social Reintegration (MINARS) and the Ministry of War Veterans and Combatants, among others. I visited Viana Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Center, about an hour away from the Luanda. The center provides integrated attention, through physical rehabilitation and provision of prosthesis and socio professional integration. Vocational training includes vehicle reparation, woodwork, and civil construction.

At the time of my visit, the center was in the phase of professional orientation. I met two disabled women eagerly awaiting an interview that would confirm their participation in a vocational training program offered by the center. One of these women, who had been an amputee since 1974, said it was the first time she was enrolling in this kind of training.

On the weekend I flew to Huambo, which I selected given the fact that it had been one of the hardest hit provinces during the war and have as a result, a considerably high amount of disabled persons.

During my two days visit to this province, I met with representatives of Handicap International and World Vision which implement socio-economic reintegration projects that benefit landmine survivors; Save the Children, Children Support Group (Grupo de Apoio a Criança), UNICEF and Handicap International which support mine risk awareness and/or organize mine risk education activities; and the ICRC which provides technical assistance to Bomba Alta Orthopedic Center - now known as Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto Orthopedic Center - in areas such as logistics, statistics, communication and management tools, as well as materials for prosthesis production.

I returned to Luanda for three days where I continued to hold meetings mainly with national and international NGOs. I met, amongst others, representatives from Handicap International, the ICRC, Vietnam Veterans Foundation of America, Angolan Federation of Associations of Persons with Disabilities - integrated by 16 NGO that advocate the rights of disabled persons, and the National Association of Disabled of Angola.

I would like to conclude by thanking all those who received me on behalf of the Landmine Monitor Report, even at such short notice; and express my deep appreciation to all those who made my visit to Angola possible and enjoyable. In Handicap International a very special thanks goes to Emmanuelle, Janine, Gina, Gabrielle, Vanessa and Damiao, and in CNIDAH to Elsa Neto.