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Angola Diary
28th July - 4th August 2003
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My name is Ngongo Kavindama, and I am the Provincial Coordinator for MAG in Cunene Province.This means I am in charge of overseeing operations, organising logistics and finance, reporting to the MAG office in Luanda and liaising with the government and other NGOs.
I left Angola in 1968 as a child from Moxico Province due to the heavy conflict between the Portuguese Army and the rebel forces. My family fled to Zambia, where I attended primary school and then secondary school in Sefula Secondary School, Mongu, Western Province. After that I attended the University of Zambia in Lusaka to study bio-chemistry for two years, but unfortunately I could not finish my studies due to a lack of funds. I joined the Ministry of Education as a teacher of biology and chemistry, and then joined the Standard Chartered Bank where I worked for 11 years until 1995.
When the Lusaka Protocol was signed between UNITA and the Government, I was very excited at the prospects for peace in my country. I resigned from the bank and decided to return to Angola. It was not possible to return to Moxico from Zambia due to the control of UNITA in that area and the presence of landmines on the roads. I decided to return to Moxico by going through Namibia, but before I could get to Moxico the fighting started again. I was forced to stay in Cunene where I started work as a teacher. I started working with MAG in October 2000 as an interpreter for the expatriate Technical Advisor, and then got promoted to Logistician and after that Admin Officer. In February 2003 I was promoted to Provincial Coordinator.
There are some things that are still frustrating in Angola, for example the exchange of information is not easy due to poor telephone systems and lack of e-mail. But we are fortunate as we can get many items from Namibia, which is just 30km from Ondjiva. I would like to see us improve our mechanical demining capacity to work alongside the manual deminers in Cunene. This would help to make the work more efficient.
I would like to return to Moxico in the future with my family. Some of my family remain in Zambia, including my wife and some of my children. In the future I want to obtain some land and settle down in Moxico, my home province. I hope MAG can clear land in Moxico to help people like me return home. But now I will continue to work with MAG in Cunene to do this important work, and many thanks to the donors in Japan who help support our work. These funds are very important to us.
Ngongo Kavindama
Provincial Coordinator
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