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Angola Diary
13th - 19th Octorber 2003
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My name is William Antonio, I am of the Nhaneca tribe. I was born on 26th September 1971 in Ombadja, Cunene Province. My father is Maximino Antonio, my mother's name is Jovita Angata Antonio who passed away in August. I have a grade 12 certificate in teaching. In 1994, I got my first employment as a teacher at Xangongo primary school where I was teaching mathematics. From there I was employed by MAPESS, which is the Ministry of Public Administration and Social Security, where I worked until 1999 when MAG came to Cunene. I resigned from MAPESS due to poor salary and decided to join MAG. At the beginning it wasn't all that easy due to the fear of mines, but after the training course the fear faded away and I realized that although demining was a risk, the most important thing was to comply with the Standing Operation Procedures (SOP) the observance of which guarantees safety to deminers while in the field. Until now, no accidents have been registered because MAG is very strict on this and makes sure that its deminers are highly disciplined and have to maintain a high level of concentration while on the job.
Regarding MAG services I should say I'm thankful for what the donors are doing because MAG, being Humanitarian, is doing a good job of clearing mines, this facilitates free movement of people and their livestock and alleviates the fear of mines. I feel happy to be part of this organization because of this wonderful job. Each time I detect a mine and remove it, I realize that its someone's life I have saved or an amputee has been averted.
On the other hand, suffice it to say that my personal benefits from the organization cannot be over emphasized, as MAG has helped me improve my live tremendously. I have four children, all depend on my salary, though it is not attractive enough but it keeps us going. I have managed to economize my little salary to be able to build a small house where I now live with my family. I would like to seize this opportunity to appeal for increased funding so that our employer can be in a better position to increase our salaries because life is becoming more and more difficult. For the deminers to exercise a high level of discipline and concentration, they need not to be having serious worries (e.g. inadequate salaries) on their minds, otherwise this can undermine their performance. Further more our equipment is not adequate enough, we would like to have modern mechanized demining tools to supplement our manual detectors to boost our capacity. So, please would you look into this.
William Antonio
Deminer, MAT 3
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