Aprés 27 ans de guerre civile, l'Angola se réveille doucement.

Article: textes et photos sur les problèmatiques des enfants des rues, de la malnutrition et du SIDA en Angola.

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Angola To live without war - report

Angola To live without war

Lobito, behind its old-fashioned decor, offers a pretty sad contrast: the now shabby rich colonial
villas by the sea, strongly contrast with the paradas, of the downtown decayed squats. According to the provincial authorities, these temporary refuges (abandoned toilets, car shells, containers, etc), shelter 450 children, of which 18 girls, left to themselves. In all, over 2500 minors survive from begging and small jobs, prostitution, most often for girls – on the coastline of Benguela-Lobito. Some come from families dispersed during the war, others victims of domestic violence, who chose to run away from their families and seek refuge on the streets.

Text: Guillaume Plassais Journalist

Street children have become a familiar sight in african capitals, due to poverty, wars,unorganised industrialization, aids.Facing desperate situations, these children prove to be very resourceful and incredibly strong. With no future ahead, half of them do not survive long.The youngest ones are five years old, sometimes four. Most of the time they are boys. The girls are generally older, but are not less vulnerable.They live in gangs, the weaker ones protected by the stronger. They are allegedly 40 to 60 millions on our planet , almost half of them living in Africa.On the streets left to themselves, these children must survive against misery and daily violence. They sleep on the sidewalks or in cardboard boxes.In order to subsist, they beg or practise a multitude of small jobs: porters, deliveries, shoe polishers.An improvised football game in an ancient hotel. Many children have been forced to enrol in the UNITA as well as in the government army during the 28 years of war.A young girl led into prostitution by her boyfriend, refusing to continue as pregnant because of one of her clients, ends up with a black eye.A group of ten children squat ancient latrines in the port town of Lobito. The street children have to support bad weather, hardships, sickness, accidents and indifference.On a wall, playing cards representing Kung Fu postures. It is estimated that more than 100.000 children live far from their families, and many of them have become street children.A young child dreaming to become a journalist to denounce the corruption of the politicians in his country.After a fight during the night, a child has a swollen eye. The children and the “gangs”, very characteristic of street children.

The place, baptised As tendas (the tents in portuguese), consists of a group of eight deteriorated military tents, where 120 teenagers live confined, and is officially recognized by the city authorities. A great step, but clearly insufficient, considering the needs in terms of health and hygiene, the children suffer from various pathologies such as malaria, scabies, skin diseases, breathing infections, tuberculosis. For the prevention of sexually transmissible infections. Sanitary conditions: two deep holes near a stretch of polluted sea are used as drinkabe water for washing. A crucial aspect of medical follow-up, as those small migrants often sail by boat to Luanda to seek work.

View of an immense slum in the North of Luanda where hundreds of street children live.Playing rap, the children boastfully show their arms bearing scars made by used blades.In all, more than 2500 minors survive by begging and small jobs, prostitution, mostly girls, on the Benguela-Lobito coastline.Two adults beating and tying a street child who tried to steal their cellphone. Even after much research in police stations, the child cannot be found.Two adults beating and tying a street child who tried to steal their cellphone. Even after much research in police stations, the child cannot be found.A young street child poses on an old mattress he uses as his bed, in one of the numerous squats in Lobito.Young children taking care of puppies. Many of them suffer from various illnesses because of their deplorable conditions of life.A boy walks in the corridors of a hotel which belonged to UNITA turned into a squat. At night, those children sleep in empty buildings ravaged by the war... vehicles scattered about the countryside.Two young girls in a squat in Lobito; prostitutes at night. One of them, 14 years old is pregnant.Two youg girls in a squat in Lobito. The children first live downtown, in and around markets, railway and bus stations.A young boy walks along the corridors of a once UNITA hotel now a squat. Average age of street children being 10/12 years... 9 out of 10 are boys.A young girl in front of an old van in which she sleeps.

A small fragile world

Life gets organised around the tents that Okutiuka grabbed from the Administration. The site baptised parada dos fobados (“starving squats”), is run with authority by Jesus, 17 years old, the well-named. To avoid being excluded, no more filthy rags of chupilingua, this addiction to fuel , should be found laying around. The teenagers respect the rules: up at dawn, washing up, then cleaning the place before school. Tonight, to an air of rap, they show off their arms bearing scars made with used blades. Anxiously eyeing all this, Jesus scrutinizes the horizon: a mackerel has moved her hovel to just 100 metres from here, as though to spy upon this small fragile world. Just like a deadly sword of Damocles.

Text: Guillaume Plassais Journalist

Two young boys running in the corridors of a once UNITA hotel now a squat; surviving day to day, and living the moment.The yougsters must form gangs in order to be able to survive and feel they belong to a family. Two gang-leaders in Lobito squat, listen and observe around them.A young boy living alone is found near the swamps. Drug traffic constitutes a lucrative activity, and the dealers have no difficulty recruiting youngsters deprived of education.Three youngsters kidding to be photographed. Jealousy leads to violence. They live in groups, the weaker protected by the strong.A young boy in his squat in Lobito. How children end up on the street is a rather complex question, and poverty cannot be the only answer.Once on the street and left to themselves, these children must survive to misery, and daily violence. They sleep on the sidewalks or in cardboard boxes.A young gang-leader showing his scars from different fights The child gangs often resort to violence in the face of economic and social needs.Young boy marked by a night of fighting for a few Kwanzas (angolese currency). In some cases, the youngsters join gangs in order to be respected in their community.

Second chance

Twice a week, father Horacio walks the streets of Luanda to offer some warmth to the homeless children. “We try to circle their real difficulties in order to better help them. Eventually, we may suggest that they join the center”, explains this argentinian with the looks of Che Guevarra. A lot of patience is needed to cope with suspicious minors, having no landmarks and often addicted to drugs, who rarely accept to follow the padre at first contact. Created in 1993, the Arnaldo Janssen center boards and offers school education to 180 young people who must respect the internal rules and regulations in the form of ten “commandments” (compulsory classes, sharing the tasks, hygiene...) External students are also accepted. They can all major with professional degrees. At the same time, steps are taken to find the families in order for some boarders to return to their homes. “Nevertheless warns the priest, success depends above all on the child’s implication.”

Orlando, a twelve year old street child in Luanda : “My elder brother used to beat me, so I ran away, but when I came back my family had fled from the war. I slept outside and to feed myself, sold garbage picked at the Roque Santeiro, the largest market in Africa. One day I asked Father Horacio who spoke to me about the center, to give me ten kwanzas (local currency). Suspicious, I nonetheless decided to follow him. He has just found my uncle who will take care of me”.

Father Horatio along the streets of Luanda to offer a little warmth to the homeless children.Father Horatio, argentian priest, works on a reinsertion, through manual jobs, of some 180 street children .Father Horatio, argentian priest, works on a reinsertion, through manual jobs, of some 180 street children.Father Horatio manages the Arnaldo Janssen center which boards and teaches180 youngsters from the streets of Luanda.Twice a week, Father Horatio walks the streets of Luanda to offer some warmth to the homeless children.Father Horation argentian priest, works for the reinsertion of some 180 street children. Reading and writing classes for the younger ones.Education is indispensable if we want to help those children to get out of the infernal circle of poverty, street survival or from slavery, and ignorance.Saving street children through work. Reading and writing classes for the younger ones. Just anything can create a fight.A young handicapped boy smiling in spite of difficulties.Sanitation is also important, latrines and showers are at the children’s disposal.

Eugenia and Lucia, two young women with AIDS

At least one million persons in Angola out of 12 million inhabitants are seropositive, has announced on Monday the Angola Health Ministry, number contested by the UNAIDS.

Eugenia and Lucia sick with AIDS, living in a squat in Huambo in the center of the country.
Lucia Isabell Maquedalena, 33 years old, 4 children, 2 girls and 2 boys.
Eugenia Chatouvanqua, 41 years old, 8 sons.
Two women living alone in an old coal factory, their husbands dead during the war and their children dead from sickness and malnutrition.

Eugenia and Lucia living alone in an old coal factory. Africa only represents one-tenth of the world’s population but this is where 9 new cases of HIV on 10 are found.Fifty nine percent of seropositive persons in Africa are women; young women aged between 15 and 25 run a risk at least three times higher.A little girl sick with HIV, between Eugenia and Lucia.Eugenia and Lucia living alone in an old coal factory. Africa only represents one-tenth of the world’s population but this is where 9 new cases of HIV on 10 are found.Lucia Isabell Maquedalana age 33, having AIDS.More than 25 million africans have AIDS, over a total of 36.1 million persons in the world.Lucia Isabell Maquedalena having AIDS. In Africa, 16 countries in which more than a tenth of the adult population aged 15 to 49 is infected by HIV.Africa remains the most affected region; 70% of persons infected, close to 23 million persons. Lucia Isabell Maquedalena, 33 years old, having AIDS.57% of the seropositive aged 15 to 49 are allegedly women according to a UNAIDS report in Africa and 75% of women aged 15 to 24.

A program by doctors of the world to help mothers and children suffering from malnutrition.

After a three-hour walk, Luisiano, three months old, wrapped in his mother’s cloth and all red from the clay-trail, finally gets to the health station of Cambuengo. The baby with a hagard look suffers from marasmus, a form of severe malnutrition. According to Rui, the supervisor of the nutrition center in Mungo for Doctors of the world, “Luisiano must quickly be taken to the therapeutic nutritional center in Bailundo which treats the most severe cases.” The center in Mungo only treats moderate forms of malnutrition. Rui must argue at length in umbundu, the native language, to convince Raquel, Luisiano’s mother; she will have to leave her home, her land and her other small children during almost a month.

Midwife in a small hospital in the bush listens to the sounds of the baby.Thousands of Angolese died and hundreds of thousand suffer from malnutrition because of a real food shortage triggered by war.A mother taking care of her little daugter in a hospital in the center of the country. The number of persons in urgent need of food has climbed from 1.42 million to 1.9 million in Angola.In a Mungo bush hospital, a nurse showing women the different possible means of contraception.Twice a week, food is distributed and the Médecins du Monde give medical care in a mobile hospital.In a bush hospital in Mungo, a doctor makes an injection to a young child.Although Angola is one of the potentially richest country on the african continent, 90% of its population live under extreme poverty conditions.Twice a week, over 200 persons come to fetch food distributed by the ONG. Organisations. Ration tickets are distributed in order to obtain the packages.More than 2 billion persons, essentially women and children living in the developing countries, suffer from nutrition deficencies.Little girl treated in the therapetic nutrition center of Bailundo. Close to half the children under five suffer from malnutrition.Life expectancy is 41 years for men and 40 years for women; child mortality is 145 per thousand. A family waiting in a nutrition center.Young child close to his mother in the hospital of Humbo. More than a quarter of the 200,000 children suffering from malnutrition need immediate care to survive.

Before obtaining their premix – a mixture of soja flour, corn and beans mixed with oil and sugar – as well as fouba for the child and a bag containing a variety of food, the beneficiaries must attend a palestra, a course on malaria, hygiene, nutrition... given by angolese nurses.

Raquel, Luisiano’s mother in a nutrition center in Mingo. Hunger in Angola is the consequence of a conflict which lasted 27 years: over 4 million persons were displaced.Malnutrition has reached alarming proportions, particularly in vulnerable groups. Every year, 3 million 500 thousand children under five die in Africa.A young mother in a medical center, holding a child in her arms suffering from malnutrition . Roughly 28% of children under five present a weight insufficiency versus 5% in central Europe.Two small children at the hospital, recoveing from severe malnutrition. About 12 million children under 5 die each year; malnutrition accounts for 55% of deaths.Distribution of food and medical care given in a mobile hospital by the Medecins du Monde association.A mother, staring blankly, waiting near her small sick daughter Anemia due to lack of iron is one of the reasons contributing to more than 20%.of deaths after childbirth.Child registered in the CNS of Mungo. 45% of angolese children suffer from severe malnutrition, 38% have no access to drinkable water.A mother and her little daugter waiting for food distribution: flour, oil, sugar.A young boy in a nutrition center of the Doctors of the world humanitarian association. According to UNO estimations, 1.5 million persons are exposed to food shortage.Child, staring blankly, near his mother in a nutrition center in Mungo. Undernourished children are extremely weak and vulnerable to infections and sickness.A little girl suffering from severe malnutrition in the arms of her mother. Malnutrition results from the combined factors: insufficient food consumption and sickness.A doctor puts a brachial apparatus on Luciano’s arm : red indicates a severe degree of malnutrition.


Reconstruction ? Some new buildings can be seen on the Ilha, this narrow Luanda coastline. Building projects that hardly conceal a devastating standstill. Despite considerable rich natural resources (oil and diamonds in the north) and the return of peace, the country remains in a dead-end. Economy ruined by the appara tchiks of this socialist state and by the western countries, corruption, laminated roads, families torn apart, health programs afloat, malaria, malnutrition.

The picture would not be complete if we omit the 12 million mines disseminated all over Angola, almost as many as the population of the country, which delay any idea of reconstruction. Heritage of a conflict that has killed more than half a million people who haunt the nights of the survivors.

On the highlands of Planalto, formerly the granaries of Angola, awakening is painful. The inhabitants hesitate between fatalism and trust in the future. The small town of Bailundo is falling in ruins, as well as its hospital with its shattered windows and pierced roof allowing the rain to pour in. The exorbitant prices of basic materials, such as concrete or sheet metal. Same picture of desolation in Mungo. Indeed old town Unita now has electricity as well as a motor tractor. Only problem: the brand new engine and the land cultivated belong to the police commanding officer.
Angola suffers from not moving ahead. Corruption, disastrous roads, expensive transportation, hamper the straightening up of the economy and health structures. Since 2002, Doctors of the world brings medical aid to a fragile population.

Text: Guillaume Plassais Journalist

In the nutrition center of Humbo, more than forty women await with their under fed children.Raquel and Luisiano at the NT of Bailundo. Sickness coupled with insufficient nourishment causes malnutrition.Young girl at the nutrition center in Humbo. Between 30 to 50% of the population still does not have access to healthcare in some 35 developing countries.Health examination in the Doctors of the World NGO tent.Luisiano and Raquel, her mother, at the MDM (Doctors of the world) mobile unity in Cambuengo, near Mungo.A moment of comfort before the end.Health examination in the Doctors of the World NGO tent.After more than three hours of walking, Raquel and Luisiano arrive at the mobile MDM hospital.Breast feeding is the foundation for adequate nourishing of the newborn; lack or insufficiency can endanger the health and nutrition of the baby.In the nutrition center of Humbo, more than forty women await with their under fed children.

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