Angola

Painting by Fernando Caterça Valentim



She hugged herself,
staring at her mutilated leg,
humming a song in Portuguese.



Mother Africa,
don’t cry for Angola
when the silent enemy kills again.
Mother Africa,
don’t cry for Angola:
a country blessed by the Gods
with natural wealth and pain.



He walks with some difficulty
as he talks about the Civil War,
the internal conflict and international
manipulation.



Mother Africa,
let me kneel down
before you for your blood
is my heritage.
Mother Africa,
what is freedom when
poverty and illiteracy still cage?



The old lady on her wheelchair
remembers that they have never
had any significant help



Mother Africa,
wipe your tears
and be careful
with your path.
Mother Africa,
what they buried here
were stupidity and wrath.




Karla Bardanza




Here is Brazil we call Africa as Mother Africa because most of us are afro-descendent.
In 1994 the two warring sides in the Angolan civil war signed the
Lusaka peace accords and subsequently have slowly retreated from
their entrenched positions. However, due to the heinous number of
land mines Angola will remain a country afflicted by the scourge of
war for decades to come because the devices act as a silent enemy
not allowing the population to progress and rebuild. Estimates of
the number of Angolan land mines range between 10 and 20 million
which equates to at least 1 to 2 land mines for every person in the
country. U.N. estimates put the number of Angolan amputees
resulting from the silent killers at 70,000. For three decades
mines were scattered in Angola's fields, villages, roads, and other
unexpected places to intimidate, maim and kill innocent victims.
Land mines have a devastating affect upon the environment by
restricting the movement of people, deterring farming, disrupting
economies, and killing and mutilating many innocent men, women, and
children. In 1993 a UN General Resolution moratorium on the sale
and export of antipersonnel land mines was passed. However,
international consensus has yet to be achieved and Angola's problem
continues unabated.



Source: http://www1.american.edu/ted/landmine.htm


Photobucket
Copyright©Karla Bardanza 2012

1 comment:

  1. Like the mine fields in Afghanistan, land bombs everywhere. The poor innocent children and animals killed or maimed for life. It is all so senseless. I totally agree with this poem! Keep writing the truth! People need to hear it. Blessings.

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