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

Copyright©Karla Bardanza 2012