A Brave New World
by Dr. J. Andrew Cole
Soldiers, stern, unsmiling, cradling old MK47s across crook of arms, fingers p0ised--images imprinted from my first trip back to Angola. I was accompanying Dad, September 1997. The coastal air, thickened by heat and humidity, was hardly noticeable through the palpable tension swirling around us, whisking away the breath. December 2002--it has now been four years since my last trip to Angola. My daughter, Megan, and I landed in Luanda 11 days before Christmas. All seemed different. A calm breeze prevailed. Soldiers were gone. The concrete bunker-like room used to receive disembarking passengers was now decorated with white paint, bright posters, shiny granite floor tiles and potted flowers growing vigorously in the chilly air-conditioned room. This isn’t frightening at all, Dad,” Megan observed; she was disappointed that there would be no “thrill.”
I love Angola. But when fighting was re-ignited by a government offensive in 1998, I was hesitant to return. The problem was language: I can speak Umbundu, the language of the rebels, but not Portuguese, the national language. Language thus allied me with the rebels, and association that seemed to single me out in unsettling ways. My attention turned to Namibia and later Zambia where people, now refugees, I had known as a boy had fled.
The African Refugee Committee (ARC) was the outgrowth of a team that traveled to Namibia in May 2000. Since then, ARC has developed various projects not only in the Osire camp, but also in Nangweshi, Zambia. Our greatest accomplishment, however, has not been the projects successfully completed. Relationships have been built with outstanding men, women and children (there as well as here) who have the gifts and talents through whom remarkable results have been achieved. Church building effectively constructed, blankets equitable distributed, income-generating projects, help for the chronically ill and dying are all the outcomes of these relationships. But things are changing, and changing quickly for our partners, the refugees.
In the wake of the peace process in Angola, the refugees will be forced to return home. In May, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is implementing a program of voluntary repatriation. Later on, an organized repatriation will be initiated. Then, toward the end of 2004, food deliveries by the united Nations World Food Program (WFP) will end. The refugees will have no choice but to return home. Further shaping the landscape is the partnership of he Angolan government with UNHCR. A repatriation policy will require refugees to return to their village of origin. All of this has significant implications for ARC, but the real question has been, "To what will the refugees be returning?"
It was mainly for purposes of yearly planning and to assess the conditions to which the refugees would be returning that motivated the December 2002 mission trip. My daughter, Megan, who was assigned the function of team secretary (and photographer), requested early examinations at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, so that we could depart for Angola by December 13, a week before her semester ended. Samuel Abel from Namibia (Lucy's father) joined us in Angola, and later, in Zambia, ARC Field Representative, Maurice Kapuka assumed leadership of the team. Adriano and Elvis Huambo from the Osire Camp, Namibia, joined us in Zambia.
The repatriation will seriously impact ARC's ability to contribute to further developments within the camps, but through effective organization and management, impact within Angola will be multiplied. It has been through the refugee's tireless and voluntary efforts that we have accomplished our objectives there. ARC's policy has been to prioritize partnership ties with the refugees, (rather than prioritizing partnerships with NGOs or UNHCR), and this has paid dividends. The refugees steward finances more parsimoniously and execute programs with greater efficiency than NGSs, and now, in view of peace, our partnerships with refugees are sufficiently cemented to carry us over into Angola. The majority of refugees with whom ARC has developed ties will be expected to return to their village of origin. Their home villages, some of which I visited, are eager to rebuild their kinship ties and receive long lost friends; how well prepared these villages are to receive the influx of people that left 10, 15, or 20 years ago is yet to be determined. Notwithstanding the generations of family ties and deeply rooted connections to the land, those that fled from villages have been away from home for year and years. Will there be anything more than cultivation of farms for them to return to?
The refugees are cautious about returning to Angola because previous peace initiatives fell apart. "How do we know the same thing will not happen now?" they ask. I have no answers, of course, but with the killing of the charismatic leader Jonas Savimbi last February, leadership among the rebels lacks a unifying force. Even if the will to fight were present, the rebel leadership is sufficiently fragmented so as to make needed organization extremely difficult. Adding to this, the Angolan government appears to be making sincere efforts to build bridges. In a long and arduous drive through Bie to see the ruins of the Capango mission, we came across a huge rebel encampment of several thousand. The government was providing food and transport for the ex-combatants and their families to their villages of origin. From talks with rural peasants, municipal administrators, even the Governor in Bie, it was evident that the time for fighting has ended. Oku tumbulua, (to rebuild) was a repeated theme. Along dirt roads--inaccessible earlier in the year to all but tanks and armored vehicles--a conspicuous series of white rocks set 12 inches apart lining segments of the road, were markers, placed by government and rebel soldiers warning pedestrians of antipersonnel mines. Hordes of people walking with enormous loads balanced on the heads, or drooping over rickety bicycles, along with herds of cattle and goats, traveling in safely through the back roads of Bie and Huambo Provinces, all spoke more of peace than any amount of rhetoric. The problem remains, however, for the refugees to become reintegrated into the fabric of the new Angola.
There are many ways in which ARC could incorporate refugees into the rebuilding of Angola; the doors are open wide; government officials repeatedly asked for help, welcoming any input and urging the return of refugees. Where can ARC have its greatest impact? Because of the fighting, the educational system in the rural areas has completely broken down; there are no traces of classrooms, let alone books, chalkboards and other school supplies, and it is here that ARC can have significant impact By joining forces with the indigenous efforts already beginning to germinate, ARC can participate not only in rebuilding of the rural schools, but also in providing an effective transition for refugees. Working in collaboration with congregations within Angola, ARC can now impact a critical element of Angola's future--the educational system. ARC has at its disposal, not only partnership ties with relevant experts needed for the development of an effective program, and the means of raising money required to deploy an effective program, but we also, by virtue of ties with refugees, have additional human resources abundantly available representing a broad range of skills and talents, each of which can be individually incorporated in to the fabric of such a project. In this way, the rebuilding of the rural school system would provide a valued and respected role for large numbers of refugees working in partnership within Angola.
In the meantime, the refugee camps have not closed and much remains to be done. The Mercy Teams, for example, and the ARC structures supporting their work, need our continued involvement. The Mercy Teams travel into the hidden recesses of the refugee camp looking to assist those vulnerable individuals that tend to fall between the cracks. Income generating projects, such as the agricultural program, bakery, cantin, oxcart (read "ambulance") service, all designed to support the efforts of the Mercy Teams, need continued support. The pilot program for small business loans also requires attention. These efforts, however, will now be harmonized with one focus point--repatriation with the view toward rebuilding rural schools. While ARC is unable to undertake an official repatriation program, we will help the refugee leaders make the transition into Angola by recruiting their participation. In this way, the refugees who are about the be scattered across Angola, as they return to their villages, will carry with them a mission to rebuild the schools.
There is in Angola an open door through which we can join with others in an effort to rebuild community. As the colonial powers withdrew, the Angolan people were unprepared to make the self-adjustments necessary to adapt to the demands of multi-tribal nationhhood. A hopelessly flawed educational system, that robbed the Africans of their collective identity and commonalities, is one contributing factor to Africa's longest war. We now have an opportunity before us to correct this problem by rebuilding an educational system that is truly indigenous, respectful of persons, and embodies the Good News.