Thanks to greater political stability since the elections in 2008, the government has invested more on infrastructures, but “shacks made of twisted sheets of metal abound at the bases of skyscrapers and illiteracy is on the rise. Whoever doesn’t know how to use a computer or speak English or French hasn’t a chance”. The race to modernize has left the rural areas in the dust, despite the agricultural development programs implemented in 2005. “Undesirable lands are continuously abandoned even when they sometimes present the only viable source of livelihood”.
The Salesians have been committed to promoting ‘the family’ in Angolan villages since 1992. Alongside pastoral activities and projects to promote human development, other initiatives, including economic ones, have been added to improve the life of the people. One example is the project “for young people to improve professional training in the agricultural fields of the rural areas of Ndalatando”, for which Harambee has committed itself to raising funds for in 2010.
“We want to contribute to the economic development of the Ndalatando area, encouraging people to return to the area, especially the young”, says Francesco, “and so we’re offering technical training courses to create an EU agricultural pole to improve cultivation activities, to develop ‘pilot’ vegetable plots for new types of farming and offer services to transform and commercialize agricultural projects”. These are limited initiatives, but practical and thus very useful. “If we can make lands seem more enticing, the young are much less likely to stray, a very high risk in the cities”.
On the other hand, Angola has always been a self-sufficient country with regards to key crops. The war in 2002 broke this cycle. Furthermore, the great majority of Angolans are traditionally farmers. Agriculture is thus a key instrument to fighting unemployment, especially in the poorest rural areas. “Our project will chiefly involve the young, but women that are the head of their households will receive special attention and will be assisted, through training programs, in initiating activities to commercialize their products”.
Francesco is very realistic as he explains the initiative and the difficulties they will face, but he is also very enthusiastic. “It’s hard to give the idea of just how difficult it is to live in an underdeveloped country that has just survived a war and has no rules, nor how beautiful it is to gradually see people become aware, things change and take form, minds wake up and broaden, unfortunately with the possibility of straying away and I can remember so many faces and stories of people I’ve met thinking about the years passed”. For example, he tells us about Eva, a twenty-year old student in her first pre-university year studying economics and law. “It was obvious she was pregnant on the first day of school, this last February 4th. Jokingly I asked her when she was due and to make sure she didn’t have the baby during the first-quarter exams, otherwise she could get into trouble! Eva never missed a day of school and one Tuesday mid-April she gave birth to her baby. A week later she was back in class looking a bit tried, but ready for her class work and the quarter exams in May. Incidentally, she did really well on her exams and this child should definitely be proud of his mother.”
The “family” in Angola is as weak as it could be. Very often children do not know their own parents and search for role-models in other places- churches, schools and even in the streets. They often even make role-models for themselves. Everyone in the street can be a role-model for someone else or even for himself. Francesco, however, tells us about Placidez, a twenty-year old student in his second year of economics and law who has two children to support and a house to pay for. “He’s working in a supermarket. As soon as he finishes school, he goes straight to work a ten-hour shift and gets home late at night. Last year was his first year with me and it was difficult. He isn’t very gifted intellectually and, at first, was lacking in many areas. At the end of the year he just missed passing the class, but this year he’s one of the brightest and happiest of all the students. He gets up at 4 a.m., lights a candle and studies. At 7:20 a.m. he arrives at school and at 12:00 p.m. he arrives at work and that’s how each day goes. His children must be very proud of him”. Francesco concludes, “I’ve learned a lot from each one of them- patience, strength, endurance, happiness, desperation and, most of all, love and charity!”
Harambee supports the project for young people to improve professional training in the agricultural fields of the rural areas of Ndalatando promoted by the Salesians in Angola.
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