In the remote hills of Benguela, Angola, lies the village of Kanenguerere. A small cluster of wooden huts with brushwood roofs stand alone amongst the sprawling rocky slopes. Dogs lie panting in the dust, seeking shelter from the heat. To the right a new brick building glints in the midday sun. Children in crisp shirts run in crazy loops, shrill with excitement.
This is where 14-year-old Aurora lives with her family. Bubbling with energy one moment, calm and thoughtful the next, she has lived in Kanenguerere for five years. Her family came here so that she and her younger siblings could go to school. But the village hides a terrible danger. The fields around her home are strewn with landmines, the legacy of Angola’s 27-year Civil War. Every landmine has the potential to kill or maim—and children, with their small, vulnerable bodies, suffer the most severe injuries.
“I remember my father saying there were mines in the fields. I was frightened and very worried because it was where we went to get the dry kindling to make our fire. Now we have to walk 2km to go and find wood.
I have seen landmines near the bridge. I told my little brothers that we must not go there anymore because we could die."
But then one morning in August 2017, a group of women arrived and began setting up camp. They were HALO Angola’s 100 Women in Demining, part of a unique project to train and employ local women to remove Angola’s landmines. In a country where employment opportunities for women are scarce, the project seeks to empower women to take control of their future.
“When the women first arrived, I didn’t know why they were here. Then we were told that they had come to remove the landmines. I was surprised, I didn’t believe that women would be doing this difficult job, climbing the mountains, I thought it would be men.”
The women began their painstaking work, toiling across the steep mountainside in the intense heat to search for the landmines and Aurora started to believe that they could help her village.
“I saw them doing the work and I started to believe that they could do this and make our land safe. It will be good for this community once all the mines are gone because the cattle will be safe and I also think more people will come here to cultivate the land."
Aurora was immediately captivated by the HALO deminers—'those beautiful women' who would spend hours on their hands and knees, excavating the soil to find the deadly landmines.
Now the land is being made safe, it is possible to look forwards. The new white building on the hill is a school, built thanks to the generous support of the Italian energy company Eni. Here Aurora can have the opportunity to reach her full potential.
“I like to study, it is for my future. When we have tests I always get good grades. I would like to be a teacher when I am older. Having a new school here will motivate us, fewer children were starting to come to class but now we have our own school they are saying they want to come and learn.”
And when Aurora speaks of the future, it is a country free from mines that is in her thoughts.
“They must not stop until all the mines in Angola are destroyed. I am so happy that they came here. If they hadn’t come then we might not have our new school. All the children are happy, and I am especially happy and grateful.”
