A Tale of Two Communities

In Angola, one village has revived after landmine clearance. Another takes its first steps to safety.

After the end of Angola's 27-year long civil war, the village of Bairro Nova Vida has finally come to embody its name: in Portuguese, nova vida means “new life.”

Nestled in Bié province, a region that was once one of the country's most contaminated with landmines, revival has taken root here at last.

For decades, families here lived under constant threat. Hidden landmines made it dangerous to walk to school, farm the fields, and go about daily life.

Augusto Secuva, a community leader, remembers those days all too well. He and his wife raised their five sons surrounded by uncertainty - first in another contaminated village, and then here in Bairro Nova Vida.

After HALO cleared the village, everything changed.

With the landmines gone, Augusto could finally expand his farm from two hectares to five, more than doubling his land.

Landmines out of the ground means people are taking back their land, growing crops to sell, and providing food for their tables. Children across the country, including Augusto’s sons, are now walking to school along safe paths.

And while Bairro Nova Vida’s restoration has been remarkable, many in Angola still wait for this kind of hope.

In a neighboring province, fellow local leader Eduardo is eager to see safety return to his village, Mucovoto. He has lived there most of his life and is now a village elder. After the war forced him to flee, he returned home for good in 2005.

The following year, tragedy struck the community: a blast from an unseen landmine resulted in a farmer's death. Her loss left a deep fracture in the community’s memory, and fear of the threats hidden among the fields quickly spread among residents.

Since then, the community has been free of human accidents. But movement within and around the village has been extremely limited, as people remain uncertain whether each path is safe. 

“It has been a long time living in fear,” said Eduardo.

HALO’s teams began destroying mines in the village in November 2023—and while they are hard at work making Mucovoto safer day by day, the job is not over yet.

Restoration after conflict is possible, in Angola and around the world. Your support today can help transform Mucovoto – and other communities just like it.