A Tale of Two Communities
Transformation after landmine clearance is on the horizon for one village in Angola. For another, it's already arrived.
Eduardo, village elder in Mucovoto, Angola, has lived in his hometown most of his life. He has only ever left it when forced to: when the village was caught on the frontlines of the country’s 27-year civil war, violence forced him and his family to flee.
They finally returned in 2005, ready to rebuild after the conflict's end. Just a year later, though, tragedy struck the community: a blast from an unseen landmine laid during the war resulted in the death of a female farmer. Fear of the threats hidden among the fields quickly spread among residents.
Since then, the village has fortunately been free of human accidents. But movement has been extremely limited, as people remain uncertain whether each path is safe. Finding grazing areas for livestock, farming and hunting grounds, and places to forage for edible plants has become increasingly difficult.
“It has been a long time living in fear,” says Eduardo.
HALO’s teams began destroying mines in Mucovoto in November 2023—and while they are hard at work making the village safer day by day, the job is not yet over.
“Every time we hear an explosion from this direction, we are so excited. Then we know that the deminers are working hard to keep us safe. It happens almost every day.”
When Transformation Starts, it Spreads
Anticipation runs high in places like Mucovoto because revival is within reach. Just one province away, in Bié, landmine clearance has helped the village of Bairro Nova Vida undergo a remarkable transformation.
After the war, Bié was one of the country's most landmine-contaminated regions. 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 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.
And it wasn’t just his family that flourished after landmine clearance. His entire community is now seeing their futures grow.
“The school is right next to this village. However, children would take 20 minutes to get to school because they would be using a path that did not have landmines. Now that the landmines have been removed, it only takes them five to ten minutes to get to school.”
“If I could speak to one deminer who worked to clear this land, I would tell them what a great job they are doing. They are not just doing a job to earn income; they are saving lives and making communities better.”
In Portuguese, “nova vida” means “new life.” Now, Bairro Nova Vida has come to embody its name – revival has taken root here.
The transformative power of demining has restored hope in Augusto's community. Now, it is starting to bring that hope back to Eduardo's.
None of this would be possible without HALO's dedicated partners and community of supporters.