Cuito Cuanavale is a forgotten place. The area holds one of the most important battles of the southern Africa region. The battle played a major role in terminating the apartheid regime in South Africa and helped Namibia to achieve independence. While history keeps unfolding, Cuito Cuanavale seems to have stagnated. The town has barely any essential infrastructure. Covered with land mines and explosive ordinance, the population is constrained to just a few areas. Also, the Angolan media estimates that the southeast part of the country, including the Cuito Cuanavale region, has over 30,000 families hit by droughts and unexpected heavy rains resulting in floods.

Driven by hunger, people scour the bush for anything to eat, even though it is riddled with land mines. According to government officials, mine accidents are commonplace since the village is surrounded by a barrier of them. The roads linking the province are not accessible. The only way for humanitarian agencies to bring in food aid is to fly across the province in an attempt to reach the most isolated communities of the region.

Joana’s Story

Joana, her husband, and their six children live in extreme poverty in the Baixo Longa village in Angola, a country in southern Africa. She is one of the survivors of the historic “Cuito Cuanavale Battle”. This is her story.

“As a young girl, my family got divided. I only stayed together with my older sister. We used to dig up holes and hide.” Joana says as she recounts her day-to-day life during the war. Hiding in holes did not save her sister. She was hit by a bomb and died immediately. Joana had more luck and managed to survive one of the heaviest battles in Angola. Nowadays, life is not any easier. Instead of fleeing from bullets, Joana fights for her family against hunger and poverty.

“Since October we do not have food. First, was the drought, and now the floods. Our maize, beans, and vegetables have all been destroyed. All our crops were devastated by the lack of rain and then too much rain. How are we meant to grow any food to eat?” Joana 9 asks herself.

Joana’s six children go days without food and must drink contaminated river water. She says they complain constantly of “belly pain”. Her youngest daughter, two years old, cries all day long. Her oldest son walks around looking for fruit and tries to hunt small animals. Children in her community have never received any vaccinations. They have been living like this for months.

“My only option is to walk all around the bush and look for fruit and mushrooms. I am afraid because I know there are many land mines in this area, leftover from the war, but I have to take the risk to find some food for my children,” she says. “I feel weak and I am afraid for my children. If we continue like this, I think we will all die, says Joana, swallowing her tears.

There are thousands of Joanas in Cuito Cuanavale. These families who live in extreme poverty are most vulnerable to the devastating effects of droughts and floods on their crops. Searching for food in an area littered with land mines is just one of the many risks they must take in a desperate attempt to survive.