ANGOLA -
SEEDS OF THE DEVIL
38 mins script
10.00.00 Images of a car
Music
00.21 Women singing
The song goes: If you find something and you don’t know what it is, don’t touch it because you could die.
00.35 In January 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales visited war-weary Angola, as part of the international Red Cross campaign to ban land-mines. Since her death, the issue has escalated into a global concern. Although Diana may have seemed to be doing little more than comforting land-mine victims, her visit struck emotional chords all over the world. Many feel that a total ban on land-mines would be a fitting tribute to Diana. In December 1997, a treaty towards the total banning of anti-personnel mines was signed in Canada by 100 countries, including Angola.
01.13 People walking amongst corn.
But banning the production of land-mines doesn’t stop the daily explosions and mutilations caused by mines already buried in the ground.
Sound of a land-mine going off.
Background music. Images of people mutilated by the land-mines.
01.50 Woman talking to children and adults.
Woman: We’ve come to talk about land-mines. You know that in a country where there has been a war, there are many land-mines scattered about, don’t you?Children: Yes.Woman: Here in Huambo, there are many land-mines buried which is why we thought we would come here and raise the awareness of you boys and girls. Especially you boys. Boys are very curious and like to dismantle things they find on the ground, don’t they?Children: Yes.Woman. So, what we are asking you to do is: if you find something on the ground that could be an explosive device, don’t touch it. OK?Children: Yes.woman: It could be an explosive device or it could be a land-mine and you run the risk of losing a hand, an arm or your legs. Do you understand?Children :Yes.
02.56 Angola is probably smothered with the largest number of land-mines in the world. Estimates suggest that more than ten million are buried in the ground, ready to strike without warning. The children are taught basic ways to recognise land-mines and other devices.
03.15 Woman showing pictures to children.
Woman: You haven’t been shown this one over here, which means that there are many others besides the ones you have been shown. Many other explosive devices, land-mines, hand-grenades and so on....
Children clapping.
Men: Take this, it’s for you to read.
03.48 What the class is about to see next is just playacting but it brings with it a terrible message. Lives are at stake, not just the lives of children but those of adults too.
04.01 Woman: When you are playing ball you have to be careful. There are fields with land-mines and explosive devices. If you find something that looks like a pen, or like a ball, you mustn’t pick it up.
04.19 Role-play between boys.
First boy: Don’t touch. Don’t touch.Woman: I don’t know what it is and neither do you. I am going to talk to the village chief. I’ll be back in a minute.Second Boy: Lets pick it up. First boy: You are very stubborn. Leave it be.
Child playing.
04.44 Although the majority of accidents take place on rural tracks that have seen little use since the end of the war, they also occur in the most astonishing places, such as the front door of a house or a school.
04.57 Shot of boy’s face.
Daniel is 12 years old. He and four friends were playing near the school when tragedy struck. Daniel has come back to the scene to explain what happened.
05.07 Int: How many were you?Daniel: Five. He was the one to get it. We started playing and then it went off.Int: Who walked over it?Daniel: My friend. We were playing with it and we dropped it.Int: So what your friend found was a land-mine?Daniel: Yes.Int: And he brought the bomb for you to play with?Daniel: Yes. He said it wouldn’t kill but then it exploded.Int: And what happened to your friends?Daniel: One of them died in the school playground.Int: And the other four?Daniel: The mixed race girl, she died in hospital.Int: And the other two?Daniel: The others died in hospital as well. One of them died here.
05.57 On the doctors’ advice, Daniel’s mother enrolled him in another school. But it is far away and Daniel has to walk several kilometres to get there.
06.10 There is no public transport in Huambo and Daniel wouldn’t be able to afford a ticket if there was. With no father, his only support comes from his mother who has no way of making ends meet.
06.24 Daniel: The others who have already started school have a uniform, but I don’t.Int: You can’t start without it?Daniel: Right.Int: And books? Have you got those?Daniel: No.Int: And pen and pencils, have you got those?Daniel: No.Int: Here in Huambo, is there anywhere you can buy those things?Daniel: In the market.Int: Do they sell pens and books and writing pads?Daniel: Yes.Int: And what are you studying?Daniel: I am in year four.Int: So you can read and write?Daniel’s mother: He hasn’t got anything. No uniform, no books, no pen and paper.Int: You can’t find Daniel a uniform?Mother: No. It’s hard. Int: Do you have a job?Mother: No.Int: What do you do for food?Mother: I sell.Int: Sell what?Int: Whatever.Int: Do you sell at the market?Mother: Yes.
Music. Images of people in the market and Daniel being measured.
07.57 The tailors who make the school uniform work at the market. Today there is only one ready-made uniform on sale. It’s a bit big but it’ll do. Tomorrow, Daniel will be able to go to school.
08.15 Daniel needs to take lots of time off school to go to the orthopaedic centre. His prostheses often have to be repaired and adjusted. Sometimes the stubs of his legs are rubbed raw and he needs to see a doctor.
08.33 Today, Daniel is finding things a little harder than usual . His old prostheses, which have helped him walk over the past few months, no longer fit and have had to be replaced by longer ones. Daniel has suddenly grown three centimetres and lost his sense of balance. He is going to have this problem over and over again until he stops growing.
09.02 Maria has never been to school. With severe walking difficulties, she spends her time at home. She says she manages to help her mother with small tasks like doing the washing up but there is nothing more she can do. She assures us that her prostheses don’t hurt and that she can walk very well with them. But the truth is painfully obvious.
09.28 Int: How did the accident happen?Maria: When I was with my brother.Int: Your brother? Did he get hurt? What happened to him?Maria: He died.
09.49 Amidst all this misery, the aid-workers still manage to provide a little light relief. “Where are your legs?” he jokes, seeing that Antonia isn’t wearing her prostheses.Many months after the cannons had fallen silent in the town of Huambo, she was just playing when tragedy exploded beneath her feet.
10.07 Antonia’s brother: It happened in May 1995.Int: What was she doing?Brother: The girls were playing over there.Int: At the back of the house?Brother: Yes, in the backyard. All the children play there. We didn’t know whether there were any land-mines or not. That day she landed on one and that was it.
10.45 Antonia lives life between the yard and her bedroom. She only straps on the prostheses because the physiotherapist who has turned up unexpectedly has asked her to.
She can’t find her balance and the false legs hurt.
11.03 It’s clear the false legs have never stepped outside the house. Strapped to the feet are brand new shoes.
11.11 Int: Do you know if there are more land-mines outside?Antonia: Yes I do. There are more.
Image of the town. Background music.
11.28 The scourge of anti-vehicle and anti-personnel mines has left Angola’s roads, bridges and transport systems as disabled as its people. The city streets were the first battlefields to be cleared of mines. Yet many towns remain completely besieged, still ringed by mines. The situation seems hardly to have changed, even though the last few years have been relatively peaceful. Anyone with a hungry family to feed must cross minefields to get to the fields. Land-mine victims continue to arrive at hospitals in droves.
12.08 In orthopaedic centres, which were mostly built by humanitarian organisations, hundreds of prostheses are produced every month, made to measure for the waiting client.
12.18 Over the decades of war, foreign specialists trained Angolans to manufacture artificial limbs. They also gave them access to synthetic fibres, the new technology which enables artificial limbs to be produced quickly and cheaply. But land-mines continue to claim victims. These sorry scenes at orthopaedic centres will be seen for years to come.The army and guerrillas alike used mines with impunity and Angola now has an estimated 70,000 amputees resulting from mine accidents: the highest incidence in the world. It’s feared that mines have killed as many people as they have disabled but most incidents are not reported, often because the victim is alone when the accident happens.
13.19 Danger lurks in nearly every field in Angola. Mine-clearing operations are still far from complete.
13.30 De-mining team As each warring faction advanced and retreated, mines were planted in fields which were already heavily mined. Very few plans of the minefields exist. Determining exactly where the mines are buried is an impossible task.
13.47 Mine clearing is a slow process and requires nerves of steel. An area of just 30 kilometres takes about a year clear. The costs are a big hurdle. In an effort to speed the process up and make it safer, certain mine-clearing companies have decided to use methods which have not yet been fully tested.
14.09 Around Benguela and Lobito, dogs and handlers are being trained to detect mines.
14.16 The dogs and the trainers are South African. The dogs are trained in real minefields. The trainers are experienced in the bush: they’re former police officers or members of the notorious South African Special Forces. They know Angolan territory like the back of their hand, after years fighting there against SWAPO and the Cuban Internationalists.
14.44 Once the mine has been detected its location is marked and the dog is rewarded.
14.56 Burg GeelDe-miner
Int: What’s the advantage of using dogs in mine detecting?The first & biggest advantage is time saving, mine dogs can do about 4 km a day where a team of 15 manual de-miners will do about 500m a day. Int: That’s the only advantage? Where manual de-miners work with metal detectors, they will pick up every piece of metal whereas dogs ignore all other substances and just indicates the mines.
15.40 Images of children running
The Angolan de-miners are all volunteers. They took the job because in most cases the chances of finding work with a guaranteed wage are non-existent. Most of them have never seen a dog before. The first step is for man and dog to get to know each other. The men have to learn not to be afraid of the dogs and to work with them
15.58 Inter: boy with dog.
Int: What is your name?João: Joãozinho.Int: And your dog’s?João: Kwanza.Int: What are you teaching him? João: We’re only at the beginning and I’m just teaching him basic things so that we can get used to each other. He’s very young and we have to adapt to each other.
16.18 Boy with blue cap. Int: Had you seen a German Shepherd before?Boy: No. Int: In the beginning were you scared of the dog?Boy: To start with, yes, I was scared.
Sound of machine.
16.39 Another technique being tried out in Angola, which was successful in the Kuwaiti deserts, is mechanical mine-clearing. Invented in Scotland, this machine takes anti-personnel and anti-tank mines in its stride.
17.00 Antonio CordeiroDe-miner
Here we have three different types of metal chains. The first one doesn’t cut up the mine, so the drilling machine doesn’t get damaged. This chain is called the hammer. It’s specifically designed for anti-personnel mines. And finally we have the discs. These are designed for anti-tank mines. If they can’t deactivate the mine they cut it and destroy it. The drilling machine has seventy two chains. It rotates 220 times a minute and makes about 260 holes in the ground a second .
18.10 If successful, these new techniques could replace outdated ones. If someone provides the funding. Ironically, an anti-personnel mine costs less than 3 dollars, while de-activating it costs 800. It’s money that isn’t there in countries whose economies have been devastated by war.
18.28 Even in countries like Angola, where the land is rich in petrol, diamonds and gold, and agriculture could thrive. But not until the mines are cleared.
Mine-clearing team
18.43 GabrielDe-miner
Int: Is there anything in there?Man: Yes. I think so because the mine alarm has gone off.
Man digging. Background music.
18.57 Int: Why are you digging so slowly?Man : I am digging slowly for safety - in case there’s a mine. If you dig more quickly you risk touching the mine.Int: And why were you digging with the side of the spade?Man: Because if I put the spade in vertically it could cause an accident. It might hit the pressure point.Int: It could activate the mine?Man: Yes. If I dig with the spade on its side I can only hit the body of the mine.
Man searching for land-mines. Background music.
20.04 Man: OK. The explosive has been inserted. The destruction of the mine is now ready to take place.
Land-mine exploding.
20.16 Int: How do you know where the land-mines are? Do the soldiers tell you, or the villagers?Man: We have several ways of finding out. We get reports from the army or the Ministry of Internal Affairs. We are also told by the villagers.We search a particular area and if they tell us that a certain area has mines we go and investigate to see if they are right.Int: Do you also receive reports from UNITA?Man: Yes. We have two teams working in areas held by UNITA.Int: Here in Huambo UNITA has left many land-mines. This year how many land-mines have been destroyed here in Huambo?Man: We have removed or destroyed 14,748 .
21.19 Image of green fields.Image of a mine As more and more people return to the fields the risk of injury increases. But the need to grow food outweighs fear for their lives. The deadly explosives lie in wait, ready to reap a sinister harvest of human beings. Land-mines are waterproof and fireproof and, once laid, difficult to detect. They are designed to maim rather than kill, although they do both.
21.47 When the town of Kuito was laid waste by shelling, there was one little girl who lost a leg and the will to speak.
Int: Do you remember how it happened? Josefa: ( silence)
22.04 In this crumbling orphanage, Dona Alda Chapanga looks after the children of Kuito. She spent the war under this roof. Only the hand of fate saved it from falling in on her. One of the children who needs the most attention is Geraldo.
22.19 Twelve years old, he has been paraplegic since the age of six when he was hit by shrapnel from a mine.
22.25 Dona Alda: When soldiers attacked his village in the Chitengo area, Geraldo was very small and went running after his mother. But his mother set the land-mines off and was killed along with all his brothers, and he was hit in the back by shrapnel.Int: How many brothers were there?Dona Alda: There were four. He’s the only one left. He’s paralysed .
22.48 Int: Hey Geraldo, what would make you really happy?Geraldo: A wheelchair that goes really fast.
23.24 People cheering the government of the Republic of Angola.Cheering for peace!
When Kofi Anan, United Nations Secretary General visited Angola, he went to the ruined town of Kuito. He walked through the war- ravaged streets, saw the bomb-shelled buildings and witnessed the horror of dozens of amputees waiting patiently at the front of the crowd to listen to the words of such a distinguished visitor.
23.42 Kofi Anan in English,UN Secretary General
I have been able to witness the courage of the people of Kuito. Their determination to re-build their town and their lives…. What I have seen in Kuito also reinforces my determination to do whatever I can to achieve a world-wide ban on the use and production and sale of ldan-mines. I applaud the citizens of Kuito who have been maimed by land-mines, but their spirits have not been broken. And they are here with us in numbers this morning to listen to what we have to say, hoping that peace will be finally here.
The mines in Angola are disabling about 200 people a week. Crueller still, children are more vulnerable and the least likely to survive a blast.
24.38 Walter ErubenmannAid worker
There aren’t so many child amputees in the country. Mine victims will often be killed when they step on a mine, because their body is much lower. When the mine hits an adult it’s only the leg mostly. When it’s children, it’s the body.
25.04 And those who survive are undeniably scarred for life. Not just their feet and legs have gone. More often than not their spirits are shattered at the same time.
25.16 Careca is just eleven years old. Seven years ago he lost his legs. He can barely remember what his real legs were like.
Careca: What happened was: it was on a night in February when it was raining, we were going home. That was when the bomb exploded.Int: Who stood on the mine? Was it you?Careca: No one stood on it. Apparently they can explode by themselves.Int: And your mother? Is she at home?Careca: Yes, she is.Int: And when are you going back to her?Careca: I don’t know the date at the moment. Only when I have the prosthesis.Int: But you have a prosthesis?Careca: I am going to get new ones.Int: Are these ones damaged?Careca: No, they are very small.
26.06 Careca’s best friend is called João. He has just started walking with the prosthesis. Things are not going very well. João complains of sharp pains after just a few steps. The prosthesis needs adjusting and the stub of his legs can’t cope with the friction yet. With luck and time João will learn to walk better.
26.25 Interview: João
Int: How did that happen?João: It was a landmine.Int: And where did it happen?Woman’s voice: In Menongue, wasn’t it?Int: Menongue? Was it a long time ago?João: A long time ago.Int: Do you know when?João: No.Int: How long ago was it? You don’t know?João: No.Int: Can you walk properly with the prosthesis?João: No.
26.53 João and Careca come from the same town: Menongue, the capital of the province of Kuando-Kubango, deep in Southern Angola. They’re now both in the capital Luanda to receive medical treatment. There is nothing where they come from. A problem that is only gradually being solved by the determination of people like Father João Bosco.
27.13 Int: Father João Bosco. Father: We saw the need to help disabled people, because there wasn’t any organisation to give them aid in Kuando-Kubango province. And because prostheses are not made in Menongue they have to come to Luanda.
27.36 Int: These people have come here to be given artificial limbs?Father : Exactly. Int: And once they receive their artificial limbs they’ll go back home?Father: Yes. You have just mentioned a great cause for concern. Because it isn’t enough just to come to Luanda to have a prosthesis fitted. They need support. They need support in their villages and towns. They have difficulty in getting used to the prosthesis within their own communities. We feel a bit frustrated when we go back to Menongue and see that they have given up on the prosthesis after a month.
Music
28.58 This is a home for the disabled in Menongue. There seem to be people piled up all over the place. A penetrating, nauseating stench hangs in the air. It betrays a total lack of hygiene. These people are starving. Father João Bosco does what he can but in reality that’s very little.
29.21 Far away, on the outskirts of Luanda, lies the Palanka orphanage, another institution run by a catholic priest. The orphanage is home to about a hundred children, many of whom once roamed the streets. Among them, are victims of land-mines.
29.39 Interview with Andre.
Andre: I come from Benguela.Int: And it was there that you stood on the mine?Andre: Yes. Int: Can you tell us how it happened?Andre: There was firing between UNITA and the MPLA and I was running for my life . I didn’t know there were any land-mines where I was. I activated a land-mine and it went off. Later on five military men turned up and took me to a hospital.
30.19 Int: What belongs to you?Andre: These are my blankets, my school uniform. This box has dirty clothing. This is a blanket as well.Int: For you to sleep in?Andre: Yes. That’s all.Int: How many people live here with you?Andre: Eight people sleep here.Int: On the floor?Andre: Yes.
30.55 Palanka is a boys’ orphanage. Orphaned girls are taken in by Kwazola Children’s Home, also in Luanda. The maimed and disabled live here too. They have come from all over Angola, from north to south, more evidence of the fact that mines are strewn over the whole country.
31.12 Int: Girl in black and white striped shirt. Girl: I stood on the mine and the other girls ran away and left me on my own. My mother came looking for me. She found me and she took me to hospital.
31.29 2nd girl in pink shirt.
Int: Do you think that you’ll get used to the prosthesis this time round and be able to walk?Girl: As long as the wound remains, I won’t be able to walk.
31.40 First girl in pink shirt.
I don’t know . It all depends. These prostheses are not very good. We can’t walk for long, they break. The screws come loose if we walk a lot.
31.55 2nd girl in pink.
We can’t walk very much, they break, they burn. These prostheses get damaged very quickly.
32.46 Cut off from any suitable medical help, Domingas Malamba has lived with her mangled body for 13 years. She was literally torn apart by a mine when she was just ten years old.
33.04 Both her legs and an arm were ripped from her fragile body. All she can do now is live with her head held high.
33.11 Interview with Domingas
Domingas: On the 26th August it will be thirteen years since it happened. I was twelve and I’m now twenty three. It happened thirteen years ago on the 26 August.Int: Thirteen years like that?Domingas: Yes.Int: What has your life been like for the past thirteen years?Domingas: I would have liked to study but because I can’t walk, there’s no one to take me out. I always stay at home. Thinking...
33.51 I tried to use a prosthesis but because I have only one arm I couldn’t get used to walking. So I always stay at home. I do some sewing for the babies and that’s all.Int: You learnt to sew?Domingas: Yes, I learnt but I want to learn more and improve my skills.
34.22 This happened to me when I was working in the fields with my mother. I was playing with another child, she was only a year old, and I didn’t know there were land-mines there. I was playing, carrying my sister on my back when I stood on the mine, setting it off. I felt no pain, I couldn’t hear. I didn’t feel them taking me to hospital. I stayed there until the Red Cross brought me here to the province.
Domingas: I was treated for six months until I got better. I left the hospital and I went home.
35.06 Int: Were you lucky to survive?Domingas: Yes, I think I was very lucky because we didn’t die. We all received treatment and we got better.Int: Has any one ever wanted to help you?Domingas: No, I have never been that lucky.
36.26 It was a land-mine.
I stood on a land-mine in Huambo.
I had a very hard time. I didn’t like that war.
It caught three people. My two cousins and I.
ENDS38 mins
SEEDS OF THE DEVIL
38 mins script
10.00.00 Images of a car
Music
00.21 Women singing
The song goes: If you find something and you don’t know what it is, don’t touch it because you could die.
00.35 In January 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales visited war-weary Angola, as part of the international Red Cross campaign to ban land-mines. Since her death, the issue has escalated into a global concern. Although Diana may have seemed to be doing little more than comforting land-mine victims, her visit struck emotional chords all over the world. Many feel that a total ban on land-mines would be a fitting tribute to Diana. In December 1997, a treaty towards the total banning of anti-personnel mines was signed in Canada by 100 countries, including Angola.
01.13 People walking amongst corn.
But banning the production of land-mines doesn’t stop the daily explosions and mutilations caused by mines already buried in the ground.
Sound of a land-mine going off.
Background music. Images of people mutilated by the land-mines.
01.50 Woman talking to children and adults.
Woman: We’ve come to talk about land-mines. You know that in a country where there has been a war, there are many land-mines scattered about, don’t you?Children: Yes.Woman: Here in Huambo, there are many land-mines buried which is why we thought we would come here and raise the awareness of you boys and girls. Especially you boys. Boys are very curious and like to dismantle things they find on the ground, don’t they?Children: Yes.Woman. So, what we are asking you to do is: if you find something on the ground that could be an explosive device, don’t touch it. OK?Children: Yes.woman: It could be an explosive device or it could be a land-mine and you run the risk of losing a hand, an arm or your legs. Do you understand?Children :Yes.
02.56 Angola is probably smothered with the largest number of land-mines in the world. Estimates suggest that more than ten million are buried in the ground, ready to strike without warning. The children are taught basic ways to recognise land-mines and other devices.
03.15 Woman showing pictures to children.
Woman: You haven’t been shown this one over here, which means that there are many others besides the ones you have been shown. Many other explosive devices, land-mines, hand-grenades and so on....
Children clapping.
Men: Take this, it’s for you to read.
03.48 What the class is about to see next is just playacting but it brings with it a terrible message. Lives are at stake, not just the lives of children but those of adults too.
04.01 Woman: When you are playing ball you have to be careful. There are fields with land-mines and explosive devices. If you find something that looks like a pen, or like a ball, you mustn’t pick it up.
04.19 Role-play between boys.
First boy: Don’t touch. Don’t touch.Woman: I don’t know what it is and neither do you. I am going to talk to the village chief. I’ll be back in a minute.Second Boy: Lets pick it up. First boy: You are very stubborn. Leave it be.
Child playing.
04.44 Although the majority of accidents take place on rural tracks that have seen little use since the end of the war, they also occur in the most astonishing places, such as the front door of a house or a school.
04.57 Shot of boy’s face.
Daniel is 12 years old. He and four friends were playing near the school when tragedy struck. Daniel has come back to the scene to explain what happened.
05.07 Int: How many were you?Daniel: Five. He was the one to get it. We started playing and then it went off.Int: Who walked over it?Daniel: My friend. We were playing with it and we dropped it.Int: So what your friend found was a land-mine?Daniel: Yes.Int: And he brought the bomb for you to play with?Daniel: Yes. He said it wouldn’t kill but then it exploded.Int: And what happened to your friends?Daniel: One of them died in the school playground.Int: And the other four?Daniel: The mixed race girl, she died in hospital.Int: And the other two?Daniel: The others died in hospital as well. One of them died here.
05.57 On the doctors’ advice, Daniel’s mother enrolled him in another school. But it is far away and Daniel has to walk several kilometres to get there.
06.10 There is no public transport in Huambo and Daniel wouldn’t be able to afford a ticket if there was. With no father, his only support comes from his mother who has no way of making ends meet.
06.24 Daniel: The others who have already started school have a uniform, but I don’t.Int: You can’t start without it?Daniel: Right.Int: And books? Have you got those?Daniel: No.Int: And pen and pencils, have you got those?Daniel: No.Int: Here in Huambo, is there anywhere you can buy those things?Daniel: In the market.Int: Do they sell pens and books and writing pads?Daniel: Yes.Int: And what are you studying?Daniel: I am in year four.Int: So you can read and write?Daniel’s mother: He hasn’t got anything. No uniform, no books, no pen and paper.Int: You can’t find Daniel a uniform?Mother: No. It’s hard. Int: Do you have a job?Mother: No.Int: What do you do for food?Mother: I sell.Int: Sell what?Int: Whatever.Int: Do you sell at the market?Mother: Yes.
Music. Images of people in the market and Daniel being measured.
07.57 The tailors who make the school uniform work at the market. Today there is only one ready-made uniform on sale. It’s a bit big but it’ll do. Tomorrow, Daniel will be able to go to school.
08.15 Daniel needs to take lots of time off school to go to the orthopaedic centre. His prostheses often have to be repaired and adjusted. Sometimes the stubs of his legs are rubbed raw and he needs to see a doctor.
08.33 Today, Daniel is finding things a little harder than usual . His old prostheses, which have helped him walk over the past few months, no longer fit and have had to be replaced by longer ones. Daniel has suddenly grown three centimetres and lost his sense of balance. He is going to have this problem over and over again until he stops growing.
09.02 Maria has never been to school. With severe walking difficulties, she spends her time at home. She says she manages to help her mother with small tasks like doing the washing up but there is nothing more she can do. She assures us that her prostheses don’t hurt and that she can walk very well with them. But the truth is painfully obvious.
09.28 Int: How did the accident happen?Maria: When I was with my brother.Int: Your brother? Did he get hurt? What happened to him?Maria: He died.
09.49 Amidst all this misery, the aid-workers still manage to provide a little light relief. “Where are your legs?” he jokes, seeing that Antonia isn’t wearing her prostheses.Many months after the cannons had fallen silent in the town of Huambo, she was just playing when tragedy exploded beneath her feet.
10.07 Antonia’s brother: It happened in May 1995.Int: What was she doing?Brother: The girls were playing over there.Int: At the back of the house?Brother: Yes, in the backyard. All the children play there. We didn’t know whether there were any land-mines or not. That day she landed on one and that was it.
10.45 Antonia lives life between the yard and her bedroom. She only straps on the prostheses because the physiotherapist who has turned up unexpectedly has asked her to.
She can’t find her balance and the false legs hurt.
11.03 It’s clear the false legs have never stepped outside the house. Strapped to the feet are brand new shoes.
11.11 Int: Do you know if there are more land-mines outside?Antonia: Yes I do. There are more.
Image of the town. Background music.
11.28 The scourge of anti-vehicle and anti-personnel mines has left Angola’s roads, bridges and transport systems as disabled as its people. The city streets were the first battlefields to be cleared of mines. Yet many towns remain completely besieged, still ringed by mines. The situation seems hardly to have changed, even though the last few years have been relatively peaceful. Anyone with a hungry family to feed must cross minefields to get to the fields. Land-mine victims continue to arrive at hospitals in droves.
12.08 In orthopaedic centres, which were mostly built by humanitarian organisations, hundreds of prostheses are produced every month, made to measure for the waiting client.
12.18 Over the decades of war, foreign specialists trained Angolans to manufacture artificial limbs. They also gave them access to synthetic fibres, the new technology which enables artificial limbs to be produced quickly and cheaply. But land-mines continue to claim victims. These sorry scenes at orthopaedic centres will be seen for years to come.The army and guerrillas alike used mines with impunity and Angola now has an estimated 70,000 amputees resulting from mine accidents: the highest incidence in the world. It’s feared that mines have killed as many people as they have disabled but most incidents are not reported, often because the victim is alone when the accident happens.
13.19 Danger lurks in nearly every field in Angola. Mine-clearing operations are still far from complete.
13.30 De-mining team As each warring faction advanced and retreated, mines were planted in fields which were already heavily mined. Very few plans of the minefields exist. Determining exactly where the mines are buried is an impossible task.
13.47 Mine clearing is a slow process and requires nerves of steel. An area of just 30 kilometres takes about a year clear. The costs are a big hurdle. In an effort to speed the process up and make it safer, certain mine-clearing companies have decided to use methods which have not yet been fully tested.
14.09 Around Benguela and Lobito, dogs and handlers are being trained to detect mines.
14.16 The dogs and the trainers are South African. The dogs are trained in real minefields. The trainers are experienced in the bush: they’re former police officers or members of the notorious South African Special Forces. They know Angolan territory like the back of their hand, after years fighting there against SWAPO and the Cuban Internationalists.
14.44 Once the mine has been detected its location is marked and the dog is rewarded.
14.56 Burg GeelDe-miner
Int: What’s the advantage of using dogs in mine detecting?The first & biggest advantage is time saving, mine dogs can do about 4 km a day where a team of 15 manual de-miners will do about 500m a day. Int: That’s the only advantage? Where manual de-miners work with metal detectors, they will pick up every piece of metal whereas dogs ignore all other substances and just indicates the mines.
15.40 Images of children running
The Angolan de-miners are all volunteers. They took the job because in most cases the chances of finding work with a guaranteed wage are non-existent. Most of them have never seen a dog before. The first step is for man and dog to get to know each other. The men have to learn not to be afraid of the dogs and to work with them
15.58 Inter: boy with dog.
Int: What is your name?João: Joãozinho.Int: And your dog’s?João: Kwanza.Int: What are you teaching him? João: We’re only at the beginning and I’m just teaching him basic things so that we can get used to each other. He’s very young and we have to adapt to each other.
16.18 Boy with blue cap. Int: Had you seen a German Shepherd before?Boy: No. Int: In the beginning were you scared of the dog?Boy: To start with, yes, I was scared.
Sound of machine.
16.39 Another technique being tried out in Angola, which was successful in the Kuwaiti deserts, is mechanical mine-clearing. Invented in Scotland, this machine takes anti-personnel and anti-tank mines in its stride.
17.00 Antonio CordeiroDe-miner
Here we have three different types of metal chains. The first one doesn’t cut up the mine, so the drilling machine doesn’t get damaged. This chain is called the hammer. It’s specifically designed for anti-personnel mines. And finally we have the discs. These are designed for anti-tank mines. If they can’t deactivate the mine they cut it and destroy it. The drilling machine has seventy two chains. It rotates 220 times a minute and makes about 260 holes in the ground a second .
18.10 If successful, these new techniques could replace outdated ones. If someone provides the funding. Ironically, an anti-personnel mine costs less than 3 dollars, while de-activating it costs 800. It’s money that isn’t there in countries whose economies have been devastated by war.
18.28 Even in countries like Angola, where the land is rich in petrol, diamonds and gold, and agriculture could thrive. But not until the mines are cleared.
Mine-clearing team
18.43 GabrielDe-miner
Int: Is there anything in there?Man: Yes. I think so because the mine alarm has gone off.
Man digging. Background music.
18.57 Int: Why are you digging so slowly?Man : I am digging slowly for safety - in case there’s a mine. If you dig more quickly you risk touching the mine.Int: And why were you digging with the side of the spade?Man: Because if I put the spade in vertically it could cause an accident. It might hit the pressure point.Int: It could activate the mine?Man: Yes. If I dig with the spade on its side I can only hit the body of the mine.
Man searching for land-mines. Background music.
20.04 Man: OK. The explosive has been inserted. The destruction of the mine is now ready to take place.
Land-mine exploding.
20.16 Int: How do you know where the land-mines are? Do the soldiers tell you, or the villagers?Man: We have several ways of finding out. We get reports from the army or the Ministry of Internal Affairs. We are also told by the villagers.We search a particular area and if they tell us that a certain area has mines we go and investigate to see if they are right.Int: Do you also receive reports from UNITA?Man: Yes. We have two teams working in areas held by UNITA.Int: Here in Huambo UNITA has left many land-mines. This year how many land-mines have been destroyed here in Huambo?Man: We have removed or destroyed 14,748 .
21.19 Image of green fields.Image of a mine As more and more people return to the fields the risk of injury increases. But the need to grow food outweighs fear for their lives. The deadly explosives lie in wait, ready to reap a sinister harvest of human beings. Land-mines are waterproof and fireproof and, once laid, difficult to detect. They are designed to maim rather than kill, although they do both.
21.47 When the town of Kuito was laid waste by shelling, there was one little girl who lost a leg and the will to speak.
Int: Do you remember how it happened? Josefa: ( silence)
22.04 In this crumbling orphanage, Dona Alda Chapanga looks after the children of Kuito. She spent the war under this roof. Only the hand of fate saved it from falling in on her. One of the children who needs the most attention is Geraldo.
22.19 Twelve years old, he has been paraplegic since the age of six when he was hit by shrapnel from a mine.
22.25 Dona Alda: When soldiers attacked his village in the Chitengo area, Geraldo was very small and went running after his mother. But his mother set the land-mines off and was killed along with all his brothers, and he was hit in the back by shrapnel.Int: How many brothers were there?Dona Alda: There were four. He’s the only one left. He’s paralysed .
22.48 Int: Hey Geraldo, what would make you really happy?Geraldo: A wheelchair that goes really fast.
23.24 People cheering the government of the Republic of Angola.Cheering for peace!
When Kofi Anan, United Nations Secretary General visited Angola, he went to the ruined town of Kuito. He walked through the war- ravaged streets, saw the bomb-shelled buildings and witnessed the horror of dozens of amputees waiting patiently at the front of the crowd to listen to the words of such a distinguished visitor.
23.42 Kofi Anan in English,UN Secretary General
I have been able to witness the courage of the people of Kuito. Their determination to re-build their town and their lives…. What I have seen in Kuito also reinforces my determination to do whatever I can to achieve a world-wide ban on the use and production and sale of ldan-mines. I applaud the citizens of Kuito who have been maimed by land-mines, but their spirits have not been broken. And they are here with us in numbers this morning to listen to what we have to say, hoping that peace will be finally here.
The mines in Angola are disabling about 200 people a week. Crueller still, children are more vulnerable and the least likely to survive a blast.
24.38 Walter ErubenmannAid worker
There aren’t so many child amputees in the country. Mine victims will often be killed when they step on a mine, because their body is much lower. When the mine hits an adult it’s only the leg mostly. When it’s children, it’s the body.
25.04 And those who survive are undeniably scarred for life. Not just their feet and legs have gone. More often than not their spirits are shattered at the same time.
25.16 Careca is just eleven years old. Seven years ago he lost his legs. He can barely remember what his real legs were like.
Careca: What happened was: it was on a night in February when it was raining, we were going home. That was when the bomb exploded.Int: Who stood on the mine? Was it you?Careca: No one stood on it. Apparently they can explode by themselves.Int: And your mother? Is she at home?Careca: Yes, she is.Int: And when are you going back to her?Careca: I don’t know the date at the moment. Only when I have the prosthesis.Int: But you have a prosthesis?Careca: I am going to get new ones.Int: Are these ones damaged?Careca: No, they are very small.
26.06 Careca’s best friend is called João. He has just started walking with the prosthesis. Things are not going very well. João complains of sharp pains after just a few steps. The prosthesis needs adjusting and the stub of his legs can’t cope with the friction yet. With luck and time João will learn to walk better.
26.25 Interview: João
Int: How did that happen?João: It was a landmine.Int: And where did it happen?Woman’s voice: In Menongue, wasn’t it?Int: Menongue? Was it a long time ago?João: A long time ago.Int: Do you know when?João: No.Int: How long ago was it? You don’t know?João: No.Int: Can you walk properly with the prosthesis?João: No.
26.53 João and Careca come from the same town: Menongue, the capital of the province of Kuando-Kubango, deep in Southern Angola. They’re now both in the capital Luanda to receive medical treatment. There is nothing where they come from. A problem that is only gradually being solved by the determination of people like Father João Bosco.
27.13 Int: Father João Bosco. Father: We saw the need to help disabled people, because there wasn’t any organisation to give them aid in Kuando-Kubango province. And because prostheses are not made in Menongue they have to come to Luanda.
27.36 Int: These people have come here to be given artificial limbs?Father : Exactly. Int: And once they receive their artificial limbs they’ll go back home?Father: Yes. You have just mentioned a great cause for concern. Because it isn’t enough just to come to Luanda to have a prosthesis fitted. They need support. They need support in their villages and towns. They have difficulty in getting used to the prosthesis within their own communities. We feel a bit frustrated when we go back to Menongue and see that they have given up on the prosthesis after a month.
Music
28.58 This is a home for the disabled in Menongue. There seem to be people piled up all over the place. A penetrating, nauseating stench hangs in the air. It betrays a total lack of hygiene. These people are starving. Father João Bosco does what he can but in reality that’s very little.
29.21 Far away, on the outskirts of Luanda, lies the Palanka orphanage, another institution run by a catholic priest. The orphanage is home to about a hundred children, many of whom once roamed the streets. Among them, are victims of land-mines.
29.39 Interview with Andre.
Andre: I come from Benguela.Int: And it was there that you stood on the mine?Andre: Yes. Int: Can you tell us how it happened?Andre: There was firing between UNITA and the MPLA and I was running for my life . I didn’t know there were any land-mines where I was. I activated a land-mine and it went off. Later on five military men turned up and took me to a hospital.
30.19 Int: What belongs to you?Andre: These are my blankets, my school uniform. This box has dirty clothing. This is a blanket as well.Int: For you to sleep in?Andre: Yes. That’s all.Int: How many people live here with you?Andre: Eight people sleep here.Int: On the floor?Andre: Yes.
30.55 Palanka is a boys’ orphanage. Orphaned girls are taken in by Kwazola Children’s Home, also in Luanda. The maimed and disabled live here too. They have come from all over Angola, from north to south, more evidence of the fact that mines are strewn over the whole country.
31.12 Int: Girl in black and white striped shirt. Girl: I stood on the mine and the other girls ran away and left me on my own. My mother came looking for me. She found me and she took me to hospital.
31.29 2nd girl in pink shirt.
Int: Do you think that you’ll get used to the prosthesis this time round and be able to walk?Girl: As long as the wound remains, I won’t be able to walk.
31.40 First girl in pink shirt.
I don’t know . It all depends. These prostheses are not very good. We can’t walk for long, they break. The screws come loose if we walk a lot.
31.55 2nd girl in pink.
We can’t walk very much, they break, they burn. These prostheses get damaged very quickly.
32.46 Cut off from any suitable medical help, Domingas Malamba has lived with her mangled body for 13 years. She was literally torn apart by a mine when she was just ten years old.
33.04 Both her legs and an arm were ripped from her fragile body. All she can do now is live with her head held high.
33.11 Interview with Domingas
Domingas: On the 26th August it will be thirteen years since it happened. I was twelve and I’m now twenty three. It happened thirteen years ago on the 26 August.Int: Thirteen years like that?Domingas: Yes.Int: What has your life been like for the past thirteen years?Domingas: I would have liked to study but because I can’t walk, there’s no one to take me out. I always stay at home. Thinking...
33.51 I tried to use a prosthesis but because I have only one arm I couldn’t get used to walking. So I always stay at home. I do some sewing for the babies and that’s all.Int: You learnt to sew?Domingas: Yes, I learnt but I want to learn more and improve my skills.
34.22 This happened to me when I was working in the fields with my mother. I was playing with another child, she was only a year old, and I didn’t know there were land-mines there. I was playing, carrying my sister on my back when I stood on the mine, setting it off. I felt no pain, I couldn’t hear. I didn’t feel them taking me to hospital. I stayed there until the Red Cross brought me here to the province.
Domingas: I was treated for six months until I got better. I left the hospital and I went home.
35.06 Int: Were you lucky to survive?Domingas: Yes, I think I was very lucky because we didn’t die. We all received treatment and we got better.Int: Has any one ever wanted to help you?Domingas: No, I have never been that lucky.
36.26 It was a land-mine.
I stood on a land-mine in Huambo.
I had a very hard time. I didn’t like that war.
It caught three people. My two cousins and I.
ENDS38 mins