A visit to the King of Gambos

One of the more important parts of the first field visits is to get to know the people we want to work with and to let them get to know us. We are going to have to work together for the next two years. There have been fact-finding missions and what have you to prepare this project, but since it was not sure at all at that time whether the project would be financed, no promises were made and no indication of when anything might happen was given. So for most people we are a bit of a surprise. Suddenly, out of the blue, all these pale-nosed people come along and want to talk about life in Gambos.

Protocol has to be respected of course. So we started introducing ourselves to the members of the local government and to the traditional leaders, who still play an important role. The most important leader is the King of Gambos. He is the traditional leader of an area about the size of The Netherlands. Naturally you cannot just knock on the door and come in, this reception had to be prepared. Luckily one of the members of local government is a nephew of the king, so we had a good contact. Therefore we could be received relatively quickly. The nephew noted in one of the preparatory meetings that the King prefers red wine form the Portuguese Dão region, so we took that in account when we went shopping.

The reception was brief but pleasant. After all the hype, the King appeared to be a very modest man. He was interested in the project activities and discussed it with his council and us at some lenght. At the end he wished us succes and we were allowed to leave his presence

Please do not be deceived by the picture or any notions about African kings in the 21st century you might have. This King is not some sort of puppet, he wields some very real power. If he and his council decide they don’t like a project, it is very probably not going to happen and if you stubbornly go ahead, it is almost certainly going to be a failure.

A visit to Bicoar National Park

The Bicoar National Park lies more or less in the south east of Huila Province and is fairly easy to reach from Matala or Quipungo. If you know your way around that is, because signs are still rather scarce. The Angolan government has recently started a rehabilitation programme, and buildings for park rangers are being repaired or newly built. If they also find some funds to put up road signs, people can actually visit the park (provided you have a visa).

Through my contact with Michael Mills, I was invited to come along with a group of Southern African biologists who were doing a biological survey in Southwestern Angola. We left somewhat late on Saturday morning and Michael and I made a first short walk just after two. The camp site is near a small dam with ducks, dabchicks and weavers. In the grasslands around the dam we found lots of cisticolas.

The evening drive made clear that human encroachment is the main problem is for the park. People have planted fields right up to the boundary of the park and they cut wood and graze their cattle inside the park. This became even more obvious the next day, when Michael and I made another walk in the company of two rangers. We heard someone chopping wood, so one ranger went to investigate. I asked the other one what would happen and the reply was: wood chopping is bad, we will arrest the culprit and take him to the camp. However, when the investigating ranger came back, he did not bring an arrested person, but had his hands full of honey combs. Apparently he and the culprit had decided that it was much easier for everybody if a fine was paid in honey.

The northern part of the park has not much wildlife due to all the human interference. However, some people saw a leapord with two cubs and Michael and I found over 50 species of birds. Not the ones we were hoping for, because the woodland is not mature enough in this part of the park. But Michael did find some cuckoo finches.

To Taca

Two weeks ago we finally started with some more field work. We contracted a local NGO to help us do a Participative Rural Diagnostic in the areas where we are going to implement the project. Last week we worked in Taca, in the south west of Gambos municipality. Taca is ratgher isolated. For those who would like to go there too, here are the directions: Travel to the end of the world. When you get there, continue on due east. Turn south at the first baobab you see and then ask the people you meet for directions. Alternatively, use Google earth and zoom in on the coordinates 13°34‘ East and 17°57“ South.

Taca village consists of an unmanned healthpost, a police station in a derelict house left by the Portuguese, a borehole and a very small store that only sells cheap booze. We set up camp next to the health post. From Taca village, we went to visit the remoter parts of the community of Taca. The people we met live mostly from livestock. They occasionally exchange a cow, goat or chicken for salt, cereals and soap. Since we did not bring salt, cereals or soap, we had some difficultulties buying chickens or goats for our meals. The first two days we ate tinned fish and salted fish. The third day we met a traveling salesman from Lubango who had traded salt and soap for chickens and we bought chickens from him.

The traveling salesmen that visit the area are both a blessing and a curse. They bring much needed cereals, etc, but since there is a great demand for meat in cities like Lubango and Luanda, salesmen offer high prices for cattle. This increasing demand has promoted cattle raiding in the area. Raiding cattle was always part of rural life in Taca, but it used to be nephews stealing a few head of cattle from their uncle to pay the bride price and start of their own herd. Since the nephews would inherit those animals anyway, and since they used to visit their uncle a few days later to offer gifts, this was viewed as an advance of the inheritage rather than theft. But nowadays, some youngsters steal the cattle from whoever they can and sell them to the travelling salesmen for money or booze. Some even go as far as Chibia to sell the stolen animals and buy food, luxury items and booze.

The few thiefs that have been caught and sent to the police, are usually back within a few days because the law regarding cattle theft is based on the old customs and therfore views cattle raiding as an internal family issue and not as theft. Frustrated cattle owners are now threathening to take the law in their own hands and the punishments they intend to meet out are very harsh (gouging out eyes or cutting off a foot). For the time being things will probably not get that far, and we are looking at ways to help change this situation. One solution suggested by the people themselves was to set up a local trade post that would buy cattle. That way, people can control who is selling what.

Water and pasture are the main focus of our project and the lack of water was usually mentioned as the main problem (just before cattle raiding). We have identifed several activities we can develop in the near future to help improve this situation. There is an old dam, built in 1968 that can easily be repaired with relatively little means. Furthermore, a concrete 1 million litre water storage was built, but that also leaks and can also be repaired with relatively little means. Not only are the repairs fairly cheap, they are also simple, so we can involve the communities in the work and hopefully train them to do future repairs themselves.

For those who do not know me: The guy with the chunky black wrist watch is me.

Living Comfortably

Somewhere in the first weeks I mentioned that my flat was rather empty. I rented it unfurnished and did not bring any furniture. All I had in the beginning were a bed, a few pots and pans and a chair borrowed from the neighbour. That has changed now. I am now the proud owner of a table with four chairs, three shelves, a gas stove (with a bottle of gas) and a stainless steel sink. The latter was attached to the drains by means of new pipes because the old ones are blocked.

Not straight away because the owner of the building company was away and the foreman had no money or inclination to do anything about it. Judging from the increase in cockroaches in my house, the old pipes were mostly blocked with live cockroaches. Not my favorite pets, cockroaches, and they are not very interesting company either. They seem to be mostly interested in drains and their contents, a topic that does not interest me very much. In the end I decided to use a bit of insecticide to sort the problem out until the drain was properly blocked.

The shelves are not so sturdy Chinese bolt-them-together-yourself items. However, the People’s Republic of China did suprise me: all nuts and bolts were present. As were assorted dents and scratches. Not to worry, the shelves are good enough to store a few books (in the living room), pots and pans (in the kitchen) and clothing (in the bedroom).

The stainless steel sink was needed to replace the marble one. Marble is very beautiful, but also rather soft and therefore not very suitable for a sink. The one in the house was cracked, chipped and had deep gauges in it. The least damaged part was polished and turned into a coffee table. That looks quite good. Now I needa a comfortable chair to sit in and I am all right.

Apart from the obvious ones, the increase in furniture has another advantage: the house does not echo so much when I am talking on the phone or playing some music. All I need to make my domestic bliss complete is a small fridge for some milk and beer.

PS: I mentioned the gas bottle because that item was actually more expensive than the stove. Gas bottles are scarce and can only be found on the black market, where the standard 11 kg butagas bottle is sold for about 300 US.

Intermezzo in Namibia

Last week I had to spend a few days in Namibia. I had laready extended my ordinary visa twice, so now I hadf to leave Angola to get a new ordinary visa. This new ordinary visa can also be extended two times but I do hope to get my work visa before I have to yet another ordinary visa.

According to one source getting a visa in Windhoek was not at all easy becasue officially you have to apply in your country of residence. According to others it was a piece of cake and you could get your visa in is little as 20 minutes. This last estimate seemed somewhat optimistic to me, why would it take three weeks in Holland if it could be done in 20 minutes in Windhoek.

So last Sunday I went to the airport. Without a ticket, becasue the flight was fully booked, but accompanied by the sister in law of one of the employees of TAAG (Angolan Airline). That went very smoothly. After an introduction and a short discussion with his collegues, an empty seat was found and I got myself a ticket to Windhoek. And no, I did not have to sit on the lap of the pilot.

Windhoek on a Sunday afternoon is almost lethally boring. It must be even quieter than the smallest bible-belt town in the US, or anywhere else. The streets are deserted and very quiet. Not a shop is open and most restaurants were closing or about to close. I only just got myself a meal.

On Monday I submitted my application for a visa and was assured that I would receive it the next day, or Wednesday at the latest. So I bought a ticket to Lubango for Thursday and then had to keep myself amused for another three days. Not easy because I am a fairly efficeint shopper. Buying the clothes I needed, took about an hour. I bought most clothes in a shop giving large discounts because they were closing down. Spending the money I saved there on books took another two hours and that was about that.

For those who know Nelspruit, Windhoek will present no difficulties or surprises. All restautrants spoil perfect meat by smothering it in a creamy sauce and half of the shoppers speak Portuguese. Because Windhoek is a lot cheaper than Angola, many Angolans do their shopping in Windhoek. This was also fairly obvious at the airport: some passengers needed three luggage trolleys to transport their bags to the check-in counter.

By the way, Windhoek is not much more exiting on weekdays than it is on Sundays. I experienced only two moments that were not excruciatingly dull: Once when I was almost hit by a car because I forgot that they drive on the wrong side of the road in Namibia. The next day I surprised myself (and quite a few bystanders) by nearly hitting a pickpocket. Unfortunately he retired just too quick and I only managed to tell him to go forth and multiply (but not in those words). Anyway, the b*&%$erd left emptyhanded.

The second field visit

Last week we came back from a two day visit to Bibala, in Nambibe Province. Also to make some preparations for the DRP. But where conflicts about land are the main problem in Gambos, In Bibala access to water appears to be the biggest problem. All rivers are temporary and most chimpacas (dams) have silted up.

Bibala is somewhat more developed than Gambos too. Whuile Gambos is a forgotten municipality of Huila Province, Bibala appears to be one of teh more important municipalities in Namibe Province. Bibala village is already covered by the cell phone network and has a bank with an ATM and a teacher’s college. On the down side, there was no cold beer to be had at all.

In Bibala you also see students in western style clothing mingling with youths dressed traditionally. As sson as you leave the village, almost everybody is dressed the traditional way. Bibala is inhabited by communities with different cultures and as these are intermarrying, they are mixing and exchanging cultures. Polygamy is common, even more so than in Gambos, most of the men have two wives.

But the ‘rules of inheritance‘ are slightly different. If a man inherits five cows from his uncle from others‘ side, the sons of his sister will inherit five cowes from him, as in a matrilinear society. But if the man has managed to increase the herd during his life,the extra cows are inherited by his own sons, as in a patrilinear society.

Another interesting tidbit of knowledge is that ownership of cattle is not restricted to men. We have heard that at least some widows own cattle. Not that these women advertise this, so far it is tolerated rather than accepted.

Finally, people who herd cattle are not necessarily the owners. Most cattle owners have distributed part of their animals to several herders probably to spread the risks/hedge their bets. In return for their herding services, the herders get the manure, the milk and can use the animals for ploughing. Some also receive one calf per year for their work, allowing them to start building their own herd.

Bibala appears to be an interesting example of cultures in flux. Increased contacts with different cultures, possibly due to the civil war, may have caused these changes. I know that traditions are not set in concrete, but it is interesting to see this happening here.

The first field visit

Last week I stayed in the field for a bit longer than just half a day to say hello to important people. We (my colleague and I) spent two days in Os Gambos to prepare the Participatory Rural Diagnostic. For those who d not know what that is: It is a collection of methods to obtain a lot of qualitative information about an area. We discuss lots of issues with the people who live there, such as who does what and where, who is importnat and why who is rich and who is poor and how do you know, we talk about the past and together we draw a map of the area that indicates which natural resources are where. And of course we talk about the problems, let people prioritize the problems and talk about the cause of those problems. We talk to women and men separately.

To get some information beforehand, we talked to a biased sample f the inhabitants: those people who were trained as community based animal health workers by NGO’s. Although biased, talking to them does give you a good idea of what is happening and how large the gap between statistics and reality is.

In one case, the gap is unfortunately very small. Allmost everybody has many children, often more than 5 sometimes up to 10. And that suggests that some of the statistics are correct. And thos statistics show that over 50% of the populatio is younger than 14 years, about 10% is 15-20 years old and the remaining 40% is evenly spread over the ages 21-80. You do not need to be a mathematical genius to realise that the child mortality is frighteningly high.

The most probable cause is the lack of safe drinking water. In large parts of Os Gambos, rivers and manmade shallow dams are the only sources of water. Both are used by people as well as livestock and not just for drinking. So hygiene is awful and diarrhoea probably is a big problem and likely to be an important cause of child mortality.

The society is matrilineal and polygamy is accepted. Matrilineal means (in this case?) that the inheritance goes to the sons of the sister of the deceased. When she marries, a woman will move into the house of the man. Polygamy is not unusual, about 25% of the men have two wives and a few have three or even four wives

Many pepole, especially women, still dress in traditional clothes. That means a cloth around the waist and bits of string with beads and bones around the upper body. Women also cover their hair with a thick cake of yellow clay. I have not yet dared to make portraits yet, maybe later, when I know peopple better.