The following post was submitted by POA Online Volunteer Lisa Matthews.

From the country with one of the highest rates of landmine injuries per capita in the world, a good news story emerged last month.

The Social Solidarity Fund "Fundo Lwini"  released a collection of stamps showing the activities carried out by the Fund, such as awareness-raising and demining.  The Fund also released a book, “In defence of disabled people, landmine victims” to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the creation of the fund.  The launch was witnessed by the fund’s founder and chairwoman, Ana Paula dos Santos, who is the first lady of Angola. 

This is not the first time Angola has lead the way in positive treatment of landmine victims.  In April this year, a “Miss Landline Survivor” beauty contest was held in the capital Luanda, featuring eighteen women, with one from each province in Angola.  The co-ordinator of the country’s de-mining commission, Madalena Neto, described the competition as a way of restoring self-esteem in women injured by landlines, and of showing the beauty in all people.

Sadly, however, this ground-breaking project does not reflect the norm of landmine victims experiences. In a survey of 275 landmine survivors, only 4 reported receiving any rehabilitation.  It is thought that 30-50% of landmine survivors die because of distances to or lack of resources of medical centres. 

The third most heavily mined country in the world, Angola endured twenty years of conflict after it gained independence in 1975.  During this time, millions of landmines were placed and remain today in farmland and under roads across the country.

These landmines have a long-lasting legacy, both economic and social.  As well as the cost of caring for those with landmine-inflicted injuries, they restrict Angola’s recovery from a war-torn economy.   The Coffeelands Landmine Victims Trust estimates that Angolan coffee exports are 1.5% of 1974 levels, because of the war and landmines.  Furthermore, two-thirds of coffee grown cannot reach the market because of mined roads, impeding the success of projects encouraging demobilised soldiers to begin small coffee farms.  Huge numbers of refugees have fled to the cities, because they cannot return to their now dangerous farmland, with 85% of IDPs in Angola citing landmines as the reason why they cannot return home (UNICEF).

The social legacy is hugely costly.  The Mine Advisory Group have found that in some areas of Angola, up to 98% of landmine victims are civilian.  Most victims do not die: landlines are intended to maim, not kill, with the heavier consequences on cost of medical care and morale (less than 7% of landmine victims in Angola die immediately).  Physicians Against Land Mines estimate that 1 in every 334 Angolans has lost an arm or a leg to landmine injury.  The number of amputees in Angola is 70,000 – 8,000 of these are children under fifteen.  These children’s prostheses have to be replaced every six months.

Hopefully the work of the Fundo Lwini Fund, the Miss Landmine Survivor contest and other efforts will focus the world’s attention on the needs of landmine survivors, and this neglect could become a thing of the past.