Angola Did You Know 3: Coffee!

Angola at one time was the world's fourth-largest coffee producer. In 1975 and 1976, Angola produced almost one million bags (61,000 metric tonnes) of robusta coffee annually.  Continued warfare, which in particular devastated rural areas, led to the slow but steady collapse of the industry. By 1985, harvests were at only 189,000 bags - in 2004, numbers even dropped to 15,000 bags.

 “Angola's robusta (coffee) bean is the best robusta in the world,” Mayimona Romulo, an engineer from the National Coffee Institute stated.  “Angola has excellent conditions for growing coffee in terms of climate and rainfall and the ability to grow many robusta varieties."

At least 15,000 tonnes of coffee were harvested during the 2009 harvest year, which is considered a drop in the ocean compared to Africa's major coffee producers such as Ethiopia (4.50 million bags), Uganda (2.75 million bags) and Kenya (1.0 million bags), according to statistics from the International Coffee Organisation (ICO). World production is now around 120 million bags annually, with Brazil and Columbia being the leading exporters.

The Angolan government has started a pilot project for coffee production in the municipality of Amboim, in the Cuanza province, which is located just east of the capital, Luanda.  With a capital injection of over USD $8.5million,is serious about its intent "to re-launch the coffee sector in Angola."

For rural Angolans around the Amboim area, which were deeply impoverished by the long war, even current low prices of coffee means an important economic advance. The Angolan government has estimated that the Amboim coffee project will lift around 4,000 rural families in the region out of poverty, totalling approximately 30,000 people. (Adopted from Afrol News 2009)

Angola 'Did you Know2' - Landmines

Angola has one of the highest rates of landmine injuries per capita in the world. These mines were placed as strategic deterents by the fighting armies during the many years of civil war. Estimates for the number of landmines in Angola range from 6 to 20 million; nearly twice the population. According to the United Nations and the United States Department of State, Angola is the third most heavily mined country in the world after Egypt and Iran. (UN, Mines Awareness Project 2007, UNICEF ANGOLA)

The amputee population in Angola is 100,000, the highest in the world, of which 8,000 are children under the age of fifteen.

You can imagine how the threat of these mines directly affects the people; since civilians are the ones most injured by the mines, many millions of Angolans have been displaced to cities to avoid the potential death and terrible injuries caused by inadvertantly stepping on one.

Back in the '90s when I was previously serving in Angola, I can remember visiting a local church in a remote village that was surrounded by mine fields; the people had adapted to the threat of the mines and identified the locations of most of the mines.  While on the visit, the church leaders wanted me to inspect their well; their water source. Unbeknownst to me, we would have to walk on a very narrow path through one of the mine fields to reach the well.  I remember well the instructions given me by the leader before we set off on the path, "Trust me, I know where the mines are.  Just step in my footsteps and don't veer off the path!"  Wise words to follow indeed and they can also be directly related in a spiritual sense to my daily walk with God!

Angola 'Did You Know?'

Did you know that in another 55 days, Angola will host the African continent's premier sporting event?   Angola will host the African Cup of Nations soccer tournament, the football championship of Africa and one of the qualifying events for next year's World Cup Soccer tournament in South Africa.

The timing of Angola's hosting of this event is quite fortunate yet ironic for the country, since it is coming out of a long civil war.  With much of the country infrastructure either deteriorating or destroyed from the war, the push to improve the road, utility and building infrastructure in preparation for the games will provide a quick jumpstart for improvement. 

Over 600 million dollars will be spent on the building of four brand new stadiums in the four largest city.  The world-class quality stadiums are being built by Chinese construction companies and are quite a contrast to the surrounding mud-brick homes in the neighborhoods.

What impact will this event have on the country and people of Angola?   Firstly, it will be a great boon to put Angola on the map in Africa and expose to all the emergence of the country after war.   Secondly, the influx of tourist dollars will greatly add to the economy and the pockets of normal Angolans who become entrepreneurial sellers of tourist goods.   Lastly, in contrast, the exposure will highlight the great wealth disparity of the population.  It is estimated that probably only 10% of Angolans will be able to afford a ticket to any one of the tournament matches!    Hopely, the economic plight of the local churches will be hightlighted as well and be a point of concern for the Christian groups that will be attending the tournament's events.