For 32 years, MAG has been driven by our vision of a safe future for everyone affected by violence, conflict and insecurity. MAG is taking this week to thank our supporters for helping us to reach more than 20 million women, men, girls, and boys in 70 countries across the world. The story below is from 2019.
Forty years of conflict from 1961 to 2002 left Angola strewn with an estimated one million landmines and many more unexploded bombs.
Today, over 88,000 Angolans live with disabilities caused by landmine explosions and hundreds of thousands more are stuck in landmine-related poverty, unable to use their land.
And landmines are still claiming lives today. The majority of victims reported over the last five years have been children.
MAG has been working to clear the minefields of Angola for more than 25 years.
Landmine clearance supports towns and villages to develop and communities to return to their homelands.
Lunjakuti residents sing as MAG teams return to the village
Lunjakuti is in Moxico Province, a heavily-mined province in the east of Angola.
Less than a decade ago, the minefields surrounding the village meant it was a ghost town.
"When we came back here when the war finished in 2012, we were the only ones here," explains the village leader Soba Kaputo.
When his family returned after the fighting, the number of landmines outnumbered the residents by almost 15 to one.
The deadly legacy of conflict hampered Lunjakuti's growth.
"Three accidents happened here in 2016. One woman was clearing land for agriculture - she hit a mine and died on the spot," Soba Kaputo recalls. "Another woman went to fetch water, and she stood on a mine and lost her leg. The other was farming and lost a leg also."
Lunjakuti's story is no longer one of tragedy, though. MAG teams have now cleared the village - clearing more than 50 landmines.
Soba Kaputo is keen for his village to thrive
The community is vibrant - more than 50 families have been able to return now villagers can live and work free from fear. Lunjakuti is now home to over 100 women and men and more than 150 girls and boys.
"I thank MAG for what they have done for the village. We tell the children in school about what you have done, so that no one forgets," says Soba Kaputo. "MAG should get lots of support so that they can do what they have done for us here in other places."
And support has been key to Angola's journey towards a landmine-free future. Progress clearing the deadly legacy of war continues apace.
Angola has a clear vision, strategy and commitment to a landmine-free future and great progress has been made, but the job is not done yet.
There are still 1170 minefields and 88 million square metres of land left to clear.
Angola's landmine free 2025 goal is aspirational, but with continued international and donor support we can and we will finish the job.
