Africa-Press – Angola. The population of the commune of Quipedro, in the municipality of Ambuíla, province of Uíge, is going through difficult days. They lack almost everything. The routine diet based on funge with kizaka or beans already distresses the poor, who have no other options because they are unable to easily access other regions to acquire other goods.
Since the collapse of the bridge over the river Loé, which connected the commune of Quipedro to the commune of Kixiko, in the municipality of Nambuangongo, province of Bengo, in June, road traffic has been interrupted. Farmers are no longer able to transport their production to the province of Luanda, from where they returned with salt, rice, pasta, sugar, vegetable oil, fish (fresh and dried), soap and other essential goods.
Access to the commune of Nambuangongo was the best option, because the 90 kilometers to the village of Zonda, to reach Ambuíla, are impassable. The other route, 68 kilometers long, passing through the village of Cauanga to the municipality of Quitexe, is covered in long hours and only in vehicles with an all-terrain traction system.
Under these conditions, getting to Quipedro requires a lot of sacrifice. This was what happened to the delegation of the provincial governor of Uíge, José Carvalho da Rocha, who recently visited the town.
After traveling 60 kilometers from the city of Uíge to the detour of the Cauanga village, in the commune of Aldeia Viçosa, the journey to the communal headquarters of Quipedro, a route of 68 kilometers, takes between five and six hours when, under normal conditions, with good asphalting, it could last an hour and a half and an earthwork could reduce the journey by at least two or two and a half hours.
Even on the paved route, from the city of Uíge to Aldeia Viçosa, there are still several degraded sections with huge holes, where the journey must be made with caution, due to the holes that force you to walk in zigzags, with collisions and collisions occurring on several occasions. screenings that cause extensive human and material damage.
After the detour to the village of Cauanga, the trail, mixed with mostly earthworks in the colonial era, now completely degraded, with holes, mud pits and lakes with various soil declines, makes visitors realize the “ordeal” that is coming. front.
A few kilometers from the communal headquarters of Quipedro, the vehicle in which all the journalists were traveling got stuck because the driver, incidentally the director of the Provincial Office of Social Communication, Ismael Botelho, took his eyes off the muddy pavement, distracted by a beautiful bird ” reed tail” in red and black, a perfect combination to represent the national flag.
At the entrance to the small village of Quipedro, it is possible to notice that the only six modern infrastructures were built less than 10 years ago, by the then Public Investment Program Management Technical Office (GTG – PIP), and are already crying out for rehabilitation. Most of the inhabitants’ homes are made of adobe and covered with zinc sheets.
People abandon villages
The communal administrator of Quipedro, Sérgio José, said that the difficult access to the localities and the lack of almost everything, leads the population to abandon their villages to seek better living conditions in other locations.
“Due to the poor condition of access roads throughout the commune, a marked population exodus has been noted, with many families leaving their villages to go and live in the province of Lunda or in the commune of Úcua, in Bengo, in search of better living conditions. life,” he lamented.
“Improve access urgently”
Shaken by the situation that the population of the commune of Quipedro is experiencing, the provincial governor of Uíge, José Carvalho da Rocha, who recently visited the town, said it was urgent to improve access roads for better mobility of people and goods.
José Carvalho da Rocha assured that work to improve access to the Quipedro commune will begin later this year, with the 90-kilometer section between the communal headquarters and the Zonda village having been chosen.
“That’s it! Work should start as quickly as possible this year to improve access to this commune and improve the living conditions of this population, which lacks almost everything. As for the bridge over the river Loé, we are working with the government of Bengo to quickly find a joint solution, taking into account its importance for the socioeconomic scenario of the populations of Quipedro and Kixiko”, he guaranteed.
For the various problems identified in the commune of Quipedro, the governor of Uíge said that there are responsibilities shared between the provincial government and the municipal administration, but that they must all contribute to the development of the region and improvement of the population’s living conditions.
Few health technicians
The health sector in the commune of Quipedro also faces several difficulties, from the lack of doctors and the reduced number of nurses and the lack of health posts in some districts and villages with large population clusters.
The communal administrator, Sérgio José, reported that the region has a health center at the commune headquarters and five health posts.
Of the five existing health posts, only those in the Quibalacata and Quissalavua villages are under construction. The remaining three, located in the villages of Kaniqui, Quicumbi and Luêge, operate in improvised structures.
Health services are provided by 19 technicians, seven of whom are mid-level nursing technicians and three nursing assistants, belonging to the permanent staff, six collaborating nurses and three other administrative assistants. Numbers considered insufficient for the number of inhabitants.
“It is necessary that there are at least two doctors in the health center, that the number of health technicians and the frequency in which medicines are made available must be increased. The Communal Health Center needs an ambulance to be able to evacuate patients whose pathologies exceed the level of knowledge of existing technicians, as well as the construction of definitive structures for the health posts in Kanique, Quicumbi and Luêge”, he said.
“Just fix the roads for us”
Paula Manuela, 47 years old, says that in the early hours of the morning and at the end of the day, women, young people and children have the mission of going to the Cambamba rivers, one kilometer away, and Kinginha, two kilometers from the communal headquarters, to carry water for consumption and domestic use.
In the various fountains in the municipal headquarters of Quipedro, water has not flowed for a year and seven months. But what Paula Manuel misses most is having at least fish in her meals (fresh or dried) because after the collapse of the bridge over the River Loé this food item did not reach the population.
“We are no longer just funge with kizaka or beans. Talking about frozen fish or chicken is already a mirage, so we don’t think about bread, sugar, salt, rice, pasta, oil and other products that allow us to vary our diet. Just fix the roads for us”, he pleaded.
Boost the PLAAF
The population of the commune of Quipedro produces cassava, bananas, ginguba, beans, corn, sweet potatoes, muteta and other crops that form the basis of the local diet.
Field activity is still done manually and farmers are calling for the Government’s support for mechanization, in order to avoid suffering and increase productivity.
The governor of Uíge informed that the implementation of the Local Support Program for Family Farming (PLAAF) is underway, which allowed the cultivation of 200 hectares of land in all municipalities, as well as the distribution of seeds, means of work and technical support.
For the current agricultural campaign, he continued, all municipalities must increase the amount of land to be plowed mechanized to 300 hectares and, in this context, the Municipal Administration of Ambuíla must, in its planning, include the commune of Quipedro in order to be able to empower peasants, increase production and create income and wealth for families.
“Through the PLAAF, we will do everything we can to ensure that the inhabitants of Quipedro, especially those who dedicate themselves exclusively to agriculture, benefit from several hectares of cultivated land, seeds and work tools so they can produce more for self-consumption, create food banks seeds and sell the surplus”, he stressed.
Timely visit
The municipal administrator of Ambuíla, Justino Kuiassana, considered the visit of the governor of Uíge to the commune of Quipedro to be timely, because it allowed the governor to see the reality of the region and, possibly, sensitized, he will start to look at that district with “different eyes”.
Justino Kuiassana indicated that in addition to what was presented to the governor through memos and reports, José Carvalho da Rocha noted the existing difficulties, from access roads, Education and Health, Energy and Water and other needs of the population.
“The governor preferred to stop hearing about the lamentations of the people of Quipedro and decided to come personally to see the reality. We believe that with this visit a lot can change in the near future, in accordance with the guarantees made by the main manager of the province “, he said.
Fishing with poisonous plants
Some artisanal fishermen in the commune of Quipedro and other locations in the municipality of Ambuíla use poisonous plants to kill the fish, at the same time that in other parts of the same rivers the population bathes and collects water for consumption.
The complaint was made by one of the municipality’s fishermen, João Mayala, who also talks about the misuse of material and financial support allocated to the municipality to support artisanal fishing, a situation that has drastically reduced the number of fishermen and the quantities of fish that were previously was made available to the population.
He argued that some fishermen use the aforementioned poisonous plants in the Vamba, Kijoão, Issasse and Kileke rivers to poison and catch fish that are then sold in markets in the city of Uíge, while the population of riverside villages consumes the same water.
“What many of my colleagues are doing is an attack on public health. The ideal is to use hooks, nets, traps (muzuas) because the toxic products that are spreading in the rivers to kill the fish can have serious consequences for our people”, he highlighted.
Classes under a mango tree
In the Kingola neighborhood, in the municipal seat of Quipedro, primary school students study under a mango tree, because the locality has never had a conventional school, much less another infrastructure where the rooms could be adapted. When faced with the situation, José Carvalho da Rocha was quite moved.
It was found that most students do not wear gowns and lack clothing, because their parents and guardians are, for the most part, disadvantaged people. The governor was also concerned about the number of children showing serious signs of malnutrition.
He instructed the Provincial Health Office to create an urgent intervention plan to reverse the health and malnutrition situation in that community. He asked the Provincial Education Office to mobilize resources to purchase school coats to be distributed to all students in the commune.
“We must pay greater attention to these children so that tomorrow they do not condemn us for what they have been through and what the future holds for them. Within the resources allocated for the promotion of citizenship, school coats can be purchased for the children”, he said.
The communal administrator of Quipedro, Sérgio José, said that the district has nine schools, of which eight are primary schools and one school that housed, in total, 2,962 students this academic year. The teaching and learning process is carried out by 53 teachers.
“Both the number of classrooms and teachers is still insufficient for the normal functioning of the sector, taking into account that there are still children studying under trees and, with the new structures being built, we will continue to have a shortage of teachers”, he noted.
Goods for the population
As part of his visit to the commune of Quipedro, governor José Carvalho da Rocha delivered a batch of food items and used clothing, detergents, personal hygiene products, agricultural instruments, sports equipment, crutches and wheelchairs for people with disabilities, equipment sound and medicines for the health center.
“This is not an action to end or solve the needs that this population lives. But we have faith that it will help to minimize the existing need for some period of time. We will continue to mobilize resources to gradually support these fellow citizens of ours” , shot José Carvalho da Rocha.
Energy and water
The population living in the municipal seat of Quipedro and in the main districts does not benefit from treated and piped water or electricity from the public network. It consumes water brought in rivers and some use small electricity generators to light their homes and carry out commercial activities, especially selling drinks.
Sérgio José informed that only the 30 Kva generator installed in the health center works, to guarantee the services of that unit and the Communal Administration. There is another 20 Kva, in the Quicumbi village, which was used to pump water to the communal headquarters, whose system has been inoperative for over a year. In the Quissalavua village there is another 10 Kva generator, which has been out of order for more than two years.
“These two sectors are also a concern for the Communal Administration, because the commune headquarters are in the dark, especially at night and our mothers and children are forced to travel long distances to bring drinking water to the rivers”, he lamented.
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