Africa-Press – Angola. Upon arriving at the center’s door, you can hear the voices of the 85 children who were gathered to welcome visitors, including little Ágata, 2 years old, who couldn’t stop jumping with so much joy at knowing that she would receive visitors.
Agate was left on the doorstep, sick e with just six months to live. Today, the little one is the joy of the brothers who won in the center, created by Madalena Catué Cunzuna, 69 years old, born in Cuanza- North.
Located in Cazenga, in the Kima Kieza Zone, the center is divided into four rooms, divided between teenagers e children, a cafeteria, laundry, library and a computer room.
All began in 2002, after Mamã Madalena, as she is affectionately called, left from her homeland, fleeing the armed conflict, settling in the province of Bengo. However, due to economic difficulties, she was forced to continue to the country’s capital.
on one One day, he came across six abandoned children, some of them injured. Moved, she decided to take them to the hospital and leave them at a police station. For To her surprise, she was instructed to take care of the little ones until the family members were found.
Mom Madalena embraced the challenge and stayed with the children. One, two, three passed months, a year and no family showed up.
Account that, being with the children, the financial situation began to get tight. Remembers the difficult times he went through, having requested help from the Catholic Church, which began to provide food and clothing.
To the people, he said, realized that I welcomed disadvantaged children and They began to bring more helpless children and every day the number increased. “I couldn’t reject it because if that child came to my house it was because I had nowhere to go”, he recalls.
To so that the children would not stay illegally, Mama Madalena went to the Instituto Children’s National Council (INAC) handle documents for legalization.
“I passed welcoming children from all over the country, each of them with a different story, some abandoned, others mistreated and accused of witchcraft”, he said. This is the case of teenager Leonildo Milagre, 17 years old, from Cuanza-Norte, who has been in the center since 2017.
Leonildo ran away from home due to mistreatment
Leonildo says that he ran away from home, at the age of 12, because of mistreatment. “I am an orphan mother, lived with my father and stepmother and was constantly mistreated. He did very heavy work and there were times when he was forced to miss school. to do housework”, he lamented.
It says that when he received money to buy something from him, he kept a part, until you collect the amounts for the ticket. “I came to Luanda without knowing anything or nobody,” he stated, adding that he slept on the street, until he was found by some National Police agents.
“I went taken to the police station and then transferred to the home, where I am to this day”, sigh.
Purpose of life
Mom Madalena says she believes this is her life purpose and feels that she is fulfilling the mission that the creator gave her.
“Ao Looking at each child brought to me, I see the despair on their faces. Some arrive in tears, malnourished, sick and with various social problems. Not accepting them would be as if I were denying them a hope of better life”, he emphasizes.
Acceptance familiar
Monica Mulaza, 33 years old, is Mama Madalena’s fifth biological daughter. She helps to mother in administrative tasks at the center, but says that it was not always like this.
“When younger, she had difficulty accepting this situation because she didn’t want to share the my mother’s attention to the other children. But, over time, I understood that That child’s place could be me.
Then I started helping her with household chores, taking care of all the center’s documentation. and the boys,” she said.
A The center’s mentor did not have the same luck with her husband, whose family did not support the initiative and influenced him so that she did not accept it. In the midst of so many quarrels came the separation.
Abandoned by her mother at her friend’s house
Sofia Michel, 15 years old, friendly and very charismatic, was also welcomed into the home and explains how she got to the center.
“I went abandoned by my mother at her friend’s house, here in Luanda, with the promise that he would come back to get me. The days passed and she didn’t come back,” she recalls.
A My mother, she added, accused me of being a witch and didn’t want to be with me. “She always said that one day she would abandon me, but I never imagined that this day would come,” she recalls.
He was her mother’s friend who took her to the nearest police station and then transferred to the home. Sofia says that when she arrived she was welcomed with arms opened by mom and my brothers. “Here I found a family and hope of life,” she said, smiling. “Here I feel good, I am not treated with indifference, nor prejudice. I dream of graduating and becoming a lawyer for champion the cause of children,” she emphasized.
Creating a school
Madalena Catué Cunzuna owned a medical center, which was his livelihood, but the flame that she lit in her heart to help children led her to get rid of her establishment and transform it into a school.
“With the number of children I had, I couldn’t leave them without studying. That’s when I decided to transform my livelihood into a school, to teach children. I gave in my land for the construction of the school and the center. At the time I was with around 40 children, who needed to learn to read and write”, he recalls.
One protocol with the Ministry of Education allowed the institution to be included in the group of supported schools, allowing credible certificates to be issued for students.
“Today, the school has six primary and 2nd cycle classrooms. We have 19 volunteer teachers, because we are unable to pay. We extend to school for children from outside the center who contribute an amount that helps in school expenses”, he informed.
After completing the 2nd cycle, he added, the children from the center are sent to a high school, in order to continue their studies.
Food
To the be asked about how she feeds her children, Mamã Madalena, with smiling, she replied that God never made them sleep hungry. “We have received some donations from companies, churches, associations and individuals. The home It has a cafeteria, where three meals a day are served. We cook large quantities, for example rice we cook eight kilos a day, we do not It’s been easy to keep the pantry stocked,” she lamented.
Professional training in Culinary
As whoever gives receives, the center was awarded by the operator Unitel with five grants professional training in Culinary, at the School of Restoration and Hospitality.
After During training, the five young people were placed in a restaurant. Bernardo Filomeno, 22 years old, from the province of Malanje, was one of the benefited and talks about the satisfaction of getting this opportunity.
“It was It was a time of great struggle and difficulty to go to training, which took place in Talatona and then return to Cazenga to go to school. But like everything in life It requires sacrifice, I finished it and was soon placed in a restaurant,” he says.
Referred that what he learned he teaches his brothers, so that they can help with something in the home.
Bernardo Filomeno says that with his salary he is thinking about helping Mamã Madalena in some expenses and organize yourself to rent a space to live and later starting a family, like many others who also passed through the center.
Celestino José, 18 years old, also participated in the training. Today, he makes Berlin balls, which they are used for marketing, to raise funds for the center.
Tasks daily
To the Tasks at the center are divided daily. Each boy has an activity to perform first thing in the morning. The older ones help take care of the younger ones.
Currently the center is under construction to increase rooms and improve the leisure area.
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