12th October 2007 – Luanda International, Angola – 11:00

The departure lounge is a far cry from arrivals, it’s almost nice. I don’t think many of my fellow countrymen visit Angola, for a request to interline my check in luggage home was met with a blank stare and a immediate ‘not possible’. The destination code offered, soon sorted that out and I entrusted my bag over hoping to see it 12:30 tomorrow in Colombo.

So, here I am sitting in another airport, my tenth on the 41st day of my travels having done a whirl wind tour of Western Africa and Angola. My passport bears two new stamps, Senegal and this. Regretfully the Ethiopian one is not there in spite of the fact that I spent a night in the city – transit passengers are not considered to have actually been there! But I was, Scouts honour, and I have some pics to back me up too!

Impressions of Angola are mixed…. The people are not as friendly as I have found in the South, the East and West. Perhaps their many years of isolation, language difficulties are a possible contributory factor. But somehow I get the impression that they are generally rather suspicious… A smile is not often returned, something which is virtually unheard elsewhere, for Africans are quick to smile.

Things should change, and quickly too if the government allows it. But somehow, change when it comes, will not benefit the man on the street…. Certainly the infrastructure will improve, perhaps housing will too, but unless there is an effort to encourage the population to move out of the city, reduce congestion, develop local industry, it will remain difficult.

So, homeward bound I am…. Ah, my country, and its own difficulties. Life is becoming hard there, in what was such a beautiful place. The economy spiralling downward, inflation at levels never seen before. Making a living there is hard…. So little to show at the end of the day for all one’s efforts. I live a frugal lifestyle, and my earnings reasonable. Yet, the quality of my life is poor; for once the basics are paid for, utilities covered, there is nothing left, to enjoy life.

Thinking back, I suspect I did more when I was earning 3% of what I do now. Sure, housing was provided, domestics too, but 20yrs ago, my life style was of greater quality than now – for this I have successive governments to thank, most especially this one lead by a man I thought would make a difference. He has, he certainly has, but worsening our woes instead of reducing them.

Come Monday I shall be back, to deal with the daily drudge. My job has lost its glitter, only because of the kind of people guiding it, narrow minded, petty thinking.

My weekends I shall look forward too!!

A little bit more

A couple of more days and I am off, to leave for home.

My visit to Luanda has been, how do I put it, contradictory?

Its all that I expected it to be, and yet, not at all what I thought. Language a huge barrier, it does make communication difficult.

The streets that are there, are wide boulevards, no other word to describe them. The ones that run between them are gravel, dust and cratered like the bad side of the moon.

The majority of the houses are built of cement blocks, hastily thrown together, asbestos roofs, in every direction, as far as the eye can see.

Drainage systems seem non existent, I see many carrying waste water to chuck it into the drains that line the main thoroughfares..... and yet, everyone has a smile and walks to a rhythm that you do not see in Asia.

Pictures of the city I shall add later on, perhaps tonight. I confess to have become rather lazy...too long in harness.

Till then, a good night...

PS: new pic's on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/99124226@N00/

New horizons

Luanda, Angola a city of contradictions. Fly in and all that one can see is one shanty after another, and yet an expensive one.

For the first time on this trip I feel insecure, not in control of my surroundings. A new city, a new country, another language contributing to this sense of unease.

I was expecting a long drawn out process at the airport - but strangely, when other more seasoned visitors were held back, I was waved through. Perhaps the bundle of passports I carry had something to do with it, could not have been my smile.

A sense of loneliness fills me, melancholy and even mildly depressed. While I enjoy my solitude, I am a man who enjoys company. The past month has been difficult, and with each passing day, I find myself yearning for human touch.

This evening, as I watched the sunset upon the city, I looked upon the block of flats below my hotel. No different to the scores around me, all with a sense of poverty about them. All the tenants on the forth floor had gathered this Saturday evening for a brai on the walk way. As they prepared their meal, some cooked, others danced to music, it was a sight of such profound simplicity.

It also occurred to me that the less fortunate know how to enjoy life. I look at my own, and it's never enough at the end of the day. I am too worried about tomorrow that I forget about today....

I mean not to sound stupid, life is not easy and I have no doubts that mine is far easier than a majority of the people that I share this earth planet with. Greener grass on the other side? Perhaps. There is a story I read starting with a tramp, residing by the side of a building, and as the tale unfolds, it goes from his perception upward, from the doorman of the building, to the security, the mail man, the administrator, so on, so forth, ending finally with the chairman of the company, looking upon the tramp and imagining his life to be far richer than his own.