I imagine people will ask me in future interviews, “So, what is Angola like?”.  I do not yet know how best to answer that broad question.  Angola is too complicated for a two or three sentence answer.  I can tell you that it is filled with amazing people.  People who will welcome you for a drink or a conversation without knowing you, who are upbeat in the face of numerous challenges, and who are proud of their country.

Everyone knows Angola has a  plenitude for resources; oil, natural gas, diamonds, water, expanses of fertile land.  27 years of civil war are not going to take these things away, at least not permanently.  But the biggest question that still remains is how will Angola use these resources.  I cannot say with certainty that the government in Angola will not use these resources for its own, individualistic greed.  No one in Angola wants another civil war.  But many Angolans understand that the inequality gap between the rich and poor is growing.

It is clear to me that one year in Angola is not enough time for me to make judgements of the future of this amazing country.  I can only thank the people who have shown me so much kindness, hospitality, and generosity.  Not once did someone try to steal from me, attack me, or give me reason to think that they could not be trusted.  Can you say that about where you live in the U.S.?

Next week is my birthday.  I have spent one year in Angola to the day.  Looking back, I can say that my experience here was nothing what I thought it would be, but everything it needed to be.

Lubango is a really laid back city that is clean and relatively developed.  The surrounding area is mostly farmland and jetted peaks, which is a stark contrast to Angola and Benguela.  We rented a car ($250 per day for a Kia Sportage!) and saw all the sights that I had heard so much about.  The first place we went to was a place Kelse called “The Crack”.  I forget the portuguese name but it is a cravat that opens up with an amazing few of the surrounding area.  After that we drove to Lubango’s most famous destination, the winding road, originally built by the portuguese many years ago.  The road makes almost 90 degree turns, back and forth, down a steep mountain.  I got some good pictures from the other side of the mountain that shows just what I am talking about.

From there we drove 2 hours to outside of Namibe to an oasis in the desert.  The oasis can be hard to find because you have to turn off the main road at some point and drive for a little while on the sand in the middle of the desert.  There is one sign by the road saying where to turn off but after that, you are on you own.  Thank God Kelse has been there before because I might not be writing this blog entry if I had tried to find it myself.  The oasis was soooo beautiful.  And it was in the middle of nowhere!  It was like paradise in the middle of emptiness.  I was expecting a few palm trees but this place, called “O Arco”, was simply amazing.

After that we drove into the city of Namibe which is on the coast and had fresh lobster.  I bitch about the prices in Angola but the lobster was a steal.  2,000 kwanzas ($20) for three good-sized lobsters.  We then drove back to Lubango, passed out in our hotel, and got up today to fly back to Luanda.  It was the perfect trip to have before leaving.  Tomorrow I am going to Cabo Ledo for some camping and surfing and then on Wednesday, jumping on a plane for the states.  I feel so lucky to have had such an amazing experience in Angola, but even luckier that I am returning to the family and friends in less than a week!

View of area outside of Lubango

Me and Kelse checking out Portuguese road architecture

View of the oasis through an arch (O Arco) made of rock

Eric, my MBA co-worker left today.  He is going back to the States for five days and then going to Pakistan to be the finance director for a project with an NGO from France.  He will be second-in-command of a country organization with 400 employees and in charge of a $15 million budget.  I could tell he was excited and I am excited for him.  I wanted to get a goodbye picture but when I turned on my camera, the battery was dead.

Eric’s departure made me realize that I have only a little more time in Angola.  I am going to try to make the most of it.  I am really excited to come home.  I have stuff planned for just about every weekend during first 2 and half months. This is good, considering I will be unemployed and probably bored.

As I was returning from the Kwanza and walking into my hotel I hopped on an elevator with an older gentleman from Britain.  He took one look at me, with my guitar, disheveled hair, and bare feet (I lost my sandals when the tide came in) and the following conversation ensued… 

Man:  So, I see you spend the day at the beach [sarcastic tone].
Me:  Yes.  How did you spend your day?
Man:  Working in Torres Atlântico (BP’s office building in Luanda).  You have to when 140 men depend on you.
Me:  What about yourself?
Man:  [grunts and gets off on his floor] 

I see these men every day while in BP’s hotel.  They are rotaters.  Basically they come in for 4 weeks, do their job, and go back to their home country for another 4 weeks.  4 weeks later, they return to Angola to make their ubsurd salary and return home.  The are called rotaters because they rotate from Angola to home, home to Angola, Angola to home… every 3 to 4 weeks.  But they also rotate while in Angola, from hotel to work, work to hotel, hotel to work.  They never see anything more than two buildings and maybe a few restaurants that have english menus.  

I will never be like these men.  It is not that I don’t appreciate hard work and dedication.  I am sure their work is invaluable to BP.  And this is not to say all rotaters follow this simple schedule.  There are plenty of rotaters who try to experience more.  But the fact remains, many people from the US, Britain, and China are here for one thing – money.  The sad fact is that they are missing out on something infinitely more valuable – an amazing experience. 

Maybe I am wrong.  I am young (relatively).  The man in the elevator was old (relatively).  But how would you rather spend your days?  In an office building making sure 140 people are doing what they are already trained to do?  Or with you friends here… 

Beach on the other side of the mouth of Rio Kwanza

Boating

Guess who?

I have been trying to be productive both at work and in my personal life.  In the next few weeks I need to finish the prototype that will hopefully be CAE’s new website, move our email communications to an HTML program, and tie any loose ends with Leonel and Wilson (and there are a lot!).  I have been going to the beach a good amount and will be going to a place called Barrio Kwanza this weekend.  I have camped there before but now I will be staying in one of the cabins.  I am trying to get Kelse to go with me to Lubango, a city in southern Angola, for a few days.  We will see if I can convince him though.

Here are a few pics from the past few weeks…

Huts on the beach

The US Embassy Boat We Took Out in the Ocean (small one in front)

Dock at beach in Masolu

My co-worker’s sister didn’t have health insurance.  I was told it was over $2,000 a day just for the hospital room, which didn’t include the treatments or medication.  My co-worker was one of the few members in the family with a “decent” paying job.  Still, her family had to go tens of thousands of dollars in debt.  When I asked how they would pay back a lifetime of debt, I was told that the family and community would come together to help them.  You see, family in the US is usually limited to the immediate family, grandparents, and sometimes aunts, uncles, and first cousins.  In Angola, the family is a term used to describe EVERYONE of relation and often close friends and neighbors.  This is compounded by the fact that families in Africa are often large with many siblings.  My friend told me that the heads of each branch of the family would come together and make a decision about how much to contribute to pay off the loans.  Everything should be okay, thanks in no small part to the Angolan concept of sharing the burden and knowing that “family” does not just include those of direct blood relation.

South African Band - Freshly Ground

There was also this guy called Oliver Mtukudzi from Zimbabwe that put on a good show and another band called 340ml that mixed in some local rappers in the songs.  So if you are looking for some African bands to add to your iPod, try these.  Oh, forgot to mention – tickets PER NIGHT for the Jazzfest were $150.

On an unrelated but more important note, it looks like my last day of work will be September 8th.  That is only 5 weeks from today!  I am really excited to get back to the US (particularly Pittsburgh) and see my friends and family.  I will keep you posted if something changes but you can expect to see me soon.

FIL is the international business trade show in Luanda.  I have been to a few trade shows in the US before and my expectations for this show in Angola were low.  However, I was surprised by the professionalism of the stands and the people working them.  It was really quite extravagant.  FIL is located outside of Luanda and is essentially large pavilions and temporary buildings.  All the major oil operators and suppliers are there to promote their products and services.  Here are some pictures of our stand and pavilion.

For the most part things went smoothly, up until the last day when we wanted to take our materials down and load up the cars.  Basically it was pandemonium.  You needed tickets to enter into FIL and at during the last hours of the week long event, hundreds of people were trying to sneak into FIL for “brinde” (free stuff like pens, t-shirts, hats, ect.).  This forced security to close the gates and prevented me from entering back into FIL.  I finally got in, but trying to leave was just as bad.  You needed stamped documentation that the stuff you were taking out was yours.  Of course, by the time I finally got into FIL, the office that stamps your documentation was closed.  4 hours later we arrived back to the hotel with a pickup truck of our marketing materials.  Needless to say, FIL wasn’t the most fun I have had in Angola.

Regardless of if I have TV or not, I do a lot of reading in Angola.  I never really liked fiction until I started reading it the past year.  I am reading a good book now called Breakfast With Buddha.  It’s not going to win the Noble Prize for Literature, but it is still an easy and enjoyable read that makes you think about the life we lead and the beliefs we hold.  I am not going to provide a summary of the book here but there is a paragraph in the first few pages that I can agree with.  It reads…

If I can risk a sweeping observations, it seems to me that life often works that way:  You ask a certain question again and again, in a sincere fashion, and the answer appears.  But, in my experience, at least, that answer arrives according to its own mysterious celestial timing, and often in disguise.  And it comes in a way you’re not prepared for, or don’t want, or can’t, at first, accept.

Hopefully without jinxing myself, I wanted to write that it looks like BP will pick up our program’s contract for an additional six months.  They essentially had to go around Sonangol to do it.  So for all you BP haters in the US that want to see the company go bankrupt for the oil disaster in the Gulf, just know that they are stepping up to the plate in Angola, and trying to help make a difference in people’s lives.  Everyday it is looking more and more like I won’t be home until September. 

This week is FIL, the international business and trade show fair in Luanda.  Most years it is a really big deal for CAE and takes a lot of planning.  However this year, because we have been without an office or contract for the past three weeks, we are trying to organize everything in just a few days.  Should be an interesting week…