Behind a car window...

Briant had to make a trip out to a notorious prison in Viana, a township a little further out from Luanda to visit an American citizen that got arrested (American Citizen Services is one aspect of his job).  He didn’t have to go very far because the prison is relatively close to the city, but with heavy traffic, he was in the car for two and a half hours.  While stuck in traffic, he decided to take pictures with his phone of the area and people.  These pics are not of things that are unusual or rare here, but represent perfectly the picture around us every time we walk out our door.  In order to get these kinds of "real life" pics of people on the street, we have to do it behind the window of a car for safety reasons.  His phone doesn’t have the best camera, but he definitely captured the day to day street life here in Luanda--"interesting" roads, street vendors on their feet all day, sitting water from the rain (and mud), trash piles, people digging through the trash, and an overall sense of disorganization and craziness.  We know that behind the walls of their homes, life is a little more relaxing and home is possibly an actual haven for the Angolans with laughter and interaction.  I see that at the embassy when the locals talk and meet together--but street-life is hard and represents chaos, filth, and work. 

I love this picture--This little girl is totally smiling, in her own little world.  When first looking at people in the street, they're not usually smiling, especially if they're focused on selling things or balancing things on their head.  The little smile brightens this otherwise dismal scene.

This building, or at least part of it, is a "barbearia" as the sign says.  Barber shop.

I'm not sure why there is a crowd in this pic, but I think it might be outside a health clinic.  This looks a lot like the maternity clinic we have close to the embassy.  People hang out for hours trying to get care.

This pic with standing water and electrical wires soaring above, with the electrical pole leaning, makes me nervous.  Angolan construction is not known for its attention to detail or for having any sort of construction regulations that are enforced or followed.  Safety issues and mishaps that would cause multi-million dollar lawsuits in the states, are the norm here.  One of my students witnessed his elementary school friend be electrocuted on their way to school after stepping into a puddle of water with an exposed wire.  Our building had a backup generator start on fire in the basement two nights ago, and none of us residents knew about it because the fire alarms didn't go off.  Luckily there were guards nearby that smelled it.  I'm not even sure that firecodes exist here--there is only one stairwell in our building so we're hoping there's never a fire there!  And our apartment has had electrical issues for months now with lights not turning on or if they do turn on, they can only be turned on from a light switch in another room.  We've gone months without overhead lighting in our bedrooms because of this issue and we're not sure when things will actually get fixed.  After coming to fix an a/c unit back in November, embassy workers discovered that the circuit board for our apartment was way too hot, and found that too many of our a/c units are on one line.  Fire hazard.  The landlord's men will be coming in April to fix it by tearing into the ceiling, and moving electrical wiring around.  It's hard not to be afraid that the work will be done incorrectly.   

People crammed into a taxi--no a/c or deodorant.  :)

A little outdoor "market" of sorts:

Street vendors--fish, bread, ginger, fruit, etc.  I love looking at the babies on their mothers' backs when they bend over.  They always look content and complacent.

A lady selling bread with her baby attached by fabric to her back so she can move freely and sell her bread, staring at two women that obviously have money, carrying groceries and nice bags, one of which is carrying her baby on the front in what appears to be a modern day "Snugli-like" holder.  That is a rare sight here.

People digging through the trash piles.

After making it only 5 miles in heavy traffic, they called it quits and Bri went back to the embassy.  Even with the sometimes unappetizing aspects of walking around in a dangerous and dirty city, we are grateful every day that we have a walking commute!

I believe these images will be forever seared into my mind.  Right now the Angolans are hoping for forward progress with their country and government, but are many times frustrated with how slow the progress is and how they feel the government disregards their needs.  Trash and cleanliness issues, disease and short life span due to poor medical care, roads and traffic, and now food shortages, etc. due to the economic downturn, are some of the blatant issues they're facing.  Gabriel, one of my students lost a cousin recently after she had a toothache for almost a year.  It got infected and he said her head swelled really large and then she died.  A condition that probably just needed a good dentist, killed her.  And Gabriel said that he has had a similar issue with one of his teeth for a while.  He said that there is a new Russian dentist here that he's going to see in case he can help him.  People are really struggling right now--in the past 16 months of living here, I have never seen the quantity of people digging through the roadside piles of trash as I do today.  Angolans are hopeful, because hope springs eternal, but they know that a government that listens to the people and improves education and training are key to making lasting improvements to their country.  It's going to take time to get there though.