A walk through Chicala

Adeus Luanda...

Hoje escrevo em Português, como homenagem ao Português que se fala em Angola! Amanhã estarei de volta ao Reino Unido. Tenho a certeza que vou sentir saudades desta bela terra de boa gente... Vou também sentir falta da banana-pão e do jindungo, assim como doutros sabores fantásticos que descobri por cá :)
Um grande abraço aos nossos "Kambas", que tanto nos mostraram e proporcionaram uma estadia maravilhosa em Luanda.
O que aprendi cá não é quantificável, mas percebo agora quando me diziam que uma visita a Luanda tem a capacidade de mudar uma pessoa...


Até já Luanda... Até já Angola!! :)

Musseque Sambizanga - Luanda, Angola

Pics - Chicala

Fire!!

Just a few nights ago I was having dinner outside and noticed that there was a fire on one of the tin shacks not very far, on the other side of the bay. Whether it is due to electric wiring left exposed, malfunctioning generators or the use of candles (many of these areas do not have electricity), it is not uncommon to hear news of families loosing their houses because of fire.

I never thought I was going to experience this, but my house nearly caught fire today! The generator had been working for many hours and one of the circuits must have overheated or something. Suddenly everything went pitch black and the generator was sounding like it was going to explode! One of the lamps then caught fire and the flames were all over the timber - you really have to see houses in the musseques to understand just how dangerous a fire can be. At the time I was shouting like crazy but luckily it was all sorted in a matter of minutes. Nothing that a bucket of water couldn't fix.
Seriously, I don't even want to think if this had happened whilst no-one was looking (we often leave the generator on if we are, for example, next door) :(

This self-building culture is a double-edged sword. Yes, it is great to build your own house, but the problem begins when people want to do everything by themselves, even if they haven't got a clue what they're doing! The precarious conditions of electric wiring, often left exposed to the elements (like the one we have here) can lead to very serious consequences. I mean, you sort of guess what may happen if, in order to turn on a light, you have got to put two wires together...

Zango

I visited Zango (I, II, III and IV) today, an incredibly big area with thousands of houses 60 Km away from Luanda. Zango's houses were by the government with the intention of housing those who, for some reason, have been evicted from their houses. From what I understood, Zango was built in 4 different phases. In fact, Zango IV is still under construction and people have only just started to move in. This allowed me to see different stages of the process, from construction to post-occupation. Interestingly enough, the houses from Zango I (the first ones to be completed) have all been altered by the occupants to meet their different needs. For this reason, most of the times it is difficult to see the original house behind the walls, extensions, trees, plants, etc.. 

Zango IV, on the other hand, is still mostly unoccupied and the houses are nothing but empty shells in the middle of nowhere. It makes you wonder whether these houses were built for human occupation in the first place... I am sure that with time the place will look better, though.

 House from Zango I

Zango IV

An update

The last few days have been very productive. Fortunately, I finally managed to get hold of some of the people I have been trying to contact since I arrived. The interviews I have carried out so far have been a vital tool to identify various issues related to my research.

The focus group I did with the architecture students was definitely one of my favourite moments! It was very interesting to understand the students' perspective on some of the problems currently affecting Luanda's bairros. They seem to be fully aware of these issues and also wish to be part of a solution as future architects. It gave me hope knowing these students will be able to actively participate in the much needed reconstruction of their country in just a few years.

Also a few days ago we had a very interesting moment in Chicala. During the seminar on urban development, which took place at University Lusíada of Angola, I had the pleasure of meeting Axel Koschany, a German architect with 20 years of professional experience and with an assumed interest for dynamics of informal settlements. His lecture, entitled 'Global becomes Lobal becomes Glocal', was thoroughly enjoyed by myself as well as by everyone else in the room. We had a nice chat afterwards about the issues he had addressed and so I decided to propose a challenge – visit Chicala! Axel immediately said yes and ended up bringing two more people with him, Filip de Boek and Ann, two anthropologists who were also in the seminar.

Next day we picked them up from the city centre and came back to Chicala where we spent a nice few hours walking around the bairro. We had a really nice time!Axel is now back to is work in Germany but I hope he still carries in his heart what he has experienced here in Chicala. And of course, that such experience can also somehow positively inform his professional practice.

I really wish more people could visit such places and demystify the false ideas constructed around them. If all goes well – and I get to do enough interviews by then – probably I will invite the Portuguese architects I met during my first week in Luanda for lunch this Sunday.

It's my last weekend so I need to prepare something special :)

Faces II

 O.

T.

Faces

 O.

M.

My version of red red

Not as good as the one I had in Ghana, but good enough :)

old wooden houses

I met Bia in one of the many alleys of Chicala when I was trying to find a shop (or 'cantina', as they call it here) where I could buy batteries for my audio recorder. The many narrow streets and corners hide all sorts of stories and people in Chicala.
Bia, now in her 50s, stopped doing the laundry when she saw us passing by. She wondered why we were looking at the old wooden house next door to hers. When we asked why was this house so different from others in the neighbourhood she smiled, left the pile of clothes and stood up as if to tell us a story. This wooden house, which is in a very poor condition, was built during colonial times and, although it remains there today, it has lost the splendour it once had. "This house has been here since before 1975.", Bia told us. She also said that, at some point, the wooden houses replaced the ones made with 'luando', a kind of thick grass or palm tree leaves, a material widely used by fishermen to build their homes. Bia has not always lived here in this side of Chicala. When she was young, her home was further south on the island of Luanda where the houses were constantly destroyed by the force of the waves - "higher than that wall back there". The floods were so bad that sometimes she had to spend the night sleeping on top of the table because the floor was covered with water.
Bia moved to Chicala when there was still a beautiful forest and very few houses. Unlike the previous place, here the water never reached the houses. At night it was so dark that one could not see an inch in front of one's eyes. It was then that she began to see those wooden houses, safer and more resilient than those of 'lundo'. Perception changed the way houses were build from thereon, as the 'luando' material was not regarded as good as wood. This marked the end of 'luando' houses.
Now, many years later, the wooden house dies slowly and barely stands up. Now, says Bia, people only want cement blocks and sheet metal roofs. Wooden houses, which were considered very good quality before are now refered to as fragile and temporary, just like 'luando' houses were. This is a never ending cycle. I wonder what will follow cement blocks?
There are still a few of these colonial wooden houses scattered throughout Chicala. The war did not affect them but they were completely swallowed by the exponential growth of the neighbourhood, and now share the space with hundreds of little cement block houses. However abandoned, they still tell wonderful stories of those who lived here many years ago.

"Silêncio Obrigatório"

Pedras no caminho? Guardo todas, um dia vou construir um castelo…

Luanda was so hot today! I always thought that being Portuguese would make me stand the heat, but this is too much! I spent all morning jumping between different government delegations and nearly fainted from the heat. A woman saw me resting in front of the Provincial Government of Housing and asked me what I was doing there. When I said I wasn't feeling well she just answered “Oh, of course, you are not from around here...” :)

Luanda is not a pedestrian-friendly city, the car is used to go everywhere, whether far or close, which contributes for the craziest and most chaotic traffic one can imagine. This influences a lot the general notion of distance. When I was asking for directions to certain places people always answered “It's just there around the corner”... Right... 30 minutes later and I do not know how many metres later I'd eventually arrive.

Unfortunately things didn't go very well today. I never managed to get hold of the people with whom I was supposed to talk to. They were either on vacation, in a meeting, or who knows what else.

To be honest, today I feel slightly demoralized, and a bit homesick... I never expected that this would be a simple task, but the fieldwork has been far more complex than planned. There are many barriers to access information and, above all, the fact that there exist so many problems associated with the theme of my research makes focusing on one aspect extremely difficult. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.

I always remember Fernado Pessoa whenever I find an obstacle on my way - 'Pedras no caminho? Guardo todas, um dia vou construir um castelo… ' ( 'if I have rocks on my way, I shall keep them all. Someday, I will build up my own castle…)

Just to finish, below is an interesting image showing how people build their houses everywhere, even on top of existing buildings.

More photos

Today the power was off again... Apparently this is common on Sundays... Maintenance of the power plant, I told... It has become clear from these days alone that this is an issue, particularly in the bairros, where the infrastructure is weaker. The provision of energy is not reliable in Luanda. This helps to explain why every single person has a generator at home (I had not understood that before).

I am enjoying taking pictures of people around here. Everyone is incredibly photogenic and natural. I really wish I had a better camera with me... Here are a few more photos.

Chicala on a sunday

 

Party tonight :)

My landlord is preparing things outside for a party today. The huge sound system is on since very early this morning... And it's not only his music, the neighbours are doing the same! Forget staying in bed on a Saturday morning, no way that's going to happen in Chicala!
By the way, the power is back on!! So, let's celebrate that tonight!

O meu senhorio está a preparar as coisas lá fora para uma festa. O sistema de som enorme está ligado desde esta manhã bastante cedo... E não é só ele que tem música, os vizinhos estão a fazer a mesma coisa! Ficar até tarde na cama a um sábado de manhã é para esquecer aqui na Chicala!
Ah, e a energia voltou! Vamos celebrar isso hoje à noite!!

Missing the beach

No, this is not in Angola, unfortunately... I thought I would be able to take some time off and relax while I'm here, but now I realise that with all the work I still have to do, this will probably not happen.  Oh well, I can always remember this beautiful beach in Ghana...

Still no power

This is the 3rd day without power... Hopefully this will be sorted soon...

Este é o 3.º dia sem electricidade... Espero que isto se resolva em breve...

Lights out!

I landed in Luanda one week ago. In this short period of time – it feels much more than that – all sorts of things happened, but the result so far is very positive.
Today we experienced how it feels like to live without power. This area of Chicala was left in the dark (now I realise that it was a smart choice to buy a PC with a good battery life). Apparently the power cuts are very common here. The blackouts may range from few hours to days and there is little one can do apart from relying on a generator to keep the lights on after sunset.
Nevertheless, today was an interesting day. I spent the morning at Universidade Lusíada where I attended a lecture by architect Maurício Ganduglia with the theme "Characterization of Housing and Criteria for Comfort in Angola."
My first contact with Maurício happened when I was planning to visit Luanda in the beginning of this year, which unfortunately turned out not to happen. At the time, we talked about meeting up to exchange a few words about the work that he has been developing with local and natural building materials (mainly earth construction) in Angola. Now that I am finally in Luanda we will have the chance to catch up. In addition to that, my staying in Luanda coincides with the Universidade Lusíada's Academic Week, an event that aims to promote discussion and debate around various issues related to the built environment in Angola.

Maurício Ganduglia's lecture focused on the work and stusies on earthen construction recently carried out by the university and himself. This topic will be further discussed next week during the architecture forum. I am planning to attend so I shall bring this up again some time during next week.
By the way, during the lecture, before and after Maurício's intervention to be more accurate, there were two musical moments (as they put it) provided by a student and a teacher! Totally unexpected, but very interesting :) Nothing better to wake up the audience!
Tomorrow starts my week 2 in Angola. I'll return to Development Workshop's office for another meeting and hope to have time to go through some documents in their library.

 

Faz hoje uma semana que aterrei em Luanda. Neste curto espaço de tempo - que me parece já muito mais que isso - já me aconteceu um pouco de tudo, mas o saldo até agora é bastante positivo.

Hoje foi a vez de sentir o que é ficar sem energia. Esta zona da Chicala está às escuras (é nestas alturas que percebo que foi uma opção inteligente comprar um pc com uma boa bateria). As falhas de energia são comuns, assim me dizem, por aqui. Os apagões vão de horas a dias e pouco mais se pode fazer do que contar com o gerador de apoio para manter a luz acesa após o do pôr-do-sol.

Apesar disso, este foi um dia interessante. Passei a manhã na Universidade Lusíada onde assisti a uma palestra proferida pelo arquiteto Maurício Ganduglia, com o tema “Caracterização da Habitação e Critérios para o Conforto em Angola”.

O meu primeiro contacto com o arquiteto Maurício aconteceu ainda na altura em que eu pensava vir a Luanda no início deste ano que, infelizmente, acabou por não se concretizar. Ficámos de nos encontrar para trocarmos umas palavras sobre o trabalho que tem vindo a desenvolver com materiais de construção naturais e locais (sobretudo a construção com terra) em Angola. Agora, uns quantos meses após o plano inicial, deu-se a feliz oportunidade da minha estadia em Luanda coincidir com a semana académica da Universidade Lusíada, onde se estão a debater questões ligadas à arquitetura em Angola. A palestra do arquiteto Maurício abordou o trabalho que a universidade e ele próprio têm levado a cabo no sentido de sensibilizar os alunos e a população em geral para a potencialidade de construção com materiais locais e naturais. Na próxima semana irá decorrer o fórum de arquitetura onde se dará continuidade a esta discussão. Darei mais notícias entretanto, pois conto estar presente.

Aproveito só para fazer uma nota. Durante a palestra, aliás, antes e depois da intervenção do arquiteto Maurício Ganduglia, tivemos direito a dois momentos musicais proporcionados por um aluno e um professor!! Totalmente inesperado, mas muito interessante :) Nada melhor para fazer acordar audiências (e que acordados estavam!)!

Amanhã começa a semana Dois em Angola e o dia avizinha-se igualmente rico. Volto à Development Workshop para mais uma reunião e para consultar o fantástico arquivo de documentação que possuem na sua sede em Luanda.

Port of Luanda