Angola Field Group

Dates to mark on your calendar… Get into the Christmas spirit with the Angola Field Group, December 10 at 8:00 pm, the 40 voice youth choir Voz dos Anjos will sing for us. December 11 to 12: Our annual overnight Turtle Trip. Watch this space for more details.

Handmade Huambo dolls

Huambo dolls will be on sale at the Angola Field Group presentation November 26th, 8:00 PM at the Viking Club. These dolls are handmade by a women’s cooperative in the province of Huambo, initiated as a means to support families in post conflict situations.

Everybody is invited to attend o ur presentation about the UNHCR in Angola. Last month 50,000 Angolans were expelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) is participating in the emergency response to this mass expulsion of Angolan refugees from the DRC and helping the Government plan to bring home the tens of thousands of Angolan refugees that still remain in the DRC and other neighbouring countries. Come and hear the story of this UN humanitarian agency which has been operating in Angola since 1976.

Scroll down this page for more information.

Giant Sable (Palanca Negra) bull - "a competent master"

Each month biologist Pedro Vaz Pinto shares news and photos from Cangandala Park on our Giant Sable page.

Resulting from the successful capture operation, the routine has changed dramatically in Cangandala, as our effort is now focused in keeping the animals under surveillance within the fenced area…  The females don’t look as fat as they used to when they were captured, but this no reason for concern, as it may be a more natural condition now…  More importantly, as probably what everyone wants to know, the bull seems to be a competent master. He is always near the females, leading them in the daily routines, but securing the back and guarding the herd from intruders. The females seem to submit to his guidance naturally and joyfully. They’re in love, and no, I don’t know if they are pregnant yet – we’ll have to wait a few more months!

The Angola Field Group invites you to: ‘UNHCR in Angola, past achievements and current challenges‘, at the Viking Club, Thursday, November 26, 8:00 PM.  The UNHCR – the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has been operating in Angola since 1976.  As a leading UN operational humanitarian agency, it has assisted Angola to meet the challenges of mass displacement, emergency humanitarian situations, the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of refugees, the establishment of a functioning national asylum system, and the need to develop a modern migration management system. Today, UNHCR is also playing its role in the emergency response to the recent mass expulsion of Angolan refugees from the DRC and helping the Government prepare an operational plan to bring home the tens of thousands of Angolan refugees that still remain in the DRC and other neighbouring countries. The presentation will  illustrate the above and how UNHCR works with refugees, asylum seekers and other vulnerable displaced people not only in theory but in practice.

Bohdan Nahajlo has been the UNHCR Representative in Angola since September 2008.  Previously he was UNHCR’s Representative in Azerbaijan and Belarus and worked extensively on forced displacement challenges in the countries of the former Soviet Union.  British born and educated, before he joined UNHCR in 1994 he was a writer and a journalist.  The author of two books and numerous articles and reports, he was a regular contributor to the Spectator, New Statesman and The Times.  He began his professional career after postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics as a Researcher on the USSR for Amnesty International.

Everybody is welcome to attend this presentation. In close cooperation with the Viking Club, this event is offered free of charge. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are sold at the bar, $3.00 each. For sale, books about Angola, in English and just in time for Christmas, Huambo Dolls will be on sale. For a location map of the Viking Club visit our Join Us page. The club is on the main floor of the ‘Predio Maianga’ formerly known as the Swedish Building, at Rua Marien N”Guabi, No 118 in Maianga, across the street from the new Panela de Barra restaurant.

Angolan refugees continue to flee from the DRC. Photo courtesy Yolande Ditewig.