When artist John Keane met Florinda Nguendalelie, 14, and her brother Henoque, 10, they had been living in Betanea village for one month.
When the war reached their hometown in Angola, the Nguendaelie family fled to neighbouring Zambia. Tragically, Florinda and Henoque’s father was shot dead by soldiers as they were all trying to escape the country. The rest of the family had to carry on and ended up living in a refugee camp in Zambia for two years.
When they heard that the war was over the Nguendaelies decided to return to Angola.
Video: Florinda on her experience - click on screen and press play to view
Return to Angola
‘The journey was terrible because we had to wake up early in the morning and walk until midday – that’s when the sun became so strong we had to stop under the shadow of a tree,’ explains Florinda.
‘Around 2pm we would continue walking until night. The hardest thing was that we had no food, so we had to keep walking without eating anything.’
It took the family two months to reach Betanea village. When they arrived, the villagers welcomed them and gave them food to eat, even though they didn’t have much food themselves.
Betanea village was formed in 2004 and most of the people in the village have either come back from Zambia as refugees, or are internally displaced people (people who are forced to move from their own homes but remain within the same country).
‘The people here are very welcoming but they are also facing a lot of problems. They have no way to support us,’ says Florinda’s mother, Anita.
’As soon as we arrived the community got together and built us this house as it was very cold. It’s not quite finished yet: we need to put some mud in the walls.’
Florinda is really impressed with her new home. ’This is my first ever house and I’m so happy with it. During the war we would build a shelter but then the following day we would have to leave.’
Christian Aid support
IECA, a charity supported by Christian Aid, has just given Anita and her family a homestarter kit. This includes a bucket, seeds, blankets and knives. The family didn’t have any possessions before this, not even a blanket.
‘I have no way to get back to my home town of Huambo, even though that’s why we came back from Zambia,’ says Anita.
‘I’ve decided we’ll stay here because my sister is in this village; though when we arrived, there had been a lot of rain so all the crops were damaged. As a result, my sister’s family have very little to feed us.’
Anita’s hope is that as soon as people start working on their crops she will have a job. For the time being, however, she has to rely on her younger sister for food to feed her family.
It’s a situation that she hopes will change.
‘One day I hope I will be able to grow my own crops and then I will have a good harvest and I will improve the life of my children,’ she says. ‘They will be able to go to school, have food and clothes.’
At the moment Florinda and Henoque aren’t able to go to school because their mum can’t afford to buy any school materials.
'I’m hoping that I will be able to go to school next year because I have never been before,' says Florinda.