We have embraced the cause to extend the hand of assistance and friendship to a specific locale, that we believe is the most deserving of our efforts. The location in question is the Mucusso Village in Kuando Kubango province, Okavango Zambezi region, district of Dirico in Angola.

The province of Kuando Kubango, is Angola’s second-largest province, and takes its name from the two rivers that flow through it, namely, the meandering Kuando and Kubano rivers. It is also colloquially called ‘the province at the end of the earth’, with the province’s capital being the town of Menongue.

During the 1980’s and 1990’s, the area was central to the Angolan Civil War, in particular, the freedom fighting forces of Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA. Incidentally, the most fierce battles in the war have been fought in Kuito Karnaval and Mavinga.

The devastation and almost total destruction of the region’s communities, its flora and fauna and extreme poverty had gone largely unnoticed.

The cost on people’s lives has been extreme–more than half the population has been mutilated through the loss of limbs and eyes–from the prolific mines that have turned the countryside into a minefield. The consequences have been, sadly, far reaching.

From the many villages in Angola, Mucusso Village has been the one lagging most behind, in terms of economic, social and cultural development.