08 September 1998

Bonn, Germany: Gladys Higa, an experienced sociologist who was worked with extreme poverty in her native Argentina has just returned from six months in Angola. She was there as a member of the team of ten White Helmet volunteers responsible for carrying out the project for the demobilization and re-insertion of war victims. Angola has been a transcendental experience for Gladys who remarks: "I want to return to Africa. Over there one feels useful, and the echo of what one does rings out immediately."

Gladys spent her first three months in Jamba and Biongue and the next three in Mavinga and Kavaleka, settlements located in the South of the country. Her tasks varied broadly. She first worked in the distribution of crutches, wheel chairs, medicine and clothing. Then she added to her responsibilities the distribution of food and was put in charge of the institutional relations with the municipal government. Further along the mission she was even faced with logistical work she would have never thought she could accomplish, from controlling the landing of airplanes at dawn to supervising the transportation of the cargo to remote areas. To add to the tremendous challenges, in the course of her assignment, Gladys came down with Malaria.

"While I was alone I felt I had no right to take ill. I treated the malaria as a common cold until my replacement arrived. Then I broke down and had to be evacuated to Luanda". Yet these difficulties have in no way cast a shadow over the feelings Gladys and her colleagues have toward Angola. They say they miss the powerful feeling which comes with working in a situation that was almost extreme, which is nonetheless compensated by the affectionate gratitude of the people. For Gladys, Angola will always hold a special in her heart: "It no longer feels like a foreign country to me. When I think of it, not only do I relive memories and experiences, but I vividly see before me the faces and voices of people whom I love and whose future concerns me".