Spiritually Healing the Gaping Wounds of War - Child Soldiers of the Angola Civil War

Spiritually Healing the Gaping Wounds of War

Child Soldiers of the Angola Civil War

The community and family members are usually excited and pleased at the homecoming. Women prepare themselves for a greeting ceremony... Some of the flour used to paint the women's foreheads is thrown at the child and a respected older woman of the village throws a gourd filled with ashes at the child's feet. At the same time, clean water is thrown over him as a means of purification...the women of the village dance around the child, gesturing with hands and arms to ward away undesirable spirits or influences... They each touch him with both hands from head to foot to cleanse him of impurities. The dance is known as Ululando-w-w-w. When the ritual is complete, the child is taken to his village and the villagers celebrate his return. A party is held in his home where only traditional beverages. The child must be formally presented to the chiefs by his parents... the child sits beside the chiefs, drinking and talking to them, and this act marks his change of status in the village (Honwana 112).

The United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef, released a statement in 1999 declaring Angola, "the worst place in the world for children to grow up in." ***Angola was assigned this reprehensible label during the brutal Civil War that ravaged the country for nearly three decades. The most intense periods of battle had nearly 200 civilians deaths each day, the majority of which were children, who stepped on landmines, died of starvation or preventable disease. However, these were not the only causes of death; many children were also killed in armed combat. Some of them were coerced into fighting, others were sacrificed for the safety of their family, but for the greater majority the decision was made for them. The recruitment of child soldiers devastated the people of Angola by tearing apart families, communities, and the social norms that held them together. Forced recruitment and initiation were both physically and mentally traumatizing processes for children. Without the guidance of elders, child soldiers never learned the social and moral responsibilities that adulthood entails. As immature beings, their direct exposure to death was not in step with Angolan customs. Physical ramifications, as with any sort of forced labor, include the exploitation of the children's bodies to commit heinous acts. A third danger faced by child soldiers is the heightened risk of being overcome by vengeful spirits of those killed in battle. Angolan rituals take a holistic approach to assisting demobilized child combatants by addressing the third, spiritual risk, as this encompasses both body and mind. Angolans use of spiritual healing rituals help to address the gaping cultural war wounds of child soldiers.

From the early 1960's to 1974 Angola engaged in an armed conflict