Current Project of MgM
To All Our Wonderful Private Donors
MgM has been working as a Humanitarian demining NGO since 1996. Our work in Angola and Mozambique helped hundreds of thousands of people have better and more dignified lives.
Throughout the years MgM was fortunate to receive grants from the German, Japanese and Italian Governments, the EU, the USA DoD and DoS, as we all had a common goal of eradicating landmines from the face of the Earth. We also had wonderful private-based donors which allowed us to cover areas which were not enclosed in the government budgets. These are all of you.
Our work was hard but also extremely rewarding. We were always faced with unforgiving terrain, harsh weather conditions, isolation, and humble living conditions. However, seeing the day-to-day change in the population and areas where we worked made it worth it. We could see the fear within the locals dissipate, their confidence rising and a wonderful sense of normality starting to unfold, needless to say, a normality that every person should have the right to enjoy. Where minefields once thrived are now hospitals, schools, habitations, or businesses being built. Children play in areas once forbidden, they can explore without fear, and walk to school.
Our Change of Focus
With the passing of the years, the main focus on the donor communities changed. The world was facing other serious challenges that had to be addressed. That was not to say that the demining problem was gone, it is still there and continues to be very serious, but there was a lot of work done in the previous years and the gravity had diminished considerably.
Demining projects are extremely expensive ranging on the millions of euros per project, with the shifting of donor focus, MgM decided to start projects which were less expensive but continued to have a huge impact in the communities.
Project for children
We often say that children are our future, so we decided to start there and help the Angolan street children.
The Angolan reality is very different from what we know in first world countries, females are valued for the number of children they can birth and taking the amount of illiterate people in Angola, schooling, food and medical do not have any weight on the decision to have kids.
These kids are often abandoned by the father’s and single mothers are unable to feed them, school or clothe them.
Support Programme for Single Mothers
MgM though of creating a program of sustainability for these single mothers. Taking that dried fish is a stapple diet for the impoverished Angolans, we created a system of supplying it to the mothers, to enable them to start a dried fish selling business.
Covid Project
During COVID in Angola, like everywhere else in the world, were difficult times, loss of employment and closure of business led to hardship and poverty, but unlike first-world countries, there was no financial aid from the government.
MgM was faced with a lack of funding and decided to help wherever it could, this was COVID times and even if the funds were available, we could not do our work. Travel was restricted, and the provincial governments in Angola had a problem transporting suspected COVID patients to the allocated quarantine zones. The South of the country, Cunene region, was one of the most affected areas after the capital.
Water Support
At the same time the South was facing an immense drought, the population didn’t have their staple food and needed to abandon the fields to look for money in the cities.
Water was scarce and MgM decided to use our water tankers to help the isolated population in Cunene. This brought comfort to the people. It is difficult for any European person to fully understand how life can carry on, without having water on the tap. This is the day-to-day of most African countryside life. Children and females are tasked with the everyday process of getting water for the household, but when “Chanas” dry out they must walk to the nearest riverbed. Now there is when it gets tricky, it can be 5 km if you’re lucky or 20 km, it all depends on where you live.
Thank You !!!
We have achieved a lot with your donation, and we hope to continue to be able to achieve much more.
MgM board thanks all private donors for their support, more than MgM, street children and single mothers in Angola will be eternally grateful for your aid.
