Congratulations to historian Carlos Serrano, who was awarded the National Prize for Culture and Arts on Friday in Luanda for his book: Angola – Nascimento de Uma Nação. Um estudo sobre a construção da identidade nacional.
The title Angola – Birth of a Nation has the misfortune to echo that of D.W. Griffith’s celebratory film on the Ku Klux Klan (an extremist white supremacy group in the United States)
Luanda’s Father Mauricio Camuto currently stands as one of this year’s Guardian Achievements in International Development awards finalists. The story is here:
http://internationalachievementsaward.guardianprofessional.co.uk/
judgesnomination/Details/5
and his blurb quoted here:
Camuto is the director of Radio Ecclesia, Angola’s only independent radio station. He also runs a magazine and online newspaper, O Apostolado. Radio Ecclesia is committed to publicising human rights abuses and corruption in a country where public participation in government is limited by very low literacy rates and poor access to independent news sources. The station has broken stories such as the surge in the number of children dying from rabies. In the face of official resistance, Camuto’s programming is dedicated to bringing citizens into the decision-making process by providing information about the effects of poverty and offering a forum for public debate on social issues. One of his most successful initiatives has been the creation of Community Listening Groups. Members of one group successfully persuaded their local authority to provide anti-retroviral drugs to children suffering from HIV/Aids. Through his steadfast commitment to independent broadcasting, Camuto has turned listeners into stakeholders, and made a valuable contribution to activism and government accountability in Angola.
If you follow the link posted above, you can see the profiles of all five finalists, and vote.
I’ve spent most of my first week back soaking up the end of summa summa through my feet. The city feels clean, so I’ve been kicking off my shoes for warm pavement and green grass in multiple parks.
