Family Matters - Angola

Teresa is 38 years old and a zungueira. That's the name of the street vendors in Luanda who offer their goods on every corner, balancing a plastic basket on their head. They play a major role in the collective memory of the city, because even in the darkest hours of the civil war, they provided the citizens of Luanda with all the necessities of life.

As a child, 60 year old Gilberto Nelumba served in the guerrilla warfare against Portuguese colonial rule that led to the declaration of Angola's independence in 1975. The Nelumba were among the more privileged families during the colonial period, but played a central role in the liberation movement.

The author Lueji Dharma, whose real name is Cristina Câmara, has been living in Luanda since 2009 where she works as an architect and urban planner with a strong commitment to civil society.

78 year old Carlos Lamartine holds a degree in pedagogy with a specialisation in history. He is a great expert of the origins of Música Popular Angolana as well as of one its most important representatives. He talked to us about the most influential families of this musical movement in the province of Luanda.

Panafricanist and feminist Bernarda Joaquina Kaculete went to a Catholic convent school at the age of 13. She describes how life with the nuns and the principles she acquired there indirectly helped her to emancipate herself and to find her own path in life.