{"id":4204,"date":"2022-06-19T11:08:17","date_gmt":"2022-06-19T11:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amnewsworld.com\/?p=4204"},"modified":"2022-06-19T11:09:41","modified_gmt":"2022-06-19T11:09:41","slug":"people-power-and-creativity-drive-facelift-of-angolas-port-of-mocamedes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amnewsworld.com\/fi\/people-power-and-creativity-drive-facelift-of-angolas-port-of-mocamedes\/","title":{"rendered":"People power and creativity drive facelift of Angola\u2019s port of Mo\u00e7amedes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mobilizing residents in the beach town and port of Mo\u00e7amedes, Ema Samali da Silva, Vice-Governor of Namibe Province, has launched an urban renewal project that\u2019s changing the face of the city. She\u2019s turning old relics like movie theaters and an auditorium into cultural centers reborn. Street artists and painters are livening up and beautifying facades across the city. And it\u2019s creating jobs, with the aim of creating more by encouraging more tourism and business activity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mo\u00e7amedes in the Province of Namibe is a city committed to urban renewal and providing opportunity for young artists and creatives.<\/p>\n

Through a partnership between the public sector, the private sector and civil society, Mo\u00e7amedes is experiencing a true renaissance, characterized by vivid colors, a renewed sense of community and a celebration of the deep history of a city committed to the arts, architecture and cinema.<\/p>\n

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A gateway to the Namibe Desert in southwest Angola, Mo\u00e7amedes is one of the country’s top fishing ports.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Bringing old relics to life<\/h2>\n

A dynamo behind the city’s reboot is Ema Samali da Silva, a Vice-Governor of Namibe Province.<\/p>\n

“The initial phase of the program was a strategy that aimed to create an inclusive collective spirit in the city,” she says.<\/p>\n

As part of transforming the face of Mocamedes, this architect by training is aiming to bring old relics to life, an auditorium that never opened. With construction interrupted by civil war, Samali da Silva plans to finally complete the project. It’s been waiting to welcome visitors since 1974.<\/p>\n

She’s got support from Hildeberto Alfredo Madeira, whose father was among those who built it.<\/p>\n

“I think we should do what its creators imagined and move forward,” he says. “To show, nationally and internationally, what this province is all about in the fields of art and culture.”<\/p>\n

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Our houses are being made beautiful, thank God. We’re really enjoying it, I’m very grateful.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Resident<\/div>\n
Mo\u00e7amedes<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Getting people involved, Samali da Silva is mobilising an army of painters to rejuvenate the facades of buildings and homes across the city.<\/p>\n

“Our houses are being made beautiful, thank God,” says one resident. “We’re really enjoying it, I’m very grateful.”<\/p>\n

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