LUANDA, 2 April 2007 (IRIN) - LUANDA, 2 April 2007 (IRIN) - Crippled by polio at the age of three and confined to a wheelchair, Benício Ofeni, 19, joins fellow beggars - some on crutches, some in wheelchairs and some blind and led by children - just down the hill from the Hotel Tropico, one of most expensive Hotels in Luanda, the Angolan capital.

They gather to take advantage of rush-hour traffic, winding between big offroad vehicles and motorcars to ask commuters for anything they can spare, hoping that somehow some of the country's new found success will trickle down to them. Growth is expected to top 20 percent in 2007, and there is no doubt that Angola has taken huge strides since the civil war ended five years ago, but those gains have yet to reach most Angolans.

Benício spoke to IRIN about his life since 2002.

I came to Luanda three years ago to get a wheelchair. It's very hard to get them in Lubango [capital of Huila Province in the South], so I came here, where they just give them to you for free.

I don't like Luanda much. You learn bad habits here - everyone drinks and takes drugs and there are loads of bandits about.

I travel in my wheelchair from my home to this spot every morning. It's quite tiring but I'm used to it, and you can see I've got very strong arms - unlike my legs, which aren't any good at all.

Since the war ended, my life hasn't improved a lot but it is a bit better. For example, I don't need to flee from fighting in the middle of the night and people aren't being killed all the time.

The government doesn't do much for me; it doesn't help me, but I don't believe that it's the government's job to improve things for me. If I want to live a good life, I must go after that life myself.

Each day, here, I can earn up to 500 kwanzas (US$6) but sometimes I don't get anything at all. My life is not getting better, but things were so bad before that perhaps it is a bit better. I can go where I want now without the risk of being killed by soldiers.

There are rich people here - I know that - but they are rich because they have worked hard. I don't think ill of the rich. In my opinion, the rich and the poor are equal. It's much more important, and much better, to be rich in your life, in your heart. To have a life is to be rich, and I have a life.

People talk about the rich and they talk about oil and diamonds, but I still don't even know where the oil comes from. I've never seen it; I don't know where it comes from - I've heard it's Cabinda [an enclave sandwiched between Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo, internationally recognised as part of Angola], but I really don't know.

I know more about diamonds, because my cousin lives in the [diamond-rich provinces in northeastern Angola known as] Lundas, but I've never seen a diamond.

Without a doubt, there's a lot more crime now than there used to be. The reason is because of all these soldiers, who were fighters. When the war stopped they got nothing, so they are frustrated and they have become bandits. They have nothing; they rob because they have nothing.

I think the government tried to help some of them; some of them were given nice homes, but they sold the houses and then drank all the money or spent it on drugs or petrol, which they sniff.

But we've only had five years of peace. It's not a long time. It will get better.

lp/tdm/he

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