Drawings

In 1995 ZPRA veteran Ivan Moyo hand wrote his autobiography in a series of school books for a research project on the liberation struggle. He illustrated some of the early experiences that had made a lasting impression on him- such pictures are rare. The depiction of his plane landing in Lusaka, Zambia, where he arrived from Botswana as a young recruit in 1977, celebrates ZAPU's might. The drawing of his first encounter with trained ZPRA soldiers in the Nampundu transit camp is notable for the detailed attention to weapons and dress and its sense of conviviality. 

Drawings by the Russian veterans who served in Angola between 1975 and 1992 are very hard to find. We have gathered a few and will present them chronologically. 

The first drawing that is displayed in this gallery was made by a Russian A. Babich, a Russian sailor who served on the battleship "Krasnaya Presnya" in 1975-1976. After Angola had gained its independence new opportunities were opened for the USSR in terms of geo-strategic control of the Atlantic. "Krasnaya Presnya" was the first Soviet battleship that sailed to Luanda in 1975-1976 and the drawing demonstrates the first impressions of an ordinary soldier who depicted his stereotypes about Africa and the might of the USSR on paper.