Petelson Adão Leitão, 22 years old, is a resident of Bela Vista district, Km 44. Early in life, significant challenges came his way. His parents' separation forced him to live with his brother. However, in July 2023, his life took an even more challenging turn.
While working at a company, Petelson had an accident. The operational routine required workers to stand on a paper compaction machine. In a moment of carelessness, his leg tragically got caught in the machine, resulting in the loss of toes on his left foot.
After emergency treatment and surgery, Petelson returned home, but the pain was not just physical. The lack of psychological support made his emotional recovery difficult.
That's when he discovered the Safeguard Young People Programme (SYP), whose main objective is to promote Comprehensive Sexuality Education to adolescents and young people aged 10 to 24, including content on the Community Resilience Model in some sessions.
The Community Resilience Model content is taught by SYP peer educators at the Refugee Women Support Center in Viana and School 6015 in Km 44, Icolo e Bengo, helping adolescents and young people build resilience in the face of challenges through psychological and emotional support.
Today, Petelson is an example of resilience. For the past two months, he has been attending SYP sessions at School 6015 in Km 44, Icolo e Bengo. Participating in the SYP sessions has been a turning point in his life.
I learned to deal with these circumstances and accept the new reality," he said.
Attending SYP sessions not only helped him overcome the trauma of the accident but also deal with his parents' separation.
With the tools he has acquired, he now also thinks about helping others in challenging circumstances. "From now on, with this training, I intend to always apply the knowledge and also help people in need," Petelson Adão Leitão states with conviction.
Contents Community Resilience Model: An innovative approach
Community Resilience from the perspective of empowering adolescents and young people aims to strengthen the capacity of communities to deal with adverse situations, promote mental health and reduce the impact of traumatic experiences.
These actions, which are part of the Safeguard Young People Programme (SYP), aim to reach diverse groups, ensuring an inclusive and gender-sensitive approach.
This component, which helps young people develop their resilience through psychological and emotional support, began to be implemented in Angola in (May) 2024 and by March 2025, a total of 6,501 adolescents and young people had been reached with the CRM content, of which 3,657 were girls and women, and 2,844 men in the targeted provinces of Luanda, Huila, Cunene, Namibe and Cubango.
Celso Kunjuka Soque is the Head of Secretariat at School 6015, at Km 44, where there is a stand with CRM content. He says: "You can see a lot of difference between the boys who take part in the programme and those who don't. The main change is that these kids are now very open, they use a lot of dialogue, their coexistence is normal".
Avelina Gomes is the mother of an albinus teenager, a student at School 6015, in km 44. She tells us about the changes in her son's behaviour, who used to be bullied because of his skin color, and who is now showing a positive evolution after taking part in the SYP programme. ‘My son says to me, Mum, now they can say those things to me, I don't care anymore’.
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The SYP programme, funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), covers 11 countries. The programme empowers adolescents and young people aged 10 to 24 to take control of their health and well-being. It provides comprehensive support to efforts that address sexual and reproductive health, including protection against STIs and HIV, reducing unintended pregnancies, promoting gender-equitable norms, and combating early marriage and gender-based violence.
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Text: Dorivaldo Caetano, Social Media Associate
