Introduction to My Mission Trip to Angola

Click here to read all my posts about my Angola mission trip!

I have so many stories to tell about my trip to Angola!  Because I want to be able to link smaller stories to the larger picture, I've decided to give a general overview of where I was going at this junction, then give a few major events, and then summarize the entire trip.  Please bear with me as I chronicle my adventure over the next few days!

I went on a mission trip with the JESUS Film Project with four people from various parts of the United States to the country of Angola between July 2-16.  We showed JESUS in the Kimbundu language to about 1,400 people in 5 cities on 6 different occasions in the province of Kwanza Norte while we were there.  We estimated that about 250 people came to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior during our mission.  This was the premier of the Kimbundu language for the Project, and I'm sure that many people who contributed to its translation have been eagerly expecting this event.

The Nation of Angola

Angola is a nation in Africa south of the equator.  As of July 13, Angola has a population of about 19,618,400 people.  Luanda, it's capital city, has more than 5,000,000 people inhabiting it.  The primary language in Angola is Portuguese, though many other languages are also spoken.  It is arguably one of the poorer nations in Africa.

Angola is 481,354 square miles in size, making it about twice the size of Texas.  The nation's neighbors are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, and Namibia.  It is covered mostly by savanna and jungle and has a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean.  Since it is on the south side of the equator, their winter is between June and September, and their summer is between December and March.  They have two main seasons: a dry season that starts about May 15 and ends on September 15, and a rainy season that begins on September 15 and ends on May 15.

Angola's history is contained mostly in the past 400 years.  It's mostly inhabited by Bantu tribes, accounting for much of the culture and languages.  The first Portuguese settlement was established in 1575.  The export of slaves was banned by 1836.  Portugal enacted the Colonial Act of 1930, binding Angola's economy to Portugal with protective tariffs and effectively modernizing their economy.  In 1961, there was a major revolt against Portugal, being succeeded by a guerrilla-style war.  In 1975, Portugal released its hold on Angola, giving the nation it's independence.

Because of its many factions before the war trying to liberate the nation, these groups based on political idealism quickly united against each other for control of the nation.  The dominating groups were the MPLA (Popular Liberation Movement of Angola), backed most notably by the Soviet Union, and UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), backed by the United States.  This was a very obvious playground for the cold war with sides defending the outward similitude of communism and capitalism, though cold-war issues on these matters were far-removed from the actual political issues of Angola.  The war was costly, killing more than 500,000 people and ruining its economy.  At long last, on March 22, 2002, the MPLA was the winner of the Civil War with US approval after years of false starts (See Angola - country history and economic development).

The nation is still recovering from the civil war that lasted 27 years.

Angolan Problems

Many of the people in the areas we visited have been displaced because of this war.  Many of them fled to Congo (where French is the primary language, and thus accounting for the number of people who spoke French), as well as Luanda.  I was told by Domingos, our host while we were there, that Luanda was only built for 50,000 people, but because Luanda was safe during the civil war, people went there, making the city's population explode.

Poverty is a huge concern in this nation.  Infrastructure is base, but is improving with foreign aid from China and the United States.  Education is wanton, but the people consider themselves to be very knowledgeable.  Malnutrition follows poverty; I never saw a baby that didn't have a swollen stomach.  Trash was littered everywhere, a common occurrence in many nations that don't have a large tourism industry.  Smog is overwhelming in Luanda, but much better outside the city.

As one can imagine, disease is rampant.  Because of the Civil War, AIDS and HIV are relatively minor compared to other African nations at about 3.9% of the population (in today's figures, that would be about 765,000 people).  The use of contraceptives in Angola is pretty minimal, evidenced by the large number of children.  I believe that other sexually transmitted diseases were commonplace.  Sewer ditches line just about every city road, so problems with mosquitoes and polio are pretty common.  In order to get a visa for Angola, one must have the yellow fever vaccine.  Our mission group also took an anti-malarial drug during our stay.  I took vaccines for typhoid, hepatitis A and B, polio, and tetanus before going to Angola.  I was pretty glad that I did after seeing the conditions in which the people and animals live.  There is some risk for rabies, but I never encountered any animal I thought was suspect.  There was some danger of getting river blindness too.

Basic medical care was lacking.  I met a doctor, and after a short visit with him, I'd be scared to go under his knife, and I'm generally willing to work with most doctors here in the US.  There were a few children I saw who had hernias at their belly buttons.  No doubt their life span would be shortened once the hernia went septic.  One lady complained of a tooth that hurt for two or three years.  I wouldn't be surprised if she only had a cavity.

Clean water and food really couldn't be found.  Our simple solution to the matter was to either cook everything for at least 15 minutes at boiling temperature (since most of the time we were above sea level) or buy processed foods like bottled water.  We couldn't eat any fruit, vegetable, or nut unless they were cooked or we could peel them.  We could eat peanuts because we could take off the shell, or oranges or bananas, but we couldn't have grapes, fresh cilantro, or apples.  The national newspaper had articles about providing clean water to residents but their definition of clean water is vastly different from ours.  People bathed, swam, and washed clothes in rivers and creeks.

The nation is filled with young people because death occurs at early ages.  While people were watching the JESUS film, they laughed when they saw a woman with wrinkles because they didn't see that in their society very often.  I don't really condone the use of Wikipedia for research, but it did have a good population pyramid that shows the population issue very well.  The majority of people who watched the JESUS film were children.

There are other dangers in Angola.  The police are quite corrupt.  Between Luanda and N'dalatando, our vehicle was pulled over about seven times by national police officers who wanted bribes.  In our case, none of them took any bribes once they realized that we represented a church, but one can imagine the circumstances of those who are not religiously affiliated.  Often these officers would ask individuals for "a small soft drink," the figure of speech used to describe a bribe.  These pull-overs were so common that our hosts didn't think twice about them.  They were so familiar no one got mad at the corruption.

Regularly, identity papers and permits have to be shown to officers looking to find any reason to blame someone.  Even in Angola's national newspaper, one can easily find regular occurrences of individuals who are held "pending identification."  Whether or not those people are truly suspects or merely persons of interest is another matter altogether.  Regardless of other laws, it seems in my opinion that identities and permits were of utmost importance in determining guilt or innocence.

Law enforcement was pretty lax except when it mattered to an officer for whatever reason he used that day.  In most cases, my experience was that laws were more like suggestions unless something bad happened as a result.

I felt that as a group we were shielded from some of the worst elements of society.  I think many illegal and immoral things happened that never saw the light of day, let alone justice.

Traffic is chaotic.  Taxis in Luanda were full of dents everywhere.  Dirt roads weren't maintained in Luanda and often had rubble in them.  Burn piles and cooking fires were commonplace along the city streets.  Motorcycles were used by many teenage guys and young men, most of whom I assumed didn't have licenses to drive seeing as the legal age was 18 (but maybe that is only for a car).

It takes awhile to get used to the passing techniques of the drivers.  People often drove faster than was advisable on the narrow highways with people.  Because many highways were land-mined during the war, it isn't safe to walk off of the road between cities, even to go to the bathroom.  (Officials are still removing mines from suspected zones.)  Many roads were destroyed during the war, so while we were there (during the dry season) there was constant road construction.  I'm sure during the rainy season this is all but impossible.

Kwanza Norte

Kwanza Norte, (also Cuanza Norte) is a province in the northwestern region of Angola.  People speak several languages there, but the primary language is still Portuguese.  As well, French, Kikongo, and Kimbundu were also spoken.  English was only spoken by a few people.  Most of the people we encountered were of the Kongo tribe.  Our base camp was in N'dalatando, the provincial capital.

The land is very dusty and dry at this time of year.  Often the dust was thicker than the smog.  It made some very beautiful sunsets though!

In the area we mainly were in, I found that people had much of the same technology and conveniences that we have in the United States like computers and cell phones.  I didn't see any microwaves, but I would occasionally find a dorm-sized refrigerator.  Electricity in N'dalatando was pretty consistent, but in Luanda, there were regular power outages that lasted for hours sometimes.  Internet access was more like a luxury, only found in a few places.

The main difference to our way of living was that their houses and buildings in the places we saw were by and large made of mud bricks and pieces of tin.  Other houses were made with straw and palm leaves.  Children ran barefoot in the streets that were laden with broken glass and plastic, picking "treasures" out of the sewer ditches.  Roofs were made of tin mostly, unless it was an expensive building.  Chickens, goats, dogs, and cats were feral, and usually fell into disdain.  Free-range chickens and goats tended to be well tolerated, but dogs, though friendly, were disease-ridden and unwanted, while cats were ignored.  Older cars plumed black smoke, barely able to function.

The Culture

The culture of the society had many similarities, but also many differences.  Men and women functioned in different roles.  Women cooked, cleaned, and took care of the house and children.  They would carry large baskets on their heads and could start a quick run or make a sudden turn without the basket falling off and without guiding hands.  Men did a lot of physical labor.  Both men and women could be pastors or be in public office.

Religiously, we didn't see that much diversity.  I heard evidence that ancestral worship was dominant.  One of the things Portugal left behind was the Roman Catholic religion which has been intertwined with local customs.  To what extent it has been intertwined I could not say.  We were hosted by a Baptist church, but I could see that Baptist churches in the United States are pretty different from those in Angola.  They definitely tended to be lively, had a lot of musical participation, and I suspected a bit Pentacostal.  I've heard people pray in tongues, and even though these people didn't speak my language, I could tell. ;)  I didn't see many religious relics except at a public market where I saw some masks and other icons.  Though many people don't claim to be Christian, those who appeared to be were devout, and even those who weren't Christian had a certain respect for pastors and missionaries.

Older men and women were revered, and were commonly given the title Mother or Father, as we might say Mister or Missus.  I saw a young man give a short bow to an older lady he was speaking with.

Women dressed in typically bright colors.  Adult women wore dresses with a t-shirt.  If they wore a dress to a special occasion, it was a traditional African dress.  Men wore clothes similar to what we wear in the United States.  Even in such a dirty environment, people always had the appearance of clean clothes.  Younger people liked to wear western society's clothing more than older people.  Not everyone wore shoes, but adults tended to wear them more often.  Laundry was done by hand, and so people would wear clothes for a few days at a time.  Children didn't wear very much clothing.  Sometimes they would wear only a small colored brief.  Many of them were shirtless in the African sun.

Eating in Angola was quite different from the US.  Angolan people had a certain misguided perception of an American diet and considered the American diet to make one fat, and the Angolan diet to be healthy.  While we were there, we ate mackerel, and what I believe to be a kind of tilapia, and a kind of bass.  We also ate chicken, goat, beef, and eggs.  With our main meal we had rice and/or potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava bread, spaghetti noodles, and some kind of cassava meal (like Cream of Wheat or grits).  We had varied vegetables, though I'm not sure what they all were.  I saw that there were some canned tomatoes, and some onions.  We snacked on bananas and peanuts.  We were able to get instant coffee, tea, and milk.

Public urination was commonplace and an accepted part of living.  There were a few film showings in which I had to just find a place to go.  The girls didn't feel very comfortable with the idea and generally avoided it.  There were a few situations that made the girls feel uncomfortable too.

Bathing was often done with a bucket of water.  In Luanda we did get a bathtub with a shower hose, but they didn't have hot running water.

Conclusion

I know it takes a long time to read all this information, but I think it's important to understand the way that we had to live with our hosts, and how our hosts lived themselves even before we got there.

Often nations like Angola get put into a big geographical pile we call Africa, and they lose identity because they are just a mass of people we don't know.  We see that there are all these pleas on TV for feeding kids in Africa and get turned off from the real humanity there.  These are real people who live trying to eke out livings for themselves.  People talk about how we are part of a global society, yet we have no idea about the issues people face on the other side of the planet.

From reading this, I hope some of my other experiences I'll write about later will come into better focus.

Continue reading about my mission trip to Angola!