Fifty-eight street children from age six and upward gather on a Luanda street corner at 6:30 each morning waiting for the white church mini-bus to transport them to one of three United Methodist schools. Twenty-four children crowd into a bus built to hold fifteen adults. This bus, given to the West Angola Conference by the Mississippi Conference, is a lifeline to bring children out of the devastation that is the plight on millions of Angolans. The remaining thirty-four children load onto a city taxi-bus with their fare paid by a United Methodist children's center worker.
Traveling dirt roads that wind throughout the squatters' neighborhoods, the bus turns into an opened gate that reveals a sanctuary for the body, mind and soul. Enclosing the compound, the five foot high wall is painted white and decorated with a mural. Plants, trees and flowers give quiet beauty to contrast the dust, garbage, and makeshift shacks that is life outside the church walls.
A library with far too few books occupy one room. Grades of children are ranked according to years of school completed rather than age. A fifteen year old might be in grade three. A tiny health center provides space for a nurse to dispense care to the children and persons from the community. A kitchen not only provides space to prepare the school lunch and snacks for the children, but is also a laboratory for young people to learn the trade of cooking. A final room is set aside to serve lunch in shifts. Children sit at tables draped with a cloth and decorated with at least a plant. Here they eat for what is the only meal of the day for many.
Struggle is evident with the people of Africa. And perhaps the only hope is in reaching the children so that this generation can grow up to be the leaders of a new Africa tomorrow. The church today, in the midst of all this, is like that which I have never seen before! Churches are virtually bursting at the seams! Membership and the worshiping congregation of every church exceeds hundreds and often thousands. Worship services and Sunday Schools are not bound by the 59-minute rule so common in America. People gather to feed each other spiritually as worship maintains its central spot in the life of the congregation. The people of the church have little materially, yet they give in mission to their communities beyond what we could ever imagine--and certainly beyond what we do.
Further Reading:
Children of Africa: Mission Study Resources
God is Working Miracles, the Rev. Marilyn Robb, July 26, 2000
Somebody's Crying, Lord: Angola Reflections,Lucinda and Geneviev Scheldorf, July 26, 2000
A Second Look at Africa, Brenda Wilkinson, GBGM