Spring leaves

Spring is here in Angola! Fresh green and red leaves flutter with the breeze in the dusty countryside.  It hasn’t rained for at least 4 months, and is a hopeful sign of things to come. Amazing that new growth appears weeks before the rains begin.

Have to say the spring colours remind me of autumn in Canada!

These pictures were taken on our way to Cavango just south of central Angola. 

Many areas have been burned and the new growth is in stark contrast to the blackened earth.

Coloured trees in the distance, field sprouting green plants

Seed pods are huge

This insect is the size of a hummingbird, and has red under its wings when flying

The Himba people

A Window into Himba culture

During our recent visit to Windhoek, Namibia, I stumbled across an exhibition by Namibian youth, so decided to visit the tents. Two of the tents I found particularly interesting, as they illustrated the life of the Himba people, a group of people in northern Namibia and the Angola border around the Cunene river.

An articulate young woman really enjoyed telling me about her roots. She showed me two different crushed rocks that are used in personal care. She explained that woman do not bathe in water, but every morning and evening, anoint themselves with a mixture of cow butter and ochre, which is made by crushing a red stone. She explained that the ochre protects against the rays of the sun and repels insects. The reddened necklaces on the right of the powdered rock are rubbed with ochre; you'll also notice the ochre rubbed into other items below. Himba women are known for going topless, and for their beautifully groomed, reddened skin and hair. 

They also use a sweet smelling mixture of leaves/herbs, bark and dried seeds/ fruits that is pulverized. The smoke of this “perfume” is absorbed by the skin. You can see the items that are used in the bags in the picture. Another visitor was so pleased to see this perfume and mentioned that his grandmother would be interested in getting some--something she was not able to get while living in the city.

Young boys have a braided mohawk type of hair style, while girls wear their hair in several tight braids. When young women are married, they may put on a headdress made of leather. They always wear this, except for funerals. (Though not easy to see, the headdress is in front of the calabash in the picture.)

They sleep using a pillow made from wood. The rounded top supports the side, not the back of the head. In the picture below, the wooden pillows are lined up on the left. They make intricate and beautiful baskets from grasses. Two small baskets are on the upper right.  Two cow horn containers are in the centre, just below the dolls.

Their cattle provide much of their sustenance. She showed me the calabash, or large gourd that holds fresh milk. This milk is left for a few days, then shaken, until the sour milk becomes the right consistency; then is sipped from a large wooden spoon.  Many objects are made from leather or cow horn. To transform a cow horn into a container for the ochre, the ends of the horn are closed by cowhide. Then the leather is wrapped tightly by string around the ends, and left in the sun to dry.

 Leather from cow or goat hides is  also used for loin cloths and cases for handmade metal knives.  They make beautiful bracelets from brass, cow horn and plastic pipe. Necklaces are made from fragrant wood, palm fronds, bits of wire, or a mixture of beads and seeds. I asked about the significance of the jewelry and she mentioned that after the first child, a woman wears a bracelet on her ankle, and adds one for each additional child.

Village life remains much the same as it has for centuries, and my young friend explained that she doesn’t wear her city clothes when she goes back to visit relatives. She now lives in the city, and someday would like to become a nurse. Of course, I encouraged her!

I asked about their religion, which seems to be centered around a “holy fire” and the ancestors. I was fascinated to read a note in the National Museum in Windhoek, regarding some thoughts from someone in this tribe towards Christianity. “They say Christianity means that we have to believe and trust somebody whom we cannot see, and who is not even black as we are and just not known to us.  Some say he is the white people’s god. Yet, there are of our people who say they can live in a relationship with him. They say he can become our Mukuru and help us. Most of us are not yet sure about these things.  Jesus Christ seems to demand too many changes from us.  There are many of those who say they are Christians, but we too often see them not living the way we have been taught by the missionaries. 

So we rather want to live the way we have known.  We have heard that Jesus Christ is the herder of his people.  He sees his people as his sheep, which he cares for as we care for our cattle.  But there are not many of us who understand this yet.”

Alpha in / em Angola - Easter / Páscua 2012

Here is our newsletter in English.

Aqui está o nosso buletim em português.

A New Year Begins - January 2012

We have now completed one year in Angola. Click here to read our newsletter.

Of Gifts and Living Water - Christmas 2011

Click here to read our Christmas 2011 newsletter!

Notícias Henderson (Henderson News) August 2011

 Ler em português aqui!

Read in English here!

Notícias Henderson (Henderson News) March 2011

“It is wonderful to be grateful and to sing your praises, LORD Most High! It is wonderful each morning to tell about your love and at night to announce how faithful you are.” Psalm 92:1-2 – CEV

Six weeks ago we left Canada and we are now getting settled in Lubango, southern Angola, Africa. We will share one of the Mission Aviation Fellowship houses in a walled compound here for the next few months. Friends have shown us around town and we can now find the shop that sells the freshest eggs and another store that sells cassava (manioc) flour for Audrey’s gluten-free baking. There is one mall, but there are no “super-stores” here – at times shopping seems like a scavenger hunt!

It has been a huge help to have the part-time use of a MAF vehicle for our visits to the CEML hospital – the Centro Evangélico de Medicina do Lubango. We are getting to know the staff and recognizing some of the areas in which we can help. Norm has made some progress in getting the hospital's phone system back online, assisting (and translating) for the installation of a new blood chemistry analyzer in the lab, as well as the X-ray digitizer system which will allow

Canadian radiologists to review and give advice on more difficult cases. Audrey has been observing how the nurses work and spent two days translating for a visiting cardiologist. We haven’t yet received our work visas, so we don’t have a regular schedule or formal roles.

Life in Angola

Safe roads, clean water, and medical care cannot be taken for granted here.

Potholes, traffic...

Large, wet potholes, traffic...

The view from a taxi

Roads: Our introduction to Angolan roads was the two day drive from Windhoek, Namibia to Lubango, Angola as part of a convoy of 4x4 vehicles. We skirted the Kalahari Desert where local people have been so glad to see black clouds swirling - rain is desperately needed for crops. Just as we finished changing a flat tire, the clouds burst open. We were delighted to see a beautiful Oryx, some other antelope, and warthogs along the road in Namibia. Few wild animals survived the privations of the 30-year civil war, so the only animals we see in Angola are goats and long-horned cattle wandering across the road.

Added to that hazard, in some sections of the highways there are deep holes in the pavement, or rain has simply washed away the earth leaving rocks and deep ruts. At times, there are little waterfalls where the road should be. We need to be alert! Taxi-vans and motorcycles dart in and out, passing dangerously – only occasionally do motorcyclists wear helmets. In Angola, they are having one of the wettest rainy seasons of recent years, causing rockslides on the road down the escarpment (the Leba) as well as destroying a bridge, causing the loss of Lubango’s only Fiber Optic connection, causing major issues for local Internet and cell phone providers. Unfortunately CEML’s satellite Internet has also failed once again, due to lightning.

An Angolan Driving Legend
 Several doctors attending a conference in Nairobi were comparing notes. The Kenyan mentioned that they drive on the left, and the Congolese noted that they drive on the right side of the road. “And,” they asked the Angolan, “on which side do you drive?” The response: “In Angola, we drive on whichever side is better!”

Medical care: Patients come to the CEML hospital from as far as several hundred kilometers, advised by friends or doctors elsewhere, often with very advanced diseases including many cancers. Audrey was able to encourage the nurses in their care for a young girl who was gradually being paralyzed by an inoperable tumor. There are many gaps in the standard of care even at CEML, the equipment isn’t always working, and medications aren’t always available, but the doctors listen, care, and demonstrate the love of God to every patient.

A rural health post!

A woman with landmine injuries during the war recently had skin grafts which are healing well. Several babies have received shunts for hydrocephalus; high rates probably result from maternal infections. CEML is one of only two places in the country where this is possible. Many patients need to be treated for malaria before they can have the surgery they need.

Water: Diseases resulting from contaminated water, such as typhoid fever, are common. One complication of typhoid is perforation of the intestine, requiring immediate surgery, as was done for a young man recently. We are grateful to have a good water filter at home! Audrey was able to review precautions with the nursing staff, so that they could alert family members about how to avoid this disease. In general, community follow-up is a major problem.

A couple of weeks ago we noticed a local woman washing out plastic grocery bags in the storm sewer – hundreds of Angolans sell vegetables on the street using such bags. Mounds of garbage line the streets and the rivers that are used for laundry, as a water source, and for everything else.

Houses may have running water but the system is not in good repair, and the municipal pumps depend on electricity that can be off for days at a time in some areas.

Sunset in Lubango

 Thanksgivings

•    that we are able to communicate in Portuguese – and for passing grades in our exams last November.
•    for good health.
•    for safety on the roads and a relatively hassle-free arrival.

Prayer Requests
•    for rapid issues of our work visas – and those of others, in particular our doctor from Brazil.
•    That we will be able to develop more relationships with Angolans.
•    For the CEML hospital, that God’s compassion for those who are suffering will be evident.

Ministry Partnership
We are so grateful for all of you who are supporting our ministry with MAF in prayer and through financial gifts. If you have been thinking about partnering with us in this way, please consider contributing to the Vehicle Fund – we are expecting the Toyota Hilux 4x4 to arrive in early April, but it is not yet fully funded. Please contact MAF Canada at +1(877) 351-9344, MAF USA at +1(800) 359-7623, or any other of MAF’s national offices listed at http://www.mafc.org/other%20mafs.htm. Please mention “MAF Canada project V78C”. Gifts are tax deductible in most countries.

With our love and God’s blessing,
Norm & Audrey

Permanent Mailing Address: 315 Clemow Ave., Ottawa, ON  K1S 2B7  Canada
Internet phone: +1 (613) 526-1245
Email: norm.audrey@gmail.com Skype: norm.audrey
Field Address: CP 50, Lubango, Angola (via Portugal)
Norm-cell: +244 (913) 569 260
Audrey-cell: +244 (913) 569 217
MAF Canada Office: 264 Woodlawn Rd W, Guelph, ON  N1H 1B6  Canada
Web: http://www.mafc.org   http://salmos127.blogspot.com

* “Each gift designated toward a MAF board-approved program will be used as designated with the understanding that when any given need has been met, additional designated gifts will be used where most needed."