A Witnessing Raid to Angola - 2nd Part

An Invasion of Peace in a Country at War

When we left Pretoria in mid-September, five of us travelled by car, one on the bus and two hitchhiked and we all met in Windhoek. Here we had to approach the Angolan authorities, get the necessary visas and special permissions to visit the country at war, and it all seemed daunting.

I was the only one with contacts in Angola and one of them was the director of Coca-Cola in Luanda that seemed such an influential person to write the letter of invitation for us to go in. 

After a few difficult and complicated phone calls to him it became apparent that he was not interested in committing, although he never openly said it. To get the visa we needed a letter of invitation from someone in Angola, plus an appointment with the Consul to explain why we were interested in visiting the country and he was the only one that could waive the fact that we trying to obtain visas out of our country of residence. 

So we met him and we had no qualms in telling him that the reason we wanted to come in was to give people the hope of a brighter future, to tell them that Jesus was at the door knocking and they were not forgotten. We didn’t beat around the bush and invited him to receive Jesus has his personal Saviour, which he did. At the end of the meeting he was very excited with our trip and decided to do all he could to let us in. Then from another Angolan friend that I had met in Namibia previously we finally got our letter of invitation to go in. 

All this took us two weeks while we were wearing our welcome in the house of a Polish missionary family that patiently and lovingly took us in for the whole time. During this time we also met a influential Angolan lady that invited us for a special get together in her house in the company of diplomats and the first counsellor of the Angolan president. All those men were very friendly and gave us addresses, phone numbers of key people in Luanda. It was thanks to some of these contacts that I got my Angolan ID later on in Luanda and I was free from a big problem with my Angolan passport. I will tell about this later.

So the time was finally ready for us to move in to Angola and start our adventure. Some drove by car and the rest went by bus all the way to the border 700 km from Windhoek.  Once in the border town I found a place to leave the car for one month and we found a place to accommodate us all for one night, and next day we were ready to make the border crossing.

We crossed the border without incidents except that the official in the Angolan side was hesitant and decided not to stamp my passport although he let me in -- that gave me problems later on the trip. We divided in small groups of 2 or 3 and each one went looking for a ride into Lubango – 400 km away by almost inexistent roads. It was not difficult to find rides or cheap transportation and in the evening we all met in Lubango in a determined hotel that I knew from my youth in Angola.

Talking and giving some posters to school kids in Lubango. We took many pictures but they got lost later. This one was published afterwards in the newspaper and is some of the few I still have.

We stayed 5 days in Lubango. The hotel opened the doors for us and we got accommodation free of charge. We could have not done anything without the generosity of the Angolan people, we were counting on them and they were counting on us to teach and deliver the spiritual goods, which was our mission: To meet key people share with them our spiritual riches and trust them with the job of sharing with others what they have learned and seen. Hope, faith and love are contagious things. It’s like the flame of a candle that lights another one. The personal touch is indispensable.

After those days we decided that it was time to travel to Luanda. We wouldn’t be able to travel by land because from now on we would have to cross war zones, so the only option was airplane. Again we contacted private companies and one or two were willing to take some of us but the rest had to find other ways. Since most of us paired out in families or teams of two I was left alone, so I went to the airport and I approached the pilots of military/cargo planes. 

I had no problem in finding a small passenger/cargo plane to Luanda to take me right away. I boarded my small suitcase and at the police control they didn’t like the fact that my passport was not stamped when I entered and told me to solve the problem at the immigrations (DEFA) in town. I went out, found a someone to take me to town, went it the immigrations and talked to the big boss there. He saw me in trouble and saw an opportunity to get some money, I didn’t realize his ulterior intentions and I didn’t give him anything so he kept temporarily both my passports  (Portuguese and Angolan) and gave me a letter of authorization to travel to anywhere in Angola.

I was happy to get out of there even without my passports, but I knew I had to go back to solve the problem before leaving Angola. Again I hitch hiked to the airport, passed the police control showing the recent letter of authorization to travel and I went to airstrips looking for the plane. Oh my, It wasn’t there. When I asked around I was told that in fact the plane had not left but it was 5km away, refuelling. Again some kind man gave me a ride to the plane, I boarded it just on time but the seats were all taken and I travelled on a different compartment on top of bags and suitcases. No problem, I had fun and actually had the best as far as food was concerned. We stopped in Benguela, a province where I had lived for most of my youth and I had a remembrance of the smell of the breeze of the sea that was so dear to me.

With the guard at the front door of the hotel that took us in the first night.

As I arrived in Luanda I travelled to the hotel where we were all supposed to meet and again we had lots of stories to tell each other, I was the last one to arrive. One more time the owner of the hotel who was very favourable to missionaries cheerfully accommodate us all at least for that night. Even today he is a great friend of us and we keep in touch. But he is not the only one, we have a handful of great friends in Luanda who always do all they can to make us feel welcome and comfortable every time we go there – friends we met in this trip, and even if it was only for them it would have been worthwhile.

In Luanda we immediately approached the university and asked to be able to talk to the students in the classrooms. The Dean of the university was happy that we wanted to share something with the students. For them we were like a breath of fresh air in a country at war and forgotten by the world. We were given times and classrooms to visit for one full hour and do and teach whatever we wanted. We focused on doing small and short plays, called skits, with a strong message. After the skit we openly told them of our own personal stories and why we were there doing what we were doing. They had many questions that we were always glad to answer and in the end we would always prayed together the prayer of accepting Salvation in Jesus.

Aaron and Marc praying with some students after the presentation of one of our skits

But don’t go way because in the next post I will tell you how we stayed in Luanda for 20 more days, all the doors that opened to us, the unexpected and expected friends we visited that we instrumental for our time and for future times in Luanda, and how I solved the problem in my passports. 

Keep in touch!

A Witnessing Raid to Angola – 1st Part

Preparation, Gathering the Team and Knocking on Doors

(By Carlos)

I want to tell you about a trip that I made to Angola in the year 2000 while this country was still engulfed in a horrendous civil war

Being born and raised in Angola I always had a burden to reach the people of my own country. I am aware of the weakness and difficulties and frustrations found in that country – as in everywhere else nowadays – but the fact of the matter is that ALL things are possible when we believe. I don’t say this in a vain boasting of my puny, ridiculous and weak faith but as a testimony that when you have your eyes on a goal what you see with the eyes of faith becomes a reality even if the whole world around you screams that it is impossible.

Before I get into the narration of the accounts I want to give you an idea of the state of Angola at that time. The country was being ravaged by an insane civil war after the static Portuguese Forces were compelled to leave suddenly in 1974 pressured by the moving International Pressure, the people in the country were left on their own to rule and govern the best way they knew how. The terrain was left open again for the GOOD and the BAD to enter in.

The GOOD is composed of people of good will on this earth that want the betterment of living conditions, that want the light to shine in the ignorance of superstition, they long for the happiness and peace in an atmosphere of equal opportunities, progress and tolerance for all in a loving and wise way. These people do exist and I meet them everywhere from all cultures, colours and creeds and upon these people rest the guaranties of Blessed are the Peace Makers for they shall be called the Children of God. (Mat.5:9)

The BAD is composed of greedy and false politicians, generals and what not that believe that the end justify the means, that don’t believe in the ways of peace, and that have an eye on the oil, diamonds and other riches to seize the opportunity and grab the most they can for themselves and their “bosses”. The result of all this greed and madness in Angola was a bloody civil war that destroyed the country’s infrastructure, killed half a million people, and left millions maimed, lost, poor, sick, and desperate for a staggering period of 26 long years of civil war.

Except in the south (border with Namibia) the roads were unpassable, the only form of transportation was done by average private and state airplanes. Our goal was to enter Angola through the south border and hitch hike all the way to the capital (Luanda) 2000 km away to reach the students and the top influential people that could do something to change things for the better to millions of peace starving people.

There had been no progress in Luanda since 1974, the infrastructure, the streets, the parks, the buildings were all there, except that every single empty corner was taken by 6 million people from all over Angola dislodge by the war. What was originally a city for 700.000 people became the home for 7 million living wherever possible.  You could hardly see a shop open but everything could be bought in the streets –dollars, electronic gadgets, clothes, food, car parts, motorbikes, and so on. Being the most expensive city on earth at the time the accommodation was outrageously expensive and just one night in a hotel would have wiped out all our economies for the trip. We intended to spend one month in Angola so we were counting on the hospitality of the people for every plate of food, bed to sleep on and transportation to use and we were not disappointed.

Eighteen months after our visit the peace was signed between the rival parties and the civil war was ended. Did we have any influence on bringing the peace? I am bold enough to say: Yes we had! A man hitch hiking with us and sharing the same open bakkie on the road to Lubango on the very first day of our arrival in Angola told me: “Just seeing you guys here gives me hope. I know that peace is on its way”. Nobody would venture out into Angola unless it was for business or military purposes.

First I tried in 1997 from Namibia to get into Angola and all I got was an Angolan passport in the Angolan Embassy  – and that in itself was a miracle of a unique opportunity . This same passport was confiscated later during the trip by corrupt authorities because of a mistake made by the border guard. But just the fact that I got it was a sign and a confirmation that I should make this trip. 

I was looking for a team that could accompany me and I found that team only one year later in South Africa. It was a group of young people used to do these stunt missionary trips into difficult countries and they were exactly what I needed. I told them of my desire to reach Angola and they expressed the same desire and begged me to please wait for them for a couple more months until they were ready.

And sure enough, six months later we all met in Pretoria. Aaron and Lisa and their children, Jason and Jasper (Americans). Matt and Melissa (Germans). Marc (French), Faithy (Brazilian) and myself (Carlos – Portuguese/Angolan). Altogether we were 9. 

Here you see the picture of our team as it came out in a local newspaper

(In the next chapter I want to tell you of all the miracles of open doors, supply, transportation and the very influential people we met that made it possible for us to give the Good News to Angolan authorities, students and people we met on the way)