Angola #7: A City of Hope and Renewal

Our team of 15 stayed overnight in the capital of Angola, Luanda. Two-thirds of the nation’s population lives there is in poverty, squalor, and hopelessness.

Mission Aviation Fellowship flew our group to the Kuito, a city in central Angola.  It was the site of the most intense fighting of the civil war. Artillery shells rained down on the city, with tank battles street by street, and hand-to-hand combat door-to-door. Snipers picked off victims running across streets and 50 caliber machine guns strafed buildings.

When the 3-week battle ended, the Catholic Church had one wall left standing. It is now a monument to the courage of the soldiers and citizens.

I met Pastor Bernardo, a hero in my book. During the battle he was layman in his church. His family and friends survived by hiding in the crawl space of their home. During the battle the man who was then Pastor of the church left the bunker to find water. Snipers gunned him down as he crossed the street. At great risk, Bernardo retrieved his pastor’s body. The church placed the man’s body on the dining room table. I ate several meals sitting at that same table.

Bernardo pastors a Brethren Church which historically doesn’t have pastors. Out of respect for Bernardo, the church has given him this title. Everywhere he went I saw people run with joy to greet him. I have never met at more godly man.