ANGOLA

Irene Westendorp serves as a nurse at the CEML hospital in Lubango, Angola, primarily involved in the care of obstetric fistula patients

We interviewed her at the end of October and below is a transcript of the interview.

Tell us a bit about Angola and what you love most about the country?

I live in the southern part of Angola, which is very close to Namibia. I live in the second biggest city in Angola, Lubango. The city is quite large, which is slightly different because I lived in a smaller town in the Netherlands and the traffic here is crazy. The weather is hot, it is very close to Namibia, so it's really like a desert. Unfortunately, we have had no rain this year, so it's been difficult for many of the locals. We hear stories of children dying of malnutrition and neighbourhoods without water. It's been a tough year for many Angolans. The rain should have started already, but it still hasn't. So we need prayer for that.

The Portuguese colonised Angola from the 1400s until 1975. They have had a long history of war, 25 years of civil war, ended in 2001. So 20 years ago. So there are still generations that have lived through the war. I have a colleague, she used to live in Namibia as a refugee and then came back after the war. Lubango wasn't hit a lot by the war; it was a refugee place for Angolan people. Caluquembe, a city 3 hours drive north-east of Lubango was hit very hard, so it was still very close by. There are still psychological problems that have never been dealt with and in general mental health care is not very strong here. It's difficult many people have traumas who haven't had the proper treatment for it and the two parties that were fighting during the civil war against each other are still in the country.

When I came to Angola, I was warmly welcomed into the culture by my colleagues. They are very welcoming people. They are very group focused; they are very concerned about how their family members are doing. Families are often huge. They care for many people. Because the health care system is not functioning as it should, they also need to take care of each other more than we do because we have insurance and everything else. They are very warm people; I think there are differences between provinces. People are more open to talking about their opinions in the northern regions. People from the city speak Portuguese while rural people tend to speak local languages.

The economy has been going up and down. I have heard stories that ten years ago the value of the kwanza was very good they could buy a lot of things with it, but now it is hardly worth anything, so it's been not good the last couple of years. The government wants to invest more in areas other than oil, gas and diamonds because that's the country's main exports They also want to focus on additional development in other areas, like agriculture. So that's good because Angola needs it. Also, the droughts we are having now, a lot of it is caused because many trees are cut down to make charcoal. After all, that's how they cook. But they shouldn't because it only worsens the situation.

Right now, it is 30°C because it's supposed to be the rainy season, and when it's raining, it's usually hotter because there is also a cooler dry season. And then it can also become much colder at night; it can come near to 0°C. And then during the day, it can be 15°C degrees in the dry and cold season, which is May, June, July. Then all the other months are usually warmer and accompanied by rain, which is more pleasant.

Where is your favourite place in Angola that a traveller to the country must visit?

I haven't been to many places as a tourist yet, but I've been to the beach, which is pretty close, like 3 hours from here, and it is stunning. I've been more inland in two other provinces - Malanje and Huambo which are also beautiful, but I haven't been doing very touristy things there because of our work. But I recently heard from another missionary couple who came back this week from a trip up north, and I missed going with them, they invited me, but I couldn't go. But they have been to big waterfalls in Malanje, and the photos that I saw were very beautiful, so I want to go there one day. There's more tropical rainforest closer to the border with Congo. So I'm pretty sure that must be beautiful. I think every area has its beauty because I like Huíla, the province where I live. They have many rock formations like Navala that has a viewpoint on top of the hills, and you can look out over the other province, Namib. It's spectacular. There are many rocks you think about; how did they get there? How God created it. There are also beautiful places with amazing waterfalls here in this province, although they are pretty dry at the moment. Angola is a vast country.

How did you come to be serving God in Angola?

Well, that's a long story; I worked with Mercy Ships, I worked with them twice in 2012 and 2015. And in the second year, I worked with the obstetric fistula patients. They are women who have gone through a complicated labour that has brought them this problem called obstetric fistula. Most of the time, they are shunned by their society and family members, so they live in isolation and are primarily from rural areas. The most important thing is that the word gets out that there exists a treatment for it because most of the women that arrive in our programme don't even know. They heard about it because we have a prevention programme that goes to several areas in Angola. So that's when they hear about it; many women have suffered from this disease for many years. So I worked with those patients on Mercy Ships a second time, and after I came back to the Netherlands, I just said to myself - well, I will see if I go back to the mission field - maybe I will maybe not, I don't know, I’ll pray about it and see where God leads.

After a while, I realised that I still wanted to do something more for these women because it all adds up with the number of patients in Africa every year. India and many other underdeveloped countries see these kinds of patients as well. I knew that I didn't want to join Mercy Ships anymore, not because it was a bad experience, but because I wanted to have a more in-depth cultural experience. Mercy Ships are a great organisation, and they do fantastic work, but it was a bit hard for me to dive into the culture and get to know the local people because there are already so many other cultures onboard. So that was the main reason why I decided to go and look for another organisation but work with the same patient group. And then, I came in contact with someone in the Netherlands who told me about Serving in Mission (SIM), and then I got into contact with SIM. And that's where it started; they told me they have three countries where they had a project like this - Angola, Nepal and Niger.

I arrived in Angola in February 2019, so almost three years.

Tell us about the challenges you have experienced in serving Christ and sharing the gospel in Angola.

As a missionary, sometimes, it's challenging to stay focused on the goal - why I am here? Because work always becomes routine after a while, the goal is to bring people to Christ. To stay with that focus and not be taken up with day-to-day things, that's an everyday struggle. I enjoy the work a lot; I love to work with the local Christians that are as motivated as I am to bring the gospel to them.

There are so many people in need, and you can only help so many people. Every day is a struggle because I drive in my car, I am a rich person, I have a car, and every day children are begging needing food, especially nowadays, it is tough because - I know there is a need, but I can't help all of them. So that has been heavy on my heart lately. How to respond to them? There are days when I'm drained, and I don't know how to react, and I become a little bit frustrated, but there are days when I'm doing better, and I give them more attention, but it is still difficult because there are many situations where I don't know what to do. It's complicated; there is so much need.

It's overwhelming, just thinking about the future. Recently with the elections coming up two colleagues of mine said "We don't want huge changes, like a big salary or a big house to live in we just want the basics" and I didn't know what to think about that, I thought it was sad that they couldn't really dream. If they have the basics, yeah, that's nice, that's what they need. But what if you can't dream. That's so difficult because we are so used to dreaming and making plans and thinking about our education and or whatever, but that's not common here.

Tell us about the encouragements you have experienced in serving Christ and sharing the gospel in Angola.

I think one of the biggest encouragements is seeing my local colleagues being very motivated to make a difference. I also work in palliative care; I started a project in palliative care for people with terminal illnesses a little over a year ago. And so two colleagues from the hospital I work with volunteers; they wanted to join us to work here for a couple of months. Working with them has been very exciting, really cool to see their hearts. What is also really encouraging is that we do touch lives. I mean, God is touching lives. That's special to see. Last week, about five women came back to us from the hospital after they were discharged. They told us that they were cured. And one woman just burst out in tears because she was sick for over twenty years. Those moments are touching. Just their thankfulness, their thankfulness to God often as well.

People are very receptive to the gospel. You can talk to any patient about the gospel. It's mainly Catholic, though, so many people have a Catholic background, and so with every patient in our fistula programme, we try to find out where they are at with their belief. Often they don't have much knowledge of the Bible; they don't know many Bible stories or who Jesus is, what he came to do, so there is a lot to do in evangelism. Before I went, I thought - Angola is a Christian country, do I need to go there? But being here over a year, I was like yeah, Angola still really needs the gospel. There are so many people just going to church out of religion. The palliative project is a great way to reach people with the gospel; that is why my colleagues like it a lot, its so easy to go to people's homes and introduce them to Jesus.

How can we be praying for the people of Angola and the work you are doing?

Pray that God would bring rain that is so badly needed
That Angolan Christians will feel called to go into missions, and also then the church will support those people as missionaries. Because right now, there are still many missionaries from abroad. There is a start, but it still needs to grow faster, the desire for the locals also to be involved. And there are many local projects or initiatives. Missions are going on all the time; it's not that the Christians aren't doing anything, but for churches to support people going into missions and be full-time only busy with that. That is something that needs prayer.
Elections are happening in September 2022. For unity, it's a desperate situation, so pray that the elections won't cause any trouble or unrest. That it will be peaceful. That God would do his will.

Find out more at the links below …

Irene's Blog

Find out about SIM Mission in Angola

Donate to Home Based Palliative Care in Urban Angola

Donate to Fistula Care Programme