villages of Cangola
Cangola is a settlement in the Uíge Province in Angola. In this region there are several villages and each of them has its own ‘’chief ‘’ of the tribe. These people live far from civilization, mostly in houses made of dried mud – adobe material with tin or grass roofs. There is no water or electricity. The residents in this region walk everywhere and carry everything on their heads.
There are no schools in the villages and the children walk long distances in the rain or the intense heat to attend the only primary school in the region.
They attend only up to the 4 th grade and no further. The population of these villages lives primitively and is mostly illiterate. They manage to live by growing crops. The cultivated fields are very far from the villages, which means that farmers spend a lot of time in the fields, in shelters made of grass.
Children of 4 or 5 years old are mostly left to themselves, alone in the villages with their younger siblings, and often without food. Many children die from pneumonia, influenza and high fever that is often caused by exposure to rain, diarrhea, vomiting, parasites, insect bites and venomous snakes as well. They lack proper nutrition, they drink contaminated water and there is an overall lack of sanitary care.
The children and women leave very early in the morning to walk long distances in search of good water from the rivers or springs. Clothes are washed in the rivers and carried on the women’s heads and with children carried on their backs.
In these villages there are no hospitals or health clinics. The roads are unpaved and in rainy weather they become a muddy quagmire. The few men with motorcycles in the region charge a lot of money to transport someone who’s sick from one of the villages to Cangola. That is where the nearest hospital is located. But often the sick are not even capable of riding there. Even the hospitals don’t have proper medicines or facilities to care for them. This causes many people to lose their lives without being rescued or treated.
Although we have some Adventist churches in the region, our pastors serve many churches in several villages each. And the lack of workers that are prepared for evangelism as well as the lack of materials, such as Bibles, prophetic books, hymnals, leaflets etc., combined with the high degree of illiteracy in the region, makes the learning of converts slow and confusing because of the different cultures of the people, traditions and the influence of other religions.
Going back to the past, in my visions of a night in 2014, I have understood that I was being called to bring hope to the people of Angola. We have our nonprofit organization already approved by the government and licensed to work anywhere in the country. The leaders of the Cangola region are very happy with our project and have offered us 10 hectares of land for the construction of our mission.
Following the demands of the Angolan government, we already have two brothers that are trained in home remedies in Angola. They are prepared to assist us in the treatment of the population with home remedies for minor illnesses and to give lectures on nutrition and the care that people should take with their health.
Our volunteer brothers are already cultivating the land so the villagers can try and learn about growing herbs , vegetables and grains to provide good nutrition.
We only have one teacher who is teaching a small group about the Bible so they can learn and assist our pastors in their mission field. And in that way, others can learn to go out and bring people to Christ.
Our greatest need now is to build our own mission / school so we can train hundreds of young people in order to help educate the villagers about good health practices. We also need to train hundreds of people to be Bible teachers. Water wells must be drilled to bring fresh, clean water to the villagers . And lastly a place to shelter, feed and teach the children who stay in the villages while their parents are at work.
It’s a lot to be done, but with your help we hope to make a better life for the villages of Cangola. Would you be willing to help us?
Thank you!
Matilde Williams
Cangola is a settlement in the Uíge Province in Angola. In this region there are several villages and each of them has its own ‘’chief ‘’ of the tribe. These people live far from civilization, mostly in houses made of dried mud – adobe material with tin or grass roofs. There is no water or electricity. The residents in this region walk everywhere and carry everything on their heads.
There are no schools in the villages and the children walk long distances in the rain or the intense heat to attend the only primary school in the region. They attend only up to the 4 th grade and no further. The population of these villages lives primitively and is mostly illiterate. They manage to live by growing crops. The cultivated fields are very far from the villages, which means that farmers spend a lot of time in the fields, in shelters made of grass.
Children of 4 or 5 years old are mostly left to themselves, alone in the villages with their younger siblings, and often without food. Many children die from pneumonia, influenza and high fever that is often caused by exposure to rain, diarrhea, vomiting, parasites, insect bites and venomous snakes as well. They lack proper nutrition, they drink contaminated water and there is an overall lack of sanitary care.
The children and women leave very early in the morning to walk long distances in search of good water from the rivers or springs. Clothes are washed in the rivers and carried on the women’s heads and with children carried on their backs.
In these villages there are no hospitals or health clinics. The roads are unpaved and in rainy weather they become a muddy quagmire. The few men with motorcycles in the region charge a lot of money to transport someone who’s sick from one of the villages to Cangola. That is where the nearest hospital is located. But often the sick are not even capable of riding there. Even the hospitals don’t have proper medicines or facilities to care for them. This causes many people to lose their lives without being rescued or treated.
Although we have some Adventist churches in the region, our pastors serve many churches in several villages each. And the lack of workers that are prepared for evangelism as well as the lack of materials, such as Bibles, prophetic books, hymnals, leaflets etc., combined with the high degree of illiteracy in the region, makes the learning of converts slow and confusing because of the different cultures of the people, traditions and the influence of other religions.
Going back to the past, in my visions of a night in 2014, I have understood that I was being called to bring hope to the people of Angola. We have our nonprofit organization already approved by the government and licensed to work anywhere in the country. The leaders of the Cangola region are very happy with our project and have offered us 10 hectares of land for the construction of our mission.
Following the demands of the Angolan government, we already have two brothers that are trained in home remedies in Angola. They are prepared to assist us in the treatment of the population with home remedies for minor illnesses and to give lectures on nutrition and the care that people should take with their health.
Our volunteer brothers are already cultivating the land so the villagers can try and learn about growing herbs , vegetables and grains to provide good nutrition.
We only have one teacher who is teaching a small group about the Bible so they can learn and assist our pastors in their mission field. And in that way, others can learn to go out and bring people to Christ.
Our greatest need now is to build our own mission / school so we can train hundreds of young people in order to help educate the villagers about good health practices. We also need to train hundreds of people to be Bible teachers. Water wells must be drilled to bring fresh, clean water to the villagers . And lastly a place to shelter, feed and teach the children who stay in the villages while their parents are at work.
It’s a lot to be done, but with your help we hope to make a better life for the villages of Cangola. Would you be willing to help us?
Thank you!
Matilde Williams