Home. Thoughts on my Angola Trip

Frankly, I'm exhausted. Got home on Saturday in time to preach on Sunday. Only stayed in Moedverloor long enough to change drivers...It felt like a roadside destination from Pilgrim's Progress! :) We had enough money for petrol not accommodation, so we just pressed straight on through from Northern Namibia to Wellington, rotating four drivers in hour-long shifts

Was it worth it? It was a huge cost in terms of energy and money, so did it justify its expense? I think it did.

We trained a group of mission-training facilitators to take on the training of further mission-training facilitators, almost independent of input from South Africa (one more phase and they are able to carry this program forward independently).

We gave primary training input about three important fields of mission by experts in those fields - Islamic ministry; church planting amongst the San; and Story-boarding teams for evangelism using Jesus' parables. Harder to evaluate the long term value of these, but they were received with appreciation, and the story-boarding got immediate application in the surrounding township. In that regard we had theologically trained and experienced Missiologists able to give the sort of input that is usually only available at a tertiary institution...but with the sort of practical focus needed by people involved in actual ministry.

Attending churches and discipleship groups gave us a clearer idea of how discipleship works in this context - but I still have a lot of thinking to do about that. I recorded interviews with four of the leaders and will use them in an ethnographic analysis of themes and motivations in the next few days. So I can't really report yet on the learning aspect of our trip. There is certainly a great deal to think about.

Vasakele San Language Primer?

Our trip to the Vasakele San settlement was interesting to us, but not ultimately of any direct Kingdom value to the San themselves. I don't think we did any actual harm, and I do think that we provided entertainment - much like the circus coming to town. But the effectiveness of that work will lie in the capacity of OM Angola to place long-term personnel to live and work amongst the San (btw. I referred to this group earlier as the "Kamasekele", but that turns out to be the Angolan equivalent of "bushmen", and refers to any and all of the varied dialects and cultures of the San peoples. The San do not have a collective name for all their nations - including not even our word "San" :) ). I had to slaughter and dress a chicken for dinner, and did some preliminary language learning through drawing pictures and mimicking sounds and actions (you should see my pied crow imitation!). But I was very aware that one transient visit was unlikely to be anything other than peripheral to these hard-working and threatened people.

Endlessly fascinating behaviour of strangers...

41 years later...

The other aspect of my trip was personal, and I found it to be extremely helpful in re-examining old places and old memories. I spent time with a man who had been an 18-year-old soldier with 32 Battalion at the same time I was an 18-year old soldier working at 32 Battalion as a teacher. He had been in jail for murder, became a Christian and now works as a pastor. I also discovered that a simple song I had been taught 40 years ago by an Angolan mercenary was in a local Angolan language that some people could understand: "Jimba ovaso Konjovoli - onduku yahe Yesu" : I will look at my Saviour - his name is Jesus. And I travelled the stretch of road where our son and Lesley's mother had been killed, and Eleanor so severely injured. I think that will have been part of a long grief and healing process for me.

So would I do it again? Perhaps. But I would have to think about it carefully. My knees are still sore from the hours of cramped driving. I still remember the crashed and burned out vehicles we passed. God would need to make it clear to both Lesley and me that I had a role to play in his purposes - this would never be my choice of travel! The Landcruiser made the trip possible - but the stress of travel was high; the trip was neither safe nor comfortable. Not that I prize comfort as an ultimate consideration, but I would need a definite calling to travel that road again. But by and large I hope you agree with me that the trip was indeed worth taking this time round!