Public Health Mentor: First Stop

Angola is a HUGE country located in southern Africa; almost 3 times the size of Texas by some estimates. The country was colonized and occupied by Portugal for 500 years and won independence in 1975. The official language is Portuguese but there are also several national languages such as Umbundu.

Angola on the map of the African continent.

Map of the Provinces (like our states) and their capital cities. We visited Huíla Province, Namibe Province, and Benguela Province.

Our 6-person delegation split into three pairs and my husband and I were sent to three of the 18 provinces. Provinces in Angola are like our states in the US and each have their own provincial capital. After an hour flight from Luanda to Lubango, we checked into the Hotel Lubango in the capital city of Lubango, in Huíla Province. Our role and responsibility during this entire trip was to represent our individual churches from the Illinois conference of United Church of Christ as we visit our sister churches of IECA in Angola. We spent our days, from very early in the morning to late into the evening, visiting churches, schools, and a few healthcare facilities.

This is the church sign outside of the church we visited in Lubango.

Here is Rev. McCay meeting with the church pastors and deacons after worship service. They also prepared a wonderful after-worship meal. This was a common occurrence: Reverend McCay speaking with the pastors after worship service after he preached, followed by enjoying a meal lovingly prepared by the church members.

At church this day, we met a dedicated physician named Dr. Stephen Collins who is now an Angolan citizen but was originally from Canada. He and a physician named Dr. Steven Foster lead a small but mighty private hospital in Huíla Province. Dr. Collins kindly took us on a tour of the private hospital facility. There is no national health insurance coverage but the government does sponsor healthcare and hospitals. Unfortunately, because of the economic downturn, many of the government sponsored hospitals are poorly staffed and are providing sub-optimal care.

Emergency room entrance to the private hospital.

One of the patient areas including a bed, equipment, and a patient room curtain. Isn't the patient room curtain pretty?!

One can pass between hospital buildings via covered walkways.

Patient bed palettes stacked in the hall where patients can use them if the rooms are overcrowded.

Hospital equipment sterilizing machine.

I was excited to visit the Maternity Ward but there were no women on site so the ward was closed and locked; unfortunately, the keys were with another staff person.

Instead of the Hollywood sign, there is the Lubango sign! Visiting the sign overlooking the massive city of Lubango was part of a short departure from our work for a little tourism.

Did we stop in Brazil on our trip?! Of course not. This is Cristo Rei (Christ the Redeemer) in Lubango. There are only two other massive statues of Cristo Rei in the world - in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Lisbon, Portugal. Given the history of colonization this comes as little surprise.