Story and photos submitted by Sally McConnell
Former Vital Missions Chair, Mountain Sky Conference
The COVID 19 pandemic is affecting our missionaries in Angola and the people they serve and how the pastors we help support are helping their communities.
Some of the pastors have been meeting with church and village leaders teaching about good hand washing practices and its importance. Most people do not have running water in their homes, so pastors are teaching people how to build ‘tippy taps’. “
Tippy Taps” are simple and economical hand-washing stations, made with commonly available materials and not dependent on a piped water supply.
It is harvest time in Angola. Rev. Andre Cassule, a pastor who visited Montana a few years ago, writes that he is harvesting his garden and sharing with needy people in his congregation. As he is able, he is providing medicine as well.
Kutela Katembo, the agriculturalist missionary at Quessua Methodist Mission shared this: “The government has declared a lockdown where by no activities are to take place including church services. Roads are blocked by the police so that no one moves from one place to another unless for any emergency like buying drugs or food. It’s really hard for people who live on a daily basis by selling some goods in order to have something to eat. I cannot hold any seminars or trainings. Happily, with the help of villagers, we harvested a lot of maize and beans before the lockdown. “
Ken Koome, the missionary financial officer for the East Angola Conference, has received a $10,000 grant from UMCOR to provide communities with materials like water jugs, basins, soap, and rope for tippy taps and other related materials. He faces a challenge finding and accessing the materials.
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