Kalukembe Hospital - An Interesting History

One of CEML's adjunct medical ministries and facilities is the Kalukembe Hospital, located some 230 km or 140 miles northwest of the city of Lubango where the main CEML Hospital is located.

I love researching history and this hospital most certainly has an interesting background and foundation. 

Swiss missionaries opened a mission in the village of Kalukembe back in the 1880's with the intent on being an independent, self financing, industrial mission supported by its own craft industries, agricultural plantations and merchant activities.   It was also intended to rescue slaves who escaped from the trade caravans going to the coast to be sold to the cocoa planters of Sao Tome and Brazil.  The controlling Portuguese authorities were outraged when the mission was originally called Lincoln, in honor of the American President had outlawed slavery in the USA and claimed in denial that any Angolan colonial subject was in danger of being enslaved and in need of being rescued.

Additionally, the mission was a haven for Angolan slaves who escaped the hard labor and cruel punishment of local white Afrikaner farmers who themselves escaped the British rule in South Africa.  The Afrikaners threatened to withdraw their business dealings with the mission stores and workshops for the harboring of their slaves but quickly realized that there was no better source and quality of supplies than from the highly skilled mission craftsmen. (Info from David Birinham's book, Portual and Africa)

The Kalukembe Hospital was established in 1944 and eventually became one of the largest mission hospitals in Angola, with dozens of foreign medical doctors and personnel serving the needs of southern Angola region.   When the civil war erupted in 1975, this number of medical personnel quickly dwindled because of security concerns.  Now there is are no resident doctors, national or foreign, permanently stationed at Kalukembe.

A program of education and basic medical training has been in place over the last 10 years to equip the Angolan staff of nurses and health practitioners working at the hospital to handle on their own the most basic medical needs of the people in the area.  On a monthly basis, a group of doctors from the CEML Hospital in Lubango will fly to Kalukembe via the MAF aircraft to perform more complicated medical procedures and surgeries.

Amidst the history and turmoil that the hospital has endured over the years, it is enthralling to see how the Angolans are empowered to continue the ministries of the hospital on their own.

Dinosaurs in Angola?

With the opening up of the country after the termination of the decades long civil war, researchers have now discovered a treasure of rare fossils in the country. Some palaeontologists describe Angola as, "The final frontier for palaeontology, since in some areas there are literally fossils sticking out of the rocks. It's like a museum in the ground." 

At this point, most of the fossils found, sauropods (land based dinosaurs as seen in this picture) and mosasaurs (aquatic based dinosaur species), have been discovered along the coast north of Luanda.

Much of Angola's fossil richness results from dramatic continental shifts thousands of years ago, which saw the land transform from tropic-rich areas that supported dinosaurs to a desert region along the coast.  According to similiar geology findings, these particular shifts contributed to the formation of the vast oil deposits off of the same Angolan north coasts.  More can be found on these explorations and research on this Discovery site. 

Though I personally struggle with the viewpoint of the timeline of millions of years required in the life of these fossils since I hold to a 'biblical young-earth, creationist' view i.e. a literal six day earth age as described in the book of Genesis, I find these fossil discoveries exciting.  Let us hope that influx of funds and effort in this research will ultimately benefit the Angola people.

Combating Malaria

Being involved in a medical ministry like CEML, we are keenly interested in the major causes of illness to Angolans so that preventative causes can be implemented.  Major attention is directed toward malaria, Angola's main medical killer that is the principal cause of morbidity and mortality in the country, especially among children under 5 years of age and pregnant women.

Have a look at the latest malaria statistics for Angola:

• In 2008, Angola reported 3.2 million cases of malaria, two-thirds of which occurred in children under 5 years of age.
• Malaria accounts for 35% of the overall mortality in children, 25% of overall maternal mortality and is the cause of 60% of hospital admissions for children under five and 10% for pregnant women.
• Anaemia due to malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in both children and pregnant women and malaria is a leading cause of low birth weight in newborns. (Unicef Angola Report 2009)

While CEML's main involvement with malaria is really a reactive response in treating affected patients, it wholly supports the preemptive efforts of many other groups that aim to stop the spread of malaria by misquitos. 

The United Nations group, UNICEF, is one of the Angolan Government’s key partners in national malaria control in Angola.  It has a target to seek a 60% reduction in the impact of malaria nationally through education and the distribution of  Long Lasting Insecticial misquito Nets (LLINs).   Already having distributed some 2.5 million LLINs since 2005, they are planning to distribute some 3 million more nets over the next 3 years. 

We are hopeful that these efforts will offer greater protection against misquito bites to significantly improve the health of Angolans.

Merry Christmas!

May God richly bless you this Christmas Season as we remember and celebrate the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Here is a picture of how one Angolan celebrates Christmas.

Mountains!

Angola is not usually thought of as a mountainous land, yet more than half the country is on a vast plateau between 1,000 - 2,000 metres (3280 - 6550 feet) in altitude.

The most mountainous parts of Angola are mainly situated in a zone 100 - 200 km (60 - 120 miles) from the Atlantic coast. Many of the countries biggest cities are well over a thousand metres (3280 feet) above sea level:  Huambo (1710 m or 5610 ft), Lubango (1178 m or 3860 ft).  The highest point in Angola is the Morro do Moco which reaches a height of 2620 m or 8595 ft and is located to the northwest of Huambo.

For our assignment, we will be located in Lubango which is close to the two most famous landmarks in Angola.  An impressive, man-made switchback road was constructed on the face of the Serra da Bandeira mountains at Leba. During colonial rule in the 1960s, the Portuguese engineer chose the shortest route to climb the mountain to connect Lubango with the coastal city of Namibe.  The road incorporates numerous hairpin bends in the road using methods employed in the Swiss Alps.

The other marvel is Tundavala (2252 m or 7390 ft), a massive gorge on the main escarpment which gives a breathtaking view down to the desert and coastal plain well over 1,000 m or 3200 ft below. (Adapted with info from the Sonangol magazine Universo, December 2009)

More Food in Angola!

The lingering and re-emerging Portuguese influence on Angola, this former Portuguese colony, is greatly evident in the area of cuisine. Many of direct Portuguese descent and the emerging Angolan 'modern'culture living in the largest cities have embraced more of Portugal's culinary tastes. I will cover just a few of the prevalent items and some of the favorites served at Christmas here. (Since I love foreign food and think that it is a major part of cultural assimilation, I will cover it frequently here in this blog)

Starting off with coffee, the strength of the coffee drunk is much stronger than normally used in some countries. This full-strength expresso coffee, or bica as it is commonly named, is normally combined with lots of sugar and gives a good jolt!  It is commonly consumed as a start to a daily routine at pastry shops before work.

he Portuguese national dish, the soup "caldo verde", has kale (or collards ) as it's key ingredient. Soup is commonly eaten as a starter at the beginning of the meal or even after a meal to 'get that full feeling'. The dish is brimming with potatoes, onion, garlic and filament-thin shreds of kale and often fortified with slices of "chouriço" or "linguiça" (sausages).

Bacalhau, a fish dish with the main ingredient of salted, dried codfish, is a traditional dish served at Christmastime.  There is said to be 1001 ways to serve bacalhau, but it is most commonly served with potatoes and eggs.

Leitao, or suckling pig, is another Christmas delicasy though young piglets are often hard to come by in Angola.  The month-old young piglet is seasoned with salt and pepper and roasted whole on a spit for two hours in a wood-fired oven.

Bolo Rei, literally translated 'King Cake', is normally served during the Christmas season. The cake is made in a round design with a large hole in the centre to intentially resemble a crown. Crystallized and dried fruit are placed on the top to resemble jewels.  Tradition dictates that a fava bean be baked into the cake and that whoever finds the fava has to pay for the Bolo Rei next year.