Their church, having outgrown its space, knocked out some of the stones and extended the wall to allow room for more people to enter and worship. These women meet in their local units every Friday afternoon. Another group from local churches, unable to meet on Friday afternoons, meet before work Thursday mornings. To assure that they don't become divided, the two groups gather as a unit on Sundays bimonthly. Rural villagers have fled to Luanda for safety from warfare, raising the population to more than 4 million.
People are unemployed and live in tiny make-shift shacks.
Thousands of orphaned and abandoned children live on the streets. In these areas of the city, the West Angola Conference has built nine compounds which contain classrooms, a small health center, a kitchen, and a dining room. The children enter the gates of these sanctuaries leaving behind the misery of dust, garbage, and crowds. There are few books and materials, but there is peace, beauty, learning, food and health. It makes me so proud to be a United Methodist.