God works in mysteries ways, and I wonder how he does it sometimes. Its feel great, it feels good like the sun who’s trying to huge you warm. 3 weeks of absolute witness of Gods great work.
24 hour bus drives, getting sick for 5 days, running from one place to another and I can assure you that God kept us; me, my mother and my sister save.
x Santa Clara
Santa Clara is a village in Angola where I enjoyed the sunset, looking up to the beautiful night sky, play with adorable huskies, it was a carefree week. A carefree week of knowing where I came from, Angola. Everyone says Good morning when you walk by and for me that’s just a small act of kindness. Everything is messy though, they have no system that’s way everything takes so long and they have this wrong habit of telling you they’re right around the corner when they are just waking up. But please don’t get this is wrong image about Angolan people because, they dance as if life is a party and they sing as if it’s the lasting that they can do. They celebrate everyday with loud music even though there is no real reason to celebrate, they don’t have much but Angolan people will not sit and cry about their failure but dance and take it as an experience.
Kids still have to take their chairs to school, caring their backpacks and walk a couple of miles to get educated, it’s sad to see them walk for so long. For example: from Santa Clara to Ondjiva is an 1 hour taxi ride for 100 Kwanzaa (every taxi ride is 100 Kwanzaa from boarding point to whatever destination, if you decide to go with the blue taxi) , many children can’t afford 200 Kwanzaa per day there is school itself to, food and water.
Going through Santa Clara and Ondjiva with the blue taxi, I noticed that some houses are painted in adorable pink, blue, mint green or yellow colors. These colors really catch my attention it makes everything joyful, as if people painted their houses in different colors to bring joy and brightness in everybody’s life. Now, when you decide to do some groceries make sure you buy Oshikandela! it’s this delicious Namibian low-fat drinking yogurt in various flavors, strawberry, guava, banana, mango, sweet etc. Santa Clara was just the beginning, quiet nice and very hot but when you drive 24 hours with the bus to Luanda, be prepared for the Angolan version of New York City.
x Luanda
Arriving in Luanda the capital of Angola, we were welcomed with a long traffic jam. unfortunately it was already dark outside so the only view we had where little neon lights and darkness. My uncle came to pick us up, cheers to the arrival with wine and a drink with 10 fruits in a wine glass for me, my favorite food and a warm family welcome.
Family is very important, as I had never seen my aunt and uncle, everything felt magical. Family is important because they’re there when things go south when it should have gone north, it’s a gift God gave to us packed in a huge box with a pink bow. Family is important because they are to only ones beside God who know you better than anyone else, family is like holding on to you’re box of memories because you care about them and you wouldn’t trade them for anything or anyone else.
Out second day in Luanda we decided to explore the city with our uncle and aunt (which was amazing!), and that’s when my sister and I got sick. Apparently we at something wrong, as sick as we were we had some unfinished business. Running back and ford my mom and I could find a taxi to where we were heading and out of no where this woman offered us a ride in her car. What’s so specials about that? We thought that she would take us to the blue taxis because she was heading to the same direction, we can only say that it was an act of God. We did not know the city and all of the sudden this nice woman offers us a ride in her car. God only knows why things happened the way it happened.
In our 3th week we went to church (finally) and it was amazing! The church was fully packed. (it was huge!) We got balloons and everyone started dancing and singing, I could feel Gods presents. After church we had a family lunch at my sisters father in law, there were lots of family members and because he lives next to the beach, some of use decided to walk and enjoy our last day in Luanda. Besides the family lunch we made a tour through Bella shop with our little family. It was an fantastic experience and I’ve learned that I should never eat without thinking about what I’m eating.
Xo, Gely
One thought on “Angola | Wanderlust”