Fellowship Bible Church

"VillageAlive!" Leprosy Project in Angola, Africa

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atala is a village of about 1800 people located in a relatively remote part of Angola (on the west coast of Africa, just north of South Africa). Three years ago, Fellowship Bible Church partnered with American Leprosy Mission's VillageAlive! project in an effort to rebuild and revolutionize that community.

Katala was founded more than 50 years ago as a medical clinic devoted to helping people in that region of Angola who were suffering from leprosy. As in many cases, a village grew up around the clinic over the years, but the village was completely destroyed during Angola's civil war that lasted more than 25 years. Since the peace was restored in 2002, people have been coming back to Katala to make their homes once again.

The objectives of this VillageAlive! initiative have been three-fold:

Eliminate the extreme poverty of those in the village who have been affected by leprosy,
Rebuild and reopen the elementary school in order to promote Christian values in the educational process, and
Provide essential health services by rebuilding, equipping and re-staffing the medical clinic.

ALM's Angola Director, Dr. Jean-Pierre Brechet, reports that the village is well on its way to self-sufficiency:

The emphasis in 2007 was on agricultural development, in order to reduce the extreme poverty there. A person affected by leprosy is in charge of the agricultural work. 36 plots have been prepared and are now in use. Cattle have been purchased and vegetable gardens have been planted (including carrots, peppers, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, sorghum, maize, beans and peanuts).
A small health clinic is now in operation.
The water system (tubing to various community taps) is nearly completed.
The school has been rebuilt and reopened. For the first time in more than 25 years, the children of this region are able to receive an education (more than 300 students)! A headmaster is in place and the regional government has been so pleased with the progress that it is now supplying teachers.
Local government, the church (which is the "glue" that holds everything together there), another NGO (non-government organization, known as a "non-profit" here in the USA), a business entity and, most importantly, the residents of Katala themselves are all cooperating and working together - managing their own processes, identifying and qualifying their own problems, and proposing and fulfilling their own solutions.

Those affected with leprosy have been accepted back into the community and are now able to live productive lives, making a contribution to their families and neighbors.

ALM has invited Fellowship to participate in once-in-a-lifetime vision/mission trip to Katala sometime during July or August, 2009 (exact dates TBD). The trip will be led by Jim Oehrig, ALM's Chief Programme Officer, and Jean-Pierre Brechet, ALM's Angola rep. Please prayerfully consider if God may be calling you to this experience (which is open to 4-5 people). If you'd like more information, you may email Neal Joseph, our Executive Pastor (and the Chairman of the Board of ALM), at njoseph@FellowshipNashville.org.

Find out more about our partner, American Leprosy Missions, by clicking here.

Find out more about ALM's work in Angola by clicking here.