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Portuguese Missionary Volunteer Says Angola Experience “completely” Changed His Worldview

Jorge Fernandes from Portugal with street children he was teaching in Angola. Credit: Agenzia Info Salesiana (ANS)

A Portuguese-born Salesian Missionary who volunteered to serve the vulnerable in Angola has, in a report, shared about his experience in the Southern African nation, saying his services among slum dwellers “completely” changed his worldview.

In a Wednesday, April 14 report obtained by ACI Africa, Jorge Fernandes says, “I lived in one of the most dangerous slums in Angola. I tasted the difficulties, needs and joys of people. I went to a school to teach street children. This made me see life from a completely different perspective.”

For Fernandes, an expert in Computer Engineering and Project Management, teaching and interacting with the street children under the care of the members of the Religious Institute of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) allowed him “to live a completely different sort of life.”

Referencing his decision to leave the Czech Republic where he had served for three years as a software developer for Angola, he explains, “I didn’t know where I was going or what I was going to do. I wanted to understand better the purpose of my existence in this world. Before I went, I told myself that I would do ‘whatever it takes.’”

After a year as a volunteer with SDB members in Angola’s Archdiocese of Luanda, Fernandes is back to his native country of Portugal. He credits his ability to be a good teacher to his service among the vulnerable children in the Southern African nation.

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“I understand now that each of my students has a life story that deserves to have its space; that school is not just a place to learn things, but to learn to be,” he reflects in the April 14 report published by Salesian Mission Newswire, the official news service of Salesian Missions.

He adds, “This new post-mission perspective makes me as open to those entrusted to me today in my work in Portugal as I had to be to those with whom I was in Angola as a missionary.”

In the Archdiocese of Luanda, members of the St. John Bosco-founded Religious Institute facilitate education and shelter for homeless children and at-risk girls; they support the youth through social development programs.

Their apostolate among street children in Angola’s capital city started in the 1990s when groups of children fleeing the 1975-2002 Angolan Civil War “flowed” into Luanda seeking refuge, the report  titled, “Angola: Volunteer teaches street children, gains perspective” indicates.

“Today, long after the war has ended, children are still fleeing their homes for a variety of reasons. Many run away from home because of parent neglect, some as a result of abuse, and others because they are thought to be sorcerers or witches who bring misfortune to their families,” the leadership of SDB adds.

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The Salesian missionaries are also engaged in the rebuilding of infrastructure damaged during the 27-year-old war that led to the loss of at least 500,000 lives and the displacement of over one million people.

“Much was destroyed during the conflict including schools, medical buildings and churches,” SDB officials say in the report, and add, “Living within the communities in which they work, Salesian missionaries have been perfectly positioned to respond to local needs and lead projects for community betterment.”

In the April 14 report, the leadership of SDB says that though the war created “widespread educational disparities,” recent reforms have "paved the way for more young people to have better access to education and social equality."