Lar Kuzola

Seven years ago, my life was changed forever when I met the most resilient and amazing children in the world. While studying abroad in Cape Town, I volunteered at Baphumelele Children’s Home, which is located in the largest township in the city. Townships are informal settlements in which people literally live on top of one another in tin shacks. There are no municipal services like electricity, water, or plumbing. Violence, extreme poverty, and disease run rampant.  Amidst this bleak scene, stands a miraculous place full of love, laughter, and generosity. I can remember driving there for the first time with a pit in my stomach and thinking, “I’m going to see orphans in Africa. This is going to be so depressing.” It was anything but. The children swarmed me as soon as I got out of the car, each one wanting a hug or to hang from one of my limbs.  The caretakers were singing to the babies and washing clothes, while the toddlers played at their feet. In the middle of this terrible place, the women there had created a safe haven where the joy was palpable. This experience taught me that children don’t need much to feel happy and loved, and all it takes are a few dedicated individuals to give them that.

* My parents still continue to generously support Baphumelele Children’s Home, which is run by CHOSA Children of South Africa

Shortly after I arrived in Luanda, my friend Melissa, who is the Community Liaison Officer at the Embassy, told me about an opportunity to volunteer at a local orphanage. I jumped at the chance. 

Lar Kuzola, which means “love” in Kimbundu, a local language, is in the heart of Luanda. The children, who range from infants to teenagers, have arrived at Lar Kuzola for a number of reasons. Some have been abused, abandonded, or neglected by their families. Others have lost their parents to disease or violence, while others have severe mental or physical disabilities that their families could not cope with. Perhaps the most distrurbing reason why some children end up there is witchcraft. Witchcraft is still a very prominent aspect of Angolan culture, even in urban areas. Many times, children are accused of being witches if the parents are experiencing hardship. They will go to a “priest” and ask why such terrible things are happening to them, and the “priest” will blame it on their child who he claims to be possessed.

Warning:  this article may cause you to lose all hope for humanity Angolan Witchcraft's Child Victims

Unfortunately, my first visit to Lar Kuzola, was nothing like my experience at Baphumelele.  Due to lack of funding and volunteers, the facility, which is home to about 250 children, is severely understaffed. It’s somewhat of a free-for-all in which the children roam about doing their own thing, without supervision or structure. Anyway, I met with the director, who asked me if I would like to get involved with a pilot English program for 15 children. Since I am pretty busy these days, I was thinking I really don’t have time to teach myself, but I could ask some of my English students at the university if they would be interested. Voila! The idea for the Lar Kuzola Student-Teaching Program was born.

Since many of my students at Agonstino Neto University are aspiring teachers, I thought this would be a great opportunity for them to get some hand-on experience while at the same time providing the kids at the orphanage with English lessons. Everybody wins!

The response from my students, who are now the student-teachers, has been amazing! I have been really impressed with their dedication. We have been holding the classes on Saturday mornings for the last few weeks and I hope that this will continue indefinitely, even after I leave in December. 

Best of all, when I am in that classroom, I get that old feeling back again. The way I felt at Baphumelele. And I can tell that the student-teachers feel it too. 

Ball toss - always a crowd pleaser

Life's Little Pleasures

A collection of things I miss about good ol' USA (in no particular order):

* Family and friends are a given, so this list excludes people

• Walking
•  Food that tastes good
• Running water at my place of employment
• A general understanding that urinating in public (unless highly intoxicated at 2am) is socially unacceptable
• Not thinking I have malaria every time I get a mosquito bite
• Vegetables
• The unspoken rule that throwing your garbage anywhere and everywhere is not OK
• Toilet paper, soap, and indoor plumbing in public restrooms
•  Working at a functional institution
• Reasonably priced cocktails
• TV that has more than 6 channels in English
• Reliable electricity



What's this?

• Not spending at least 3 hours in the backseat of a car every day 

On the bright side:

•  Considering all the time I spend in the car, I am reading a book a week and listening to many informative podcasts
•  I am learning a new language
• My students think I invented games like charades and pictionary, and therefore believe me to be a creative genius
• I am very hard core now

Coping with the boredom

            Seeing as entertainment options are limited in Luanda, and since there are approximately 8 people under the age of 35 in my social network, I have begun to engage in some activities that are slightly inappropriate for my age. I am currently participating in a book club, a knitting group (I do not know how to knit), and a water aerobics class. By the time retirement rolls around, in about 35 years, I’ll be an old pro.

On the flip side, my favorite solo activity is coloring. I print out pages from coloring books online, throw on some tunes, and just go to town. I find it to be very therapeutic. In addition, my beautiful works of art make wonderful gifts and are a cheap and cheerful way to spruce up the bare walls in my room.

Side notes

            Last week, I gave a presentation to 150 English students at Utanga University. In case you were wondering, it was called “Strategies for Improving Prounciation & Vocabulary.” Surprisingly, this was not the highlight of the evening. Musical and theatrical performances are a staple of academic and professional conferences here, and this one takes the cake so far. A male college student performed the power ballad, “Because You Loved Me,” by…..you guessed it! Celine Dion. Karaoke aside, it was by far the worst vocal performance I have ever heard.

 The guy in the front row is sleeping. He is my boss.

            Today, in class, we played Celebrity Dinner Party. Groups had to agree on a guest list of 10 celebrities, living or dead, to invite to a dinner party. Since I am “a very famous English teacher,” one of the groups invited me to their party. I was very honored, considering the other guests included Osama bin Laden, Phil Collins, Kobe Bryant, and Kim Kardashian. Sounds like a pretty good time. 

"Whoa Whoa Whoa! Who invited Kim Kardashian?"

Keeping Things in Perspective

           Remembering that this country is still recovering from a devastating civil war that ended only 10 years ago and that its people are plagued by crime, disease, and economic hardship, is not always easy.  The daily frustrations of working within a system that doesn’t make any sense and having to work collaboratively with people from a completely different world, can sometimes blind us from seeing the reality and the suffering that exists in this place.   

 I am often reminded how fortunate I am and how my “problems” don’t even begin to compare to those of the Angolan people. A co-worker tells me he won’t be in tomorrow because his 9-year-old nephew died of malaria and he needs to attend the funeral. A friend is robbed at gun point and when I console her, she says, “I didn’t even cry. It’s normal here.” A student, who clearly has polio, apologizes for being late because he was at the hospital.  Suddenly, the fact that the Internet at my house has been down, doesn't seem like such a big deal. 

In spite of the tragedies, work still has to get done, and so I must somehow find a balance between being compassionate and being assertive. Just recently, I went to Cazenga to work with a class there. The teacher didn’t show up and attendance was very low. This particular visit was unannounced so I became concerned that this was the norm and that when I tell them I’m coming, the teachers put on a show. Since this program is supported and funded by the US Embassy, I reported the incident and the teacher’s supervisor was notified. I found out a week later that the reason the teacher was absent was because his young niece had died and the body was lost, so the family was scouring the city’s hospitals and morgues looking for her. So now I feel like a big jerk! But of course, how could I have known that?

The truth is that sometimes people don’t show up for work or school for no reason at all, or they don’t perform jobs that were assigned to them and they have no viable excuse. Like my students always blaming their tardiness on traffic. It is true that this city’s traffic is horrible. It can take 1 hour to travel 5 miles. So of course people are late due to traffic, but it’s part of life in Luanda, and it can’t be used as an excuse everytime one does not fulfill an obligation. I have no way of knowing if a student is late or absent because of some extenuating circumstance beyond their control, or because he overslept, so what do I do? The only fair and logical thing to do is to make the rules the same for everyone and to not accept any excuses. It’s harsh, but so is everything else here.