We’re in Angola!

Looking for mural supplies in Lubango today! © Bethany K. Hoskin (Vanderputten)

We arrived in Angola on August the 3rd and after a day in Luanda waiting for our plane arrived in Lubango that evening where we’re staying with my Uncle Steve and Aunt Peggy on the Mitcha missionary compound. We have already begun securing materials for the murals, exchanging our money was an easy task, and so was finding paint, but the boards to paint the murals upon were a touch more challenging! We visited perhaps 16 different shops with our driver Filippe all over Lubango (the city of about 1 million people). Most of the shops did not have any suitable boards and those that did were more expensive than we had planned in our budget. Finally Filippe brought us to a shop near the airport, almost the other side of the city from Mitcha, and there we found boards that were exactly the size, shape and thickness that we wanted, and at a very nice price. They should be delivered to us later today (Thursday).

While we wait to start painting we have begun the inventory at CEML. Dr. Sam Fabiano showed us the shipping containers at the hospital. He and his staff have already removed most of the expired and out of date materials so that all we have to do is give an accounting of what remains. He’s asked us to take inventory on five containers to begin with and we think we can definitely complete that during this month, The boxes are mostly very clearly labelled, so although there are hundreds of boxes in each container we don’t have to open many boxes.

We have struggled to adapt to the change of time zone but we’re definitely enjoying the cooler climate and our meals with my Aunt and Uncle have been very filling and nutritious!

Michael Hoskin