“World Vision Locates Missing Staff, Assesses Damage in Angola”

Two workers seriously injured

Christianity Today May 1, 2001
World Vision reported yesterday that all 16 of its native Angolan staff members who were missing earlier this week have been located. A rebel attack in the northern Angolan city of Golungo Alto forced more than 3,000 people to flee 27 miles on foot to a nearby town.

The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) captured Golungo Alto in an attack that began at 3 a.m., May 21. Hundreds of people seeking refuge made the trek to the town of Ndalatando in the Kwanza Norte province, about 125 miles east of Luanda, Angola’s capital. Communication was cut after the raid as other World Vision staff members in Luanda tried to radio refugees in Ndaltando to locate their missing team members.

World Vision spokeswoman Sheryl Watkins said two staff members sustained serious injuries in the attack. According to a World Vision press release, Anne Mesopir, World Vision’s director of ministries in Angola, said that one of the injured men was an engineer who was evacuated to Luanda last night. The man told Mesopir that he had been interrogated by rebels for nine hours before being released wearing only his underwear, with a Bible and a pen in hand.

While most of the 20 World Vision staff members based in Golungo Alto will remain outside of the city until it is safe to return, two representatives entered the area on May 23 to assess the damage. World Vision’s warehouse has reportedly been looted, and at least one vehicle burned.

In Ndalantando, where more than 3,000 refugees remain, World Vision is distributing food. The organization says the refugees are in urgent need of medicine, blankets, and additional supplies. Among the displaced people are 500 children—including 30 infants—who have been separated from their parents. Watkins said this is a top concern for her organization. “At some point, someone’s going to have to get them back together with their parents,” she told Christianity Today earlier this week.

World Vision has been working to assist displaced people since the group began operating in Angola in 1989. A large Christian humanitarian organization based in Federal Way, Washington, World Vision has 100 representatives stationed throughout the southern African country.

Since gaining independence from Portugal 26 years ago, Angola has been ravaged by civil war. The government and the United Nations have blamed UNITA for the continued conflict that has left almost one million people dead and several million displaced from their homes in the last decade.

Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere

World Vision’s press release tells the story from a relief-and-development perspective.

The Associated Press covers the UNITA attack from a political angle.

Our Latest

News

Died: John Huffman, Pastor Who Told Richard Nixon to Confess

The Presbyterian minister and CT board member committed to serve the Lord and “let the chips fall where they may.”

The Pastor Who Rescues People from Japan’s ‘Suicide Cliff’

Yoichi Fujiyabu has spent three decades sharing God’s love to people who want to end their lives.

An Ode to the Long Season

Why fans love a game designed to break their hearts.

Is This Heaven? No, It’s Banana Ball

What baseball’s most amusing team gets right about joy in sports.

News

Black Clergy and Christians Grapple with Charlie Kirk’s Legacy

Many say the activist’s inflammatory statements on race should inform how we remember his life.

News

A Sudden Death: Voddie Baucham, Who Warned the Church of Fault Lines

Known for confronting critical theory, moral relativism, and secular ideologies, Baucham died a month into leading a new seminary in Florida.

Why Many Black Christians Reject the Evangelical and Mainline Labels

The history of a prominent church pastored by MLK in Alabama shows the reason African Americans often don’t embrace either term.

News

Pastor Abducted in Nigeria Amid Escalating Kidnapping Crisis

Armed gang continues to hold him after family paid the ransom.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube