It’s Sunday, and I get the afternoon off. Earlier today, one of the guys came in and said, “Hey, Nalco guys are heading out of camp today to that technical school. You want to go?”
Heck, any chance to get out of camp, I take. I’d heard about this school – it’s in a small town about 30 minutes drive north. Apparently it is run by a Danish woman who practically brought it up from nothing 10 years ago to a very successful technical and teacher training school. We went over to Nalco’s offices for lunch, and then helped them load up a pickup truck and the back of a school bus with coolers, food and other stuff. The drive is great – green rolling hills as far as you can see. The occasional house or hut, a few people. There was about a dozen people on the bus and a few more in the pickup – apparently today’s event was going to be a soccer match as well as a demonstration of the skills that the students are learning.
We found the school at the end of a side road. The students were singing and clapping as we got off the bus – all of us lined up listening. The sound was amazing, harmony and tempo, clapping and dancing. The director, Inga, stepped up to introduce herself. Her energy and excitement was contagous, and it was obvious that the students love and respect her. We were taken to a small area behind the school where several of the students were gathered to give us a demonstration of the electrical principles that they had been learning. The presentation was in Portuguese, but as the students screwed in light bulbs and flipped switches, even I could tell what was going on. We were then taken into a long classroom where there was more singing, poetry and even a guy who mimed a rap song. The final, and longest, event of the day was a soccer match between the students and some of the Nalco employees.
What a bloodbath – the students were organized and well trained, the Nalgo guys had just sort of showed up to play. During the match, Inga suggested that she take us to see a church in the town. I’d seen the place a couple of times while driving by on other trips to Landana. A large, very well kept church with a high steeple and plenty of outlying buildings. We were amazed to learn from Inga that the place was over 1000 (yes, that’s three zeros) years old.
Apparently Chevron and another company had helped renovate it about 5 years ago. The outbuildings are a school for grades 1 to 8, and also quarters for teachers and the priest. She said when the renovation work had been completed, the Pope had visited to help them reopen.
Back to Inga’s school. With the Nalco guys still getting their butts kicked in the background, Inga proceeded to tell me about all the work that her organization does. In addition to the technical school, she also had a teachers college. The college was sending teachers out into the “bush” to teach in small villages. They were in the process of building more colleges in Angola and other countries.
After lots of group photos, our visit came to an end. We committed to come back, and Roger is already making a list of things that we can do to help her. As we were returning, one of the Nalco guys was telling us that Inga never asks for much – they practically have to force things on her. Her dedication to her job and to the people should be an inspiration to all of us.
As Roger said, “She’s the kind of person they make documentaries about.”
What a day. I’m really looking forward to visiting Inga again. Perhaps I can help a little.