Lubango Vlog v.4.6: A Toast to Lubango!

As another visit to Angola winds down, my wife and I toast Lubango in our accustomed fashion.

Lubango Vlog v.4.5: Canadians Still Trying Junk Food in Angola

Yes, it's another vlog about tasting junk food. Join us for a bite!

Blogging from Angola

Just a reminder that my wife and I also blog about our experiences in Angola on our website; at our blog you can learn about the murals we're designing, the inventory we're taking and other observations about Angola. Check it out!

New Vlog: More of Tasting Junk Food in Angola!

The right day for a junk food tasting video is everyday!

New vlog: CEML Succession

On August 7, my Uncle Steve stepped down as director of medical seevices at CEML in favour of Dr. Sam Fabiano. I was there with my wife and we recorded most of the 2-hour service. I've made this video of highlights; it's all in Portuguese.

Lubango Vlog v:4:2: Canadians Try Junk Food in Angola

Since 2021, I've been making videos about junk food in Angola. I'm not done yet!

The Lubango vlog is back!

I'm heading back to Lubango with my wife on a new mission trip; here's my new vlog with details!

Angola in the Comics #24: Jann of the Jungle

Well, here's a comic book story set in Angola - but it's not actually a comic! Jann of the Jungle #9 (1956) had a 2-page text story called "Law of the Jungle." Unfortunately, it had no images and the writer was not credited. But this is reasonably good use of Angola as it was evidently written by someone who knew a bit about the country, basing it in Chá Columba and demonstrating some knowledge of Portuguese. I've written a profile for the lead character, Eudardo Labarca on the Marvel Appendix!

Angola: Illustrated Journal available in print!

It took some work to format it properly for print, but the Angola: Illustrated Journal book I wrote with my wife Bethany and filled with many images drawn by her is finally available. At the moment you can find it on Amazon, including this link here!

Now on sale- Angola: Illustrated Journal!

My wife Bethany and I recently co-authored a book about our experiences in Angola; this is my second book about Angola, following the Benefit of Steel. We kept a daily journal during our visit to Angola last year and this book is drawn from what we wrote in that journal; it's also filled with paintings Bethany created based on scenes she observed during our visit.

We're working on getting the book into all the ebook and print markets that the Benefit of Steel has enjoyed, but for now you can buy the ebook directly from Bethany's store page or you can buy it on Amazon's Kindle page.

Bethany and Michael Hoskin are associate missionaries to Angola with SIM Canada. In July 2024 they travelled there for a month-long mission trip and kept a visual and written journal.

Enjoy reading about each day's activities which included repairing a mural at the CEML Hospital, leading worship at the Spiritual Life Conference at Tchincombe Farm and teaching an ESL Bible Study in Lubango.

Also included are a series of original illustrations by Bethany K. Hoskin with some original sketches, as well as poetry written by both her and Michael.

Book Review: Death of Dignity

I recently purchased a copy of Victoria Brittain's 1998 book Death of Dignity: Angola's Civil War. The author was a reporter for the Guardian who visited Angola a few times in the 80s and 90s and I was interested to find a perspective about the country from that time period.

The book is slim, numbering only 100 pages plus a 10 page preface. The preface is what I'd hoped the rest of the book would be like - the author's personal experiences as a journalist in Angola, describing what she witnessed and what people told her. But that's not how the other 100 pages were presented; the book is primarily a history of Angola from 1975-1998. It's not really about Angolan society, or even Angolan politics; it's a book about international politics and how Angola was played like a football by various competing nations after it became independent.

The content is fine - I did pick up some interesting details here and there and particular timings of when things were announced versus when they were actually implemented that I hadn't found in other books. Otherwise, the information found in the book could be found in other titles; I was hoping the book would be something more personal and unique.

But while the content is fine, the manner in which it's relayed left me frustrated, and that's what I really want to write about. In the foreword, the author made it clear ther her book would not be "neutral" in tone but rather partisan. The author did not like the rebels and did not use any of its members' interviews in the book because "I have interviewed too many of them and seen too much of their suffering to listen to the lying justifications of those responsible."

She also promised in the foreword that "nor are there interviews with Western diplomats, the normal staple fare of Western journalists." Which is an odd hill to plant one's flag upon. She quoted Western diplomats all the time, featuring public quotes from the likes of Henry Kissinger, Chester Crocker and Margaret Antsee. She also quoted an official from the UN whom she didn't identify; either her source didn't attribute the quote or she contradicted herself? But why make the promise "I won't interview these people, but I will quote extensively from them?"

She emphasized that she did interview many Angolans and quoted them anonymously to protect them, but even there her interviewing is brief; if you added up all the interviews she conducted, it might account for 5 of the 100 pages. She quoted from the rebel's public statements very frequently, but at least she ascribed a portion of agency to them. Contrast that with her treatment of the government in quotes such as this, about the resumption of the civil war in early 1993: "The horror of how life had been reduced to a numb battle for survival in those among the MPLA leadership who never forgot it for a moment paid a heavy psychological prize as they agonised without being able to do anything." The government is written about as though they were, at best, passive.

I suppose what I really wanted was the author's personal experiences and interviews, not an opinionated guide through Angolan history. It's an angry book that is very particular to the time in which it was published (near the end of the war). But as a 1990s work of non-fiction on Angola, I found Karl Maier's book Angola: Promises and Lies - cited in Brittain's bibliography - a much better work.

Reflections on Angola in the New Issue of Artlife Magazine!

My wife recently published a new isuse of her Artlife Magazine and it includes a bit about our recent month-long visit to Angola with her impressions on art in Angola.

Artlife Magazine is available for free in digital format at her website, Bethany Illustrates. You can download a copy here.

Lubango Vlog: Reflections

As we leave Angola, my wife and I reflect on our activities and accomplishments of the previous month.

How Not to Hunt Lions

While in Angola I recorded my Uncle Steve delivering his famous "How Not to Hunt a Lion" story. Now you can see it for yourself!

Lubango Vlog: More Junk Food Testing!

My wife and I made another junk food testing video for your enjoyment!

Lubango Vlog: Mural Painting, Days 6-8

Here are 3 days' worth of my wife and I making progress in the CEML mural repair!

Lubango Vlog: Canadians Test Coffee in Angola!

We don't only eat junk food in Angola - we also like our coffee! in this video, my wife and I sample coffee from the local stores!

Lubango Vlog: Ministry Updates

Updates on the work my wife and I are doing in Angola, including English lessons, art classes and mural repair!

Lubango Vlog: Canadians Try Junk Food in Angola

My junk food videos about Angola are one of the quirky ideas I had to get friends interested in what I was doing in Angola. Now that I'm in Angola with my wife, there are two of us with opinions to share!

Lubango Vlog Is Back!

Learn all about the work my wife and I are performing in Lubango in this new vlog!