They have a number of small schools around some of their local congregations, which is part of a duly registered education program with the Angolan Department of Education. This educational program is officially registered under the name of Twamamico, which means “Go Forward” in the local dialect.

In the capital city of Luanda they have three Twamamico schools and one of them, in the Boa Esperança (Good Hope) congregation, is called the Água Viva (Living Waters) school. This school currently serves 743 students, of which 43 students are church members’ children. 

The Água Viva school needs to provide education to higher grades so that the children don’t go back to the streets. As such, the school is going through an expansion project to double its capacity from seven classrooms to 14 classrooms by adding a second floor and an office area. 

LifeNets and the ABC class of 2020 began fundraising to sponsor this project with a target amount of $30,000. We are very happy to inform you that this target has been achieved. Thank you all for your generous contributions. The school construction has been initiated and the funds are being transferred to Angola as they are needed, in order to avoid the risk of losing their value due to the local currency’s ongoing devaluation. This way we are able to stick to the budget, as local building costs are going up. The brethren in Angola have also already purchased the raw building materials to protect the investment against rapid inflation, which is affecting Angola due to the country’s poor economic performance during the current COVID-19 crisis. 

The local Angolan church council chairman, Paulino João Foi, stated the following in a letter to UCG dated Oct. 16, addressed to all who have so kindly supported this project, whether UCG members, LifeNets donors, ministers or UCG’s Council of Elders: 

“In the name of our eternal Father and Jesus Christ our Savior, we wish you peace and grace from our Savior Jesus Christ. In regards with the development of the work in Angola, the Church is grateful for the commitment that has been made by our brothers in Christ, especially by UCG’s Council of Elders and the brethren around the world.

“The gospel message is being preached by means of the Boa Nova [Portuguese edition of Beyond Today] and the kind financial support to our social projects, particularly in relation to the Twamamico school Água Viva. Its restructuring work already started on the 30th of last month [September].

“In conclusion, we are beseeching our eternal Father to continue to add to the blessings of the members of United Church of God, namely, the Council of Elders and in general, all the brethren around the world, [including all LifeNets generous donors], so that His will may be done.” Signed by Paulino João Foi, Chairman.