Marcia Azolin, who, together with her late husband, Marcos, pioneered the work of YWAM in Angola. She recalls one of her earlier visits to the Mukuando where an old man asked her, "If God loves us like you say, why did he not give us his word in our language?" Marcia apologised for a job not yet done, but promised help.
The Mukuando are eager to learn. They consider it a great honour that people came to write down their language. They are very cooperative in allowing extensive research into their language and culture. Inacio and Idalina Fio were mentored by YWAMers from Porto Velho (Brazil) in Cultural and Etnolinguistics Studies. At Omunda Yevambo they learned the phonetics of Olukuando and wrote its orthography. Since then they produced a manual with the first lessons to learn to read and write Olukuando, based on subjects from daily life, drawing on proverbs, of which the Mukuando culture is rich. For the time being the focus is on training teachers in literacy.
In the future and in co-operation with mother-tongue speakers, Bible portions will be translated into Olukuando .YWAM in Angola: Huambo, Kunene, Lobito, Lubango, Omunda Yevambo.
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