Church of England Head Visits Christian Aid Partners in Angola

The Archbishop of Canterbury met with three Christian Aid partners in Angola's capital, Luanda, to learn about their women's literacy, housing rights and HIV/AIDS work.

The Angolan Congregational Church (IECA) hosted Archbishop Rowan Williams at its women's training centre, which was built with funding from Christian Aid, in the Mabor neighbourhood. The Archbishop met women who had benefited from IECA's literacy, midwifery and cookery courses, and sampled food cooked by the students.

Representatives from two other partners, SOS Habitat, which works to protect poor people's housing rights, and Rede Esperança, the Angolan churches' HIV/AIDS network, also joined the Archbishop.

He heard about the work that SOS Habitat is doing to support poor people in slum areas who are being threatened with eviction to make space for new building.

Rede Esperanza (Hope Network) outlined its efforts to bring together the three main church groups - the Angolan Council of Churches, the Evangelical Alliance and the Catholic Church - in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Angola currently has an HIV infection rate of 4% - the lowest in the region. But now the war is over and people can move freely around the country, there is a huge risk that the virus will spread rapidly. In neighbouring countries, the infection rate is as high as 20%.

'It was a real pleasure for us to be able to bring our partners and Dr Williams together,' said Rosario Advirta, Christian Aid's programme manager for Angola.

'This was a great opportunity for our partners to speak face-to-face with the Archbishop, and for the Archbishop to see for himself the excellent work that our partners are doing here, and the difficulties they face.'

The Archbishop was in Angola as part of a planned visit to the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.