Looking Ahead & Looking Back

Jay Berghuis
Dec 9, 2024
2 min read

Updated: Dec 12, 2024

...and being here now!

It’s time to post again as I have a couple of hours today before we drive south to a beach resort in Caboledo. Uli is visiting the extensive spread of the work of JEMBAS – the major company that my primary school friend Etienne set up in the middle of the civil war in 1989. I’m attempting to assimilate the last overflowing days of meaningful relationships, non-stop excellent hospitality, and spectacular nature … and hours of terrifying driving around Luanda, the capital city of Angola.

I’m writing from our luxe guest house in a spreading compound where Etienne and his family live and have created 55 acres of beautifully maintained and razor-wire, protected housing for themselves and scores of workers. The peacocks and the roosters are squawking through the mango and banana trees. It’s 85+ degrees with intense humidity, so I’m sheltered in AC comfort with this rug at my feet and this awesome presence behind me, and through the sliding doors, the swimming pool in the center of the house courtyard!

I’m living in the powerful paradox of the wealth of Africa and attempting to embrace it all.

YIKES! I’m relieved to be heading to the beach for 4 days!

There are so many amazing people I have met and talked to these past days. So so so many beautiful places. A picnic at one of the family farms yesterday. A braai – BBQ calamari, lamb, guinea fowl, and pork all raised on their highland farm where we’ll be staying at later next week.

Looking Ahead

I snapped this photo as we walked through the flame trees and toured the Brechet farm. This young man Miguel, an Angolan, is a friend of Rayan, Etienne’s grandson, with an image too of his friend Guillaume (Bolivian/French) who are both studying in France. We spent some good time with these young men over the past days. Below, they are posing with Augustino Neto, Angola’s first president after the Portuguese colonial days.

These young people strike me as embodied examples of Angola as a global presence has a fresh opportunity to look forward. Those who speak passionately about their place in global history. The desire for change, and the significance of ancestral heritage. Miguel’s grandfather was killed during the civil war for his political stand. Rayan’s grandfather, a successful businessman, who has remained fully Angolan over his lifetime, despite his white skin. All young people committed to and for their people and their land.

Looking Back

And here’s my old Swiss/Angolan friend Etienne with whom we have shared many mangoes! How many laughs and joy we shared these past days. It’s incredibly wonderful to be able to do this once again as we consider what it means to be elders and leave legacies for those that follow us.

Being Here Now

Taking it all in. Wow.

I don’t have time to describe our incredible 14-hour-day excursion to the nearest national park on Saturday, but here’s a taste of a coming post. Possibly, more than anything else - I have fallen in loving connection with the baobab trees. These magical presences dominate the countryside.