Holistic Transformation of a Praia City Community
Learn how you can help a woman just like Oliver.
Praia, Cape Verde
Praia, the capital and largest city of Cape Verde, is located on the southern coast of Santiago Island, a few hundred kilometers to the west coast of Africa in the North Atlantic Ocean. While Praia has a rich history as a business port and tourist attraction, approximately one-third of the city’s population live below the poverty line.
Meet Oliver Santiago (pronounced Olli -Vaer), who grew up in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Praia.
When asked about her childhood, Oliver said, “My community had a lot of structural problems, there was no water in the houses and the water wasn’t pure and clean to drink. The streets weren’t paved, there wasn’t a good space for the children to play, they played in the street and there was a lot of dirt and many children had various skin diseases because of this.
Electricity was scare, and there were many power outages, not just in the neighborhood but throughout the country. The neighborhood didn’t have much infrastructure or basic sanitation, but the neighbors were very close and helped each other out. Several times when my mother worked and came home late, the neighbors took care of us until she arrived.”
Even though her family lived in poverty, Oliver has wonderful memories of playing games with her sisters using toys made of wood left over from her father’s workshop. Along with the closeness of her family, they enjoyed their favorite foods during the Christmas season.
When Oliver was 11 years old a friend of her mother’s invited her to church. Upon hearing the Gospel, Oliver understood that she was a sinner who needed Jesus. She gave her life to Jesus and has been walking with Him ever since.
In 2018, she was introduced to Community Health Evangelism (CHE), through MAI Missionary Lia Veiga at her church. After teaching the basics of CHE, Lia suggested that she complete a MAI CHE internship in Ghana.
She enjoyed the internship very much and said, “It was wonderful, I was able to learn more about CHE, and I learned many new tools to be able to help my people better. The internship changed the way I look at people, not just to win them to Christ, but to look at them holistically.”
Following the internship, Oliver felt God reaffirm a missionary calling on her life. “I prayed that God would use me as His instrument and transform people’s lives. During the internship I lost all my fear, and surrendered to the call of God on my life and trusted completely that God would bear me up. When I disciple someone, I try to implement CHE in their life, and that every area of CHE (physical, emotional, spiritual, and social) is attended to and provided for. CHE is not just a spiritual ministry, but a holistic ministry.”
Oliver has witnessed the impact of CHE on the transformation of her Praia City community. “CHE has helped empower our women with the ability to support ourselves and our families and help reduce poverty. CHE has brought the knowledge of God and people into better relationships with each other. CHE has helped us to evangelize children in a different way, so that they have a fear of God.”
Oliver was happy with the progress of the CHE program in her community, but she had a dream to build a community library that would make a difference in the lives of both the children and adults. This dream became a reality when Oliver stepped out in faith to do what seemed impossible.
“It all happened in June of 2023 when I ran a small summer camp program for the children and teenagers in the community, and we decided to go and visit the President of the Republic. I sent a letter to the communications department at the presidency, requesting a visit with the children.
To our surprise, they called me a few weeks later to say that the request had been accepted. We made the visit that felt like a dream! We visited the entire presidential palace and at the end of the visit the President of our country received us and talked to the children. They asked him questions, and at the end of the visit we gave him a Bible and a box of letters from the children. In the letters, each child drew a picture and wrote something personal to the President. To our surprise, he read the letters in front of the children and called each one by name, and in one of the letters a child asked him to help the CHE project because they were very blessed by the project. He said he would help. During this visit, I saw that the President was very touched by the children’s lives.
After six months, one of the President’s advisors called, asking if she could come and see the CHE community and the project. She then came to the project and asked what the needs of the project were. I shared with her the vision of the library for the community, which was a need for everyone in the community. A few days later they called and said that the president was coming to see the project and would also help us open a library!
From right to left: Primeira Dama (First Lady) Debora Carvalho, President Jose Maria Neves, Diva Monteiro (President of the Project School Life), and Oliver Santiago
We set up the library with all the books we received, and when the President came with the First Lady to inaugurate the library, the whole community was present and so were the students from the project. The media (radio and television) also came to the event. It was a day when we could see the Lord’s name being glorified. I had the opportunity to speak to everyone present and the children sang a song that exalted God’s name. The President gave a word and told everyone that he was happy to see this project in the community, and that the project will help many people to gain more knowledge.”
Oliver’s story demonstrates how Christ can transform a life completely, bringing purpose along with a desire to positively influence the people and community in which they live. Oliver says, “It’s through my relationship with God that I’ve received wisdom and a vision for my ministry. Without God’s help I wouldn’t be able to achieve this. Every project I intend to do is directed by God.”
She adds her advice to others in the mission field, “Seek to know the Lord more each day, have a life of relationship and prayer with God. Don’t try to do anything your own way, in every community and in everything you do, pray for God’s vision and direction. God is at work even when you don’t see it, don’t give up at the first challenges, keep believing and you will see the power of God.”
When we work in communities and we identify change agents to be trained in CHE at multiple levels, God often surprises us by how He takes that person and uses them for His glory. Sometimes, He uses a person to transform a whole village or a cluster of villages. Sometimes, He uses a person to transform a whole diocese.
In this case, God surprised us all by using His agent of transformation to impact the President of the country, and who knows, perhaps the whole nation of Cape Verde will be impacted.
On her part, Oliver had shared her vision to impact her whole country. At that time, when we recorded her, we thought it was just her excitement and enthusiasm having just gone through the extended CHE internship organized by the Medical Ambassadors International West Africa team. Who knew that only three years later it would be a reality!
Watch Oliver’s 2020 internship video testimonial.
MAI is blessed to have CHE facilitators/volunteers like Oliver all across the world, who work selflessly to partner with God in sharing the Good News of the gospel through word and deed and encourage the communities to allow the love of Jesus to transform their lives. Your gift will help a woman just like Oliver.
MAI has been thoroughly vetted by third party philanthropic counsel Calvin Edwards and Company to be selected for the sixth year in a row to receive the Top 10 ministries with a highest return on investment for the Kingdom of God.
It costs onl
y $0.93 cents to help a woman like Oliver. Your gift of $0.93 today will bring education, healthcare, a job, and God’s love to someone in great need.
When you send in a gift of any amount, we will send you a booklet that shares more of Oliver’s story and photos.
More About CHE
Proven Results of CHE
In CHE Communities, there’s a marked improvement in health, reduced infant mortality, increased agricultural productivity, and job creation. Infrastructure such as water systems, roads, schools, and clinics are constructed, and churches are established. Individuals rediscover their intrinsic worth as beings made in the image of God and their responsibility as stewards of the environment.
Rather than being controlled by their surroundings, they take ownership of them. They’re empowered to identify needs, utilize resources, devise plans, and mobilize volunteers to fulfill their aspirations. Continuous reflection enhances effectiveness, while believers gather for fellowship, prayer, Bible study, and worship, sharing the message of Christ through both words and actions. Each of our target villages comprises approximately 1,000 individuals on average.