The winner, Leonel Biha.
Photo: The Israeli Embassy in Angola
International Bible Contest travels to Africa
For the first time, the International Bible Contest, which is held in Israel every Independence Day, took place in Angola and Nigeria; winner Leonel Biha, a student for electrical engineering, was moved to tears.
The International Bible Contest, which is held in Israel every Independence Day, landed in Africa for the first time this year. The competitions in Angola and Nigeria attracted 1,000 participants, the finals included 12 contenders, and the first prize was a trip to Israel to attend Bible camp.
The finals took place in Luanda, Angola, in cooperation with the Israeli Ministry of Education and with the help of the Theological University and a Bible association.
The winner, Leonel Biha. (Photo: The Israeli Embassy in Angola)
Angolan television broadcasted the finals, which lasted three hours, and articles about the competition made headlines in local news.
Itzik Ben Avi, who heads the educational programs department in the Education Ministry’s youth and social projects administration, and the 2015 winner of the competition Hananel Malka, served as judges, alongside the Israeli ambassador in Angola Oren Rozenblat.
The winner, Leonel Biha, a student for electrical engineering, was moved to tears. He won a visit to Israel and will be participating in Bible camp.
The competition Judges. (Photo: The Israeli Embassy in Angola)
Ambassador Rozenblat said that the event created a bond between Angola and Israel. “The government here is not friendly to Israel, and it’s important to establish good connections with the Angolan people on other grounds, and not only with the government. We formed important bonds with leading Christian organizations here in preparations for the competition, which took six months,” he said.
Ben Avi continued to Nigeria, where the Nigerian finals of the competition took place on Wednesday. The three winners of the competition there won a visit to Israel, but will not make it in time to the Bible camp events.
