AMSF Biography: Muriel "Ki" Henderson

Muriel "Ki" Henderson and her husband Lawrence "Larry" Henderson worked as missionaries in Angola from 1947 to 1969 with the United Church Board for World Ministries. Two daughters, Kathy and Nancy, moved to Angola with the family in 1947 and 2 sons, David and Mark, were born in Angola. Until 1960, the Hendersons lived in the coastal city of Lobito. Ki worked with women's groups, ran the Casa Missionária for missionaries in transit, and often taught her 4 children. In 1960 the Hendersons moved to Bunjei and later they worked in Dondi and Nova Lisboa, where Ki worked with the scholarship students studying there.

When they left Angola in 1969 for New York, Ki worked in social services and then at the African-American Institute. She again worked with African students studying in the United States. She and Larry moved to Florida in 1977 where she compiled a notebook of international connections and organizations in Florida. When the Hendersons retired and moved to Lisbon, Ki helped Larry research his book, A Igreja em Angola, and tutored Angolan students in English. She had known most of them from Dondi and Nova Lisboa. In 1991 Ki and Larry moved to Durham, NC.

Ki graduated from the College of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA, and did further studies at Northwestern in African Studies. While there, she wrote a monograph about the history of the Benguela railroad.

Ki has maintained a vast correspondence and phone conversations with Angolans, Portuguese, family and friends around the world.

TO VIEW LARRY HENDERSON'S BIOGRAPHY, CLICK HERE.