A mail received from one of our students, a young girl; she is working in Mozambique for a NGO.
Some of her first impressions - I obviously don't comment or correct it.
Lets make this paradise more paradise
Since I arrived to Mozambique I see this huge gap between paradise nature of this country and poverty in which this people from paradise live. But, should they really need much here? Are pills we are able to take make our lives better? Is it a rule that a person who lives 70 years has to grown into better human than the one who didn't? You,...me...us...We have such a strange tendency to make something that its already good something even better. Get more paradise from paradise itself. Africa suffers, cos our "civilised" ancestors thought its a paradise and decided to own it. Cut the roots of tribes, fill up this continent with strange foreign culture, which even in our space caused lots of troubles and we should be happy that middle ages are lost in past. Africa hasn't reached its renaissance yet.
It's such a pointless effort to look back. But how can be fresh fruit transformed by cooking into something better? How can be peaceful relation improved by its destruction? How could they think they will make this paradise more paradise by stealing somebody's freedom? We are greedy. We think future has to be better, but why we than look back in harmony? Our past was hard, but beautiful. Our future will be better. Our NOW we just have to survive. I'm not here to teach. I'm here to learn. I do enjoy this overfull minibus. I enjoy being sweaty and having my knees underneath my chin, because it's Africa. And Africa lives today. Me too.
2 comments:
Impérios d'aquem e além mar; e hoje pagamos com a miséria o sonho demente dos avoengos. Não se trata de trocar paraíso por qualidade de vida; trata-se de restaurar dignidades: A Africana e a Europeia. E é necessário e urgente. Abraço.
Concordo contigo.
O Scramble of Africa foi uma das mais vergonhosas paginas da historia da Europa.
Paga-se o insulto ainda hoje, pagar-se-a o insulto para sempre.
Deixa-me dizer-te uma coisa que me comoveu tanto em Angola como Mocambique: privei com pessoas extremamente pobres, quase sem comida em casa, sem dinheiro nos bolsos, mas impecavelmente vestidos, camisas imaculadamente brancas, sapatos impecavelmente engraxados...tantas vezes olhando com mais atencao observava que as camisas estavam poidas, tendo mesmo um ou outro buraco, os sapatos tantas vezes com as solas rotas...
A dignidade com que se apresentavam, comoveu-me e mais, convenceu-me a lutar pelo fim da pobreza, a ser em certa medida pobre tambem, e a passar as ferramentas da mudanca a tantos quantos for capaz!
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