Weekend of fun

On Saturday, my school was chosen to host an HIV/AIDS community discussion on the radio. I didn’t know exactly what was going on when I got there but I slowly started figuring things out as people showed up. We pulled desks out from the classrooms (they’re benches with desktops that fit about three people) and put them in the shade underneath the giant tree in our courtyard. At first when we started the desks were full but not too many other people were around, but by the end of the broadcast the whole courtyard was full of people sitting under trees, on esteras, crowded around the desks- it was a pretty nice size crowd. So, Radio Mozambique (‘radio’ is the same in Portuguese) was doing a live two hour broadcast discussing HIV prevention, treatment, and, well I didn’t understand much other than that but I’m sure a lot more was talked about. They spoke in Portuguese, Changana, and Chopi, another Bantu language. Well, I have a hard enough time following Portuguese, so it’s safe to say I understood hardly anything that was said, but it was still pretty fun. So many of my students were there and participating- it was so fun to watch and listen to them. One of my students read a poem she’d written, several performed a skit, and many others participated in the debate and question/answer session. And I was on the radio! Yeah, so one of my students was talking about how HIV affects everyone, regardless of color or nationality- white, black, American, Mozambican. I heard the word mulungo (‘white person’ in Changana) so I laughed a little and shook my head in agreement with him. The announcer saw this and decided to come over and talk to me. Thankfully he spoke fairly slowly so I could understand when he asked me what I thought of the discussion and debate, but I was a bit flustered so I didn’t say much of anything important. I said I thought it was very important to have these types of debates and I was happy to participate, but no other words came to my mind at that moment. Anyways, I was on Mozambican radio! After the broadcast finished I went with Prof Fenias to Prof Silvino’s house for a Missa he was having. A missa is a ceremony held to commemorate the life of someone who has passed. This missa was for Silvino’s father who passed eight years ago. Well, I missed the entire ceremony, going to the church and to the grave, but I did get to participate in the party that followed. I had expected there to be a few people there but I was shocked when that few was actually about 200. People were scattered all over the front and back yards of his house, people crowded around tables, camped out on the ground, under trees- people everywhere. We arrived just in time to eat. There were probably about 20 women around the grill making chicken and cow and serving out plates with potato salad and french fries and salad. It was nuts- they must have killed 100 chickens for this feast, if not more. Side note- a pig is being slaughtered outside my house right now and it’s an incredibly disturbing sound… But back to the party. There were people everywhere eating, dancing, drinking, talking, napping (I guess the drinking had started early so a few people were already talking their midday naps). I sat with the other teachers from my school and it was really nice to have conversations with them outside of the school setting. And as the night went on and they continued to drink (I was putting back juice boxes), the conversations got more and more interesting. We covered many topics, from dancing styles to family planning to American politics to female circumcision to HIV being a commercial disease to polygamy. I learned a fair amount about teachers I’d never talked to before so that was nice. Not everything I learned was encouraging, but it’s nice to know where some of my colleagues stand on some big issues. There was a lot of dancing going on, and I was most impressed by the old woman bustin’ a move on the dance floor (aka patch of dirt under a lemon tree). She had to be at least 70 but MAN she knew how to move! Mom, you would have loved her. I’m so sorry I didn’t have my camera with me. It was quite a party and continued late into the night, although we didn’t stick around too late. Silvino was busy being host the whole night so we didn’t get to talk much and I still have so many questions about missas, but he did tell me today that people continued to come to the party throughout the night and all day Sunday as well. Being a very open, communal culture, he said he was expected to give these people food and drink, even though they were a day late to the party. Anyway, aside from the experience of just being there, learning about a missa is pretty interesting. I think it’s a pretty cool idea, to throw a party to celebrate the life of someone important in your life. From what I know, a family will throw a missa on the one month anniversary of the death, one year, and every year thereafter if they so choose, forever. I remember hearing about a missa when I was in training that was a 30 year anniversary. That’s a lot of parties. Anyways, it was a great party and another very cultural weekend for me.