7 de Abril - Dia de Mulher Moçambicana
April 7th is the Day of the Mozambican Woman (“is there a day for American women?” ….. shame…. “nope”) So what better way to spend this national holiday than with our friend and fellow profesorra Rosa?! She invited us to her house for the day – and as usual, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. So we went over around noon (with some cupcakes, because, ya know, I don’t like to go places empty handed) and she put us to work peeling about 40 potatoes. Hint number one that this was not a small-ish gathering. Rosa is 29 and married with two absolutely adorable little boys (ages 3 and 5. Precious) and teaches computer classes at Dom Bosco. She’s probably one of the most welcoming Mozambican women I’ve ever met – which is how we ended up at this little party for Rosa and her sister-in-laws.
When the rest of the women showed up (and promptly kicked Rosa’s husband out of the house….this is woman’s day remember), we all sat around in the living room and feasted on all kinds of delicious foods : 3 types of chicken, fish, pastas, salads….. well done Rosa, well done! Not only did about 5 other Mozambican women come over, but we probably had about 15 little kids/babies there too(mostly girls, of course).
After we’d eaten and talked to everyone for a while (it was about 4 o’clock), we told them we were heading out (we have “banditos” in our neighborhood and therefore have been strictly warned by our overprotective army of students that we are NOT to walk around after dark…..so that kilometer walk from the main road to our house any time after 6 pm is a no go). Well. These ladies were having none of this. They freaked out! “Someone will take you home later!” “We have a car!” “But we haven’t danced yet!” So…. Clearly we weren’t going anywhere. At which point I accept it and crack open another beer (I mean, if I’m going to have to dance ……) And they were not kidding about the dancing. They started blasting music and breaking it down in the living room. Naturally, I’m totally incapable of dancing like a Mozambican but they made me try. So there we are. Just dancing and drinking with a bunch of Mozambican women around Rosa’s living room. I’m not kidding, this went on for ohhhhh 3 hours. We listened to Mozambican music, traditional music (the dances for those songs are crazy hard ps), Michael Jackson. You name it, we listened to it and danced to it.
At one point, they broke into chants (slash songs?) about Mozambican women and Josina Machel – who was the First Lady of Mozambique and is the main cauase of Women’s Day. And afterward the oldest lady with us cracked open a bottle of champagne and we toasted to women everywhere. Around 9:30, Rosa’s husband (who had been banned from the house) drove us back to Moatize. All in all – such a great holiday!! Why don’t we have a day off work that’s designated to just have fun girlie parties?
Unfortunately, Eduardo (or other roommate) greeted us with some bad news at home. Padre Eliseo – the priest that is Eduardo’s boss and owns our house – was driving a mission truck with some local Moatize kids (none were students at Dom Bosco). He had just given a mass at the Catholic church for Women’s Day and was headed to the city when he failed to make a turn in the road. His truck rolled off the road, and even though they eventually made it to the hospital, he had passed away. The kids he was are in the hospital with some broken bones, but apparently they’re in decent shape. All of our “games” were cancelled at school today because of the tragedy, and instead, our carpentry students built a casket and our auto mechanics received the totaled truck to see if they could spare any parts.
Please send good thoughts and prayers our direction – that the community will be able to fill the shoes of this caring man. Sorry this ended on a sad note, but I guess that’s the way it goes sometimes.
Lots of love to yall back home!
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