News from Nicane

Only a few days ago I posted a blog. But these days I finally caught Isabel, our wonderful cook, making Matapa - a traditional stew with cassava leaves and cashew nuts. Therefore she grinds the leaves in a mortar and then also part of the cashew nuts. With a reed “plate” she separates the fine grind nuts from the ones she still has to grind more, and with a fin slap she makes it lift from the plate, catches it with her hand and puts it into the Matapa. I admire that. She agreed that I could film her. So this is what I wanted to share, the little movie.
Isabel also carries 30 litres of water on her head - hands free of course - still being able to turn around easily when someone calls her name. I know that is the typical picture of African women. Still, I find it amazing. I asked her how she can do it with so much ease. Well, the answer sounds like child work: “When you are that old (pointing out a height of about 1 meter), you go with your mother to the Machamba (the fields) and you start practising to work, and you help doing the dishes and carrying little things on your head. And when you are maybe that old (point out a bit higher) you start to carry maybe 5 litres.” I decided that I would not survive one month without her.
All this we discussed while I accompanied her into the village. We had brought water for her from another pump, because she had been away a while and had not paid this month’s contribution for using the village pump. She had told me that Beatriz, the nurse-midwife was in the village vaccinating the school kids. So I decided to come along to meet Beatriz at lunch break and chat a bit. Isabel carrying the 30 litres of water and still walking much more light-footed than I, who just walked along carrying only my cell phone.
What happened at the school, most of you know already. I can tell that I am properly recovering, though I might have some scars as souvenirs. The one on the right arm might look like a branding-artist doing his best .
Now Isabel is gone for a few day, because one of her aunts died and she wanted to attend the ceremonies around the burial. So I have been cooking, which was a bit of kitchen magic with almost no vegetables left. Usually Isabel knows someone who knows someone … and we get some leaves for a Matapa (see above) but now I had to be economic with what little was left. Yesterday the only thing left was 3 bananas. But we still had eggs and some bitter chocolate (a Easter gift from my dad which we were enjoying every now and then at special moments. With honey and cinnamon it made up for a fantastic chocolate sauce and we had some haut cuisine… I topped it with some grinded red and green pepper and it was really delicious.
Another thing we are enjoying lately is Germano’s Bar. He is working at ADPP as well and opened a bar so his wife has some income generating activity to do. Well, that’s what he says, but it is mostly he himself who serves. Doesn’t matter. Is an unpretentious bush-bar and not so many drunkards as in the other bar at the village. Yesterday we went there for a Saturday evening beer and half the Neighbourhood was united there - They were showing a movie (in the patio, on an 15”screen) in Macua. Germano would translate for us. It was a kind of an educational movie, but very funny. About a divorced couple and their daughter and then the father wants to take the daughter as his wife and they send the uncle to get her back but the father chase him away (he later tells that the other one ran away, being afraid of him) and then a young fellow comes by motorbike and the father chases him away, too, as he is too close in age to his daughter-wife and could be a danger. The bike is left behind and he tries to carry it on is head, but can’t obviously get it onto his head (I suppose a motorbike weighs more than 35 kg…) and calls a neighbour to help, but leaves the keys in the bike and the young fellow comes back and drives away with the bike… Well, a lot of quarrel. At the end they all go to the chief of the neighbourhood to resolve the problem and decide what should be done. Mozambique being a post-communist country, the ”administrational” structures from a quarter of 10 houses with one elder as a chief as smallest entity up to the “Regulo” - the chief of the village, are still in place. Their authority is especially used to resolve those kinds of interfamiliar or interpersonal disputes. Though I read in an anthropological study that usually the one wins, who presents the claim first. But even though the quality of the movie was at the level of any unprofessional home video, the people were all ears and eyes and enjoyed the movie a lot. And so did we.
Okay, that’s about it. We will meet some of you during our Christmas holiday in Europe and I am really looking forward to it.
I will try to also upload the video of Isabel, and another one of the chaotic streets in Lilongwe as well as I some photos from the past days.
A big hug and happy and blessed advent days to all of you!