Morning Highlights-3

 

Concerns

No matter how late I sleep, I like to wake up at a particular hour. Each morning, my bedroom window opens to a different world.

 

Today it opened with a comment about the weather. “It is so hot! Better stay on bed!” Feels so strange to hear this, that I wake up for real. Surprised, of course! Hear someone encouraging your morning laziness it is quite unusual. Worried, of course! Concerns on global weather issues are particularly grave in countries like Mozambique. What recently happened in Inhambane should leave some world leaders sleepless for a while. If they can’t change a lot in short term, better do something to repair the effects down here. Why not a regional agency specialized in prevention, training and distribution of resources, mainly involving countries subject to weather contingencies like Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Reunion Island and South Africa?

 

Perhaps Al Gore deserves the applauses that he recently received. February is ending and it looks like we have an endless summer in front of us. However, if we keep our actions at applause level, we are going to fry very soon.

Morning Highlights-2

         

Pain

This morning, my bedroom window opened just a little to reveal another sunny hot day. Days can look the same in a row, happily we are able to change a lot more than the weather.

 

Today, for instance, I waked excited with expectative. Let me tell you that right now I feel like a window opening to the unexpected. I truly like new, different situations and I am always up to challenges.

 

There is only one wrong aspect when something is about to change in my life: I get hurt and have to experience a period of pain. Unfortunately, I am not speaking only of emotional pain but of true physical pain. This time it is my upper right leg muscle that is not well. Yesterday, when I was starting to run, my muscle reacted like an electrical charge.

 

Perhaps I should be a little less eager of changes because, at this rate, I am going to end up in some hospital bed… or worst.

 

Pain is something that I have to deal with and move on. I am even learning to enjoy it a bit but I must stress that I am not masochist. I just don’t mind the pain as I used to, because I discovered that it is in the middle of it that the most extraordinary things happen.

 

Today three strange events confirmed my theory: 1) I was writing a short story involving number 88. Because I needed a new page, I asked Andy if he could get a new one for me. He went to his room and took a page from his account book. I use it to write the end of my story, and only after ending a line at the end of the page, where I wrote the number 88, I could see that the page that was given to me was page number 88 of that account book. Perhaps it sounds complicated, but I can make it easier to understand: it was just one of the curious coincidences that sometimes happen. 2) Even with my leg hurt, I decided to walk for a while during the afternoon on the Marginal. What a strange ritual I witnessed! Three family members of someone who died on the sea, or even on the Marginal, decided to commemorate the dead birthday (I am guessing) on the Marginal wall. How did they do it? Throwing food to the sea. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a birthday cake or something of that kind, but I saw them throw 4 dozens of eggs, a bottle of champagne, chips, cookies, and God knows what else! I don’t know why but I found myself thinking of Inhambane victims… 3) Finally, a third thing happened in front of me that brought back a medium term project forgotten in some corner of my mind.

 

Happiness is super but can make us a little blind. On the contrary, pain is a good learning school. Having said that, I think that we all would prefer to be blind.

What Is Going On?

 

This weekend we returned to the Marginal, one of the good places for walking in Maputo. The reason of this move from Miradouro to the Marginal is the smell. I am not going to tell you how bad the place smells, because I would have to use a couple of words that I usually avoid in my day-to-day language.

 

Weeks ago we could breathe and enjoy the place. We could find some familiar faces, like a young guitar player always occupying a bench where he certainly was composing his music. Lately, I have to use my hand to protect my nose and it is possible to find homeless people sleeping in the area. So, we decided that a change was in order.

 

How do we found the Marginal? Almost as dirty as Miradouro! The wind was blowing strong, and walking around was a truly risk of ending all wet due to the waves. Such situation is a clear signal that erosion down there is in full strength. Do people care? Nobody seems to care!

 

Can you imagine that actually there are holes like these along the Marginal and nobody seems to be concerned? One of the holes is almost touching the road. It is visible that a simple storm can do harm in that place beyond imagination. I am not talking of a simple wall or a street lamp. I am talking of a complex engineering work in slopes, built to please people and also to stop the action of erosion.

 

From Naval to the Escola Náutica marina, there is no clean corner to be seen. We finished this weekend with a question to the town council: “Seriously, what is going on?”

“Bling, Blong”

 

I don’t know if the movie about the diamonds market and its impact in Africa left the majority of the girls, said to be so crazy for them that they are “a girl’s best friend”, with remorse.

 

I don’t know about the others but I sure can speak for myself. I like jewels, as I like so many other beautiful things in this world. When I can I collect an item, usually simple stuff. I don’t care a lot with the value but with the look of it, especially since I discovered that 80% of the jewels that we own at a certain time are not used at all. So why bother to have a lot when we just wear a few?

 

I do have a particularity in what concerns jewels, especially the expensive ones: I tend to lose them. Take for instance the story of my relation with diamonds. The first diamond that I owned was offered to me on a ring. I just used it on a few occasions. Last November I lost it, and all demarches to have it back failed.

 

My second set of diamonds were earrings, also a present to match the ring. As I concluded that I was not wearing them, I gave the diamonds as a gift to a special girl.

 

Years after I picked another pair of diamond earrings by myself, to substitute the previous. This happened six years ago, and until today I have never wear them. To explain why, I have to tell you my personal best story about diamonds, very elucidative of my general relation with jewels.

 

All started the day I bought a pair of white gold loops. They were very nice, I loved them but they had a small problem. When I arrived home, I detected that parts of the loops used 9c gold, what means that other metals were present. The result was a terrible allergy.

 

We exchanged e-mails with the jeweler and we were authorized to swap the loops for something else, in any of the shops they own in South Africa. It took me almost two years to find a pair of earrings that I really liked. They were beautiful and simple with a round diamond and a tear shaped green peridot in each. The decision was immediately taken. We handed the loops and had to pay the difference, as it is obvious.

 

The next morning we traveled back to Maputo. To my dismay, when I arrived, I discovered that one of the diamond-peridot earrings was missing. Due to a series of circumstances, almost another year passed before I could go back to the same shop where I handed back the solitaire earring and asked the price for a duplication.

 

I waited and waited. Two years passed and no reply. I have to say that it was also my fault, because sometimes I forgot about it and others I traveled to South Africa leaving behind the invoice. Finally, months ago, I went back to the jewelers and claimed the duplication or my solitaire earring back.

 

Only because I still have the invoice, they had to confess the unexpected: they had also lost the handed solitaire earring! “And now?” you ask. Good question. The jewelers are in trouble because they have to replace the lost earring. I am also in trouble because I have to pay for the duplication and, for what I could see, prices doubled. In reality, I will pay for one the price paid for the pair, meaning that I paid twice for the same set of earrings.

 

For now the jeweler is still looking for the unfortunate solitaire that I handed three years ago. It can take them another year before they accept the obvious. Sooner or later we have to pay a “visible” amount of money, or lose another “visible” amount. Perhaps, for me, “diamonds are forever” should be “diamonds are forever lost”.

 

I have received the following message for help:

 

We are collecting can food and construction material for people in Vilankulos that have lost everything. Please contact us: Tara, in Maputo, 820721730; Marcia or Bron, in Tofo, 823915680 or 825617303; finally Hilda, in Inhambane, 823008320.

 

I personally talked with friends in Inhambane, and they stated that the situation is really serious. The scale of destruction and the number of people in need are enormous.

Mallywood

 

After Hollywood and Bollywood, why not a Mallywood? It has logic. When the cinema decides to show the worst of Africa, it has become frequent to pick Maputo as a filming place.

 

What does Maputo offer, ask you? The perfect image of Africa: sickness, violence, destruction of infrastructures, unemployment, informality, miserable crowds, dirtiness… You name it, Maputo has it all.

 

In the last years, we have seen three major productions filmed in Maputo: Ali, The Interpreter and now Blood Diamond. Having said that, I don’t have anything against the transformation of Maputo in the next Mecca of cinema, if it is a win-win situation for both parts.

 

Perhaps I should be concise about what I don’t like in general: 1) Western civilization brought a way of life to Africa, and now it seems that doesn’t like the result of it. 2) Movies or any other form of divulgation that only show one side of this beautiful continent. 3) Fatalism, like the TIA (This is Africa!), patent in Blood Diamond.

 

In what concerns the movie Blood Diamonds, I can tell you my general impressions too. It has a plot more or less succeeded. It has good actors, very well coached. The question is that the actors’ direction and work are the only aspects standing out.

 

The problem with this movie is that who directed it doesn’t know Africa, so he follows commonplaces about it. If the director was assisted, he was not lucky in his choice.

 

In “The Last Samurai”, Edward Zwick was able to show us a world of contrasts. The same kind of approach could be done in Blood Diamonds, but it failed or was not even attempted.

 

I really feel that the beauty of filming language is stained by the plot itself, and by so many commonplaces about the African continent.

 

I have received the following message for help:

 

We are collecting can food and construction material for people in Vilankulos that have lost everything. Please contact us: Tara, in Maputo, 820721730; Marcia or Bron, in Tofo, 823915680 or 825617303; finally Hilda, in Inhambane, 823008320.

 

I personally talked with friends in Inhambane, and they stated that the situation is really serious. The scale of destruction and the number of people in need are enormous.

Special

 

Our dog Thoth is really special. At first, when I looked at him, I was always comparing size and looks with previous dogs of this house. I regretted, and I still regret, that he was given to us a little too late to modify a lot about him. Despite this, he is growing and has a lot of other qualities that we cannot ignore.

 

He is playful but we have to be careful, because when he plays someone always ends up injured. He knows each one of us and how we behave, especially towards him.

 

To make him stop chewing everything, we are giving him big bones, big enough to keep him busy for a couple of days. Before he had a predilection for squeaking toys, until we discovered that he only liked them to swallow the inside noisy metal balls. It was really funny to see him carrying those toys at the corner of his month but the risk is too great. I don’t know how he does to expel the balls he has been swallowing, but you can imagine the surprise effect of it!

Saving a Manta Ray

 

It is very early in the morning when the two divers arrive at one of the known good spear fishing spots, not far from the still visible town buildings. Vic is the first to dive but he doesn’t stay down a long time. When he surfaces, JP can see how excited he is.

 

“We have a fishing net down. A fantastic Manta ray is trapped in it and will die unless we do something!” Once inside the boat, Vic explains the situation to JP and together they plan the possible actions to take.

 

At the first impression, it is a little strange to find these two young men used to spearfish, suddenly decided to save the trapped ray and other fish. Spear fishing is a sport similar to hunting, and I guess that a decent hunter likes to kill during the pursuit and not trapped or incapacitated targets. For me both killings are bad. For the hunter, there is a code that draws the line between a fair and unfair killing.

 

As the net in question is floating and in movement, still catching specimens on the way, and also a dangerous trap for both divers, they plan to pick opposite corners of the net and start to cut it from the two extremes until they meet in the middle. Cutting underwater is not easy, requires attention and strength.

 

Vic is very close to the ray. He can perfectly see that it is a huge Manta showing signs of distress. He starts to caress the excited animal and, little by little, at each square of the net that he cuts, it is a little bit of the big slippery body that conquers freedom.

 

“In a question of minutes the ray understood what I was trying to do, and started to collaborate. I was even cuddling it like a house pet. I was so relieved when I saw that only one of the little ears was still trapped, one more gesture and it was complete freedom… It was then that JP signaled danger!”

 

He looks up with incredulity. Between the net and the boat, a white shark is passing in a slow and threatening motion. Vic sizes the predator by the size of the boat. It is more than 6 meters long!

 

They have to assume a defense position and as soon as the “white” is not in the way, they swim in a hurry to the boat.

 

“When we see such big and dangerous beast so near, our only reflex is of survival. We forget everything else. Only in the safety of the boat I remembered the Manta ray, still trapped by so little. It was impossible to go back. Sometimes I like to think that the ray was able to finish my job but other times I remember how treacherous the nets are and how easily fish are caught. The more they fight, the more they are trapped. A truly mess, that’s what is going down there!”

In Seven Days

 

Days come and go, and so little seems to be worth mentioning. Then, suddenly, you notice that major changes are under way. In seven days a lot can happen. I am concretely talking of my seven divers. Not long ago, I wrote in this space that nothing was going on, so I had to look for other interests around me

 

Well, lets see what in fact is going on in the lives of my seven brave sea warriors. Paul and Andy are still near me, busy with their projects. TD is a little stressed because it is studio time for him, what can be a sign of a new album. In two weeks time he is supposed to be in Paris for a couple of gigs.

 

JP is leaving soon to Durban and from there he is going back to the oil platforms. Despite our disapproval, he is cherishing the idea of going to Marseille for a saturation diver course.

 

Vic is far the best diving storyteller. I was so relieved when I saw that he is still in conditions of diving in apnea! The last time I saw him it was during JP’s party, and he seemed quite confident.

 

At the moment Jo is in Durban, but he must be here soon for the great event. The big news is that NB is getting married in ten days time! After a week in Bazaruto, NB, his fiancé and Jo are heading to Cape Town to attend a platform firefighting course. JP and AM are helping with the arrangements in NB’s new apartment. For now the main attraction is the party they are preparing to celebrate his last days as a bachelor.

Borders, Germans, Dogs and Crowds

 

 

 

1. Borders

If you intend to travel by car to Durban, you have two options in what concerns Mozambican borders: Namaacha or Goba. Because we know well Namaacha and mukerismo, the same phenomenon that we find at Ressano Garcia border, we picked the second option. We have crossed at Goba before, and it is always a pleasant surprise to find a clean, modern place, with friendly and efficient people. Why doesn’t Goba spirit spread to other places and services of this country?

 

After Goba we have to face African reality again when entering and exiting from Swaziland, before we finally encounter South African efficiency. The only thing bad in this journey is crossing Swaziland because the road is flat (in both senses), besides it is now in awful conditions.

 

As soon as we enter in Swazi, and to be true with his ideals, Paul stops to buy charcoal cooked maize. “Irresistible!” he proclaims. I really don’t feel like eating but having time hanging on my hands I start to pick corn by corn, and at the end it was elucidative. Do you know what I have found? I have found that crossing Swaziland takes the same time than eating all those corns without a particular enthusiasm.

 

2. Germans

It was almost 9am when we left home. Two or three turns after, I hear this comment: “Look, a German motorbike! Must be a German guy traveling all over Africa or so!” A couple of hours later, at Swazi-South Africa border, we encounter a bus with German tourists, perhaps seduced by the region known to be the best place in the world for rhinoceros.

 

Once inside South Africa, we stop for a drink in a place full of German speaking clientele. “They are from Namibia” explains Paul. While I was on the phone, he could hear bits of the conversations taking place.

 

I tell you that it is quite funny to be in a country where we expect to hear English, and find so many people speaking German. I was precisely thinking this when a little Pug showed up.

 

3. Dogs

I am always amazed with dog’s intuition. Take for instance the little Pug in Bayala road oasis. He entered the restaurant balcony and came straight to me, waited a little, gave a walk around and came back decided that the safest place to sleep was at my feet. So sure he was that I could go for the camera in the car, and take a picture of the little lazy thing still sleeping under the protection of my lilac wrap skirt. I am not familiar to this dog, I have only seen him twice before, how could he recognize me?

 

It is not the first time that dogs surprise me. Six years ago I received a great lesson from a dog with the name and the attitude of a God. Unfortunately, he also had weak kidneys. He knew that he was about to die but we didn’t. Moments before, he came to me and put his heavy head on my lap making an unusual pressure. Because I found it strange, I followed him and saw him go straight to Buba and check if she was in season. Showing a sign of tired relieve, he went to a corner as if drunk. Life and death flashed in his eyes during the last walk of his life.

 

What have I learned from the last seconds of a dog’s life? That even a dying dog knows that in the last instants what counts in this world is the love that we feel. When his death was confirmed, I went to bed and cried for 24 hours. Since then I had to learn how to deal with this kind of situations, but it is never easy!

 

4. Crowds

If you wonder where I have been, I can tell you that I spent a couple of days on a South African beach. It is a place far from the usual summer crowds, situated almost 100km far from Durban. If you ask me what was I doing in such place, I can tell you that I was celebrating life.

 

Right now I don’t feel like writing about my last days. Perhaps I should annouce that soon I am going to Bilene. Plans are under way for this weekend or the next.

Just a Poem

Your Presence

In your presence I rediscovered my name

My name that was hidden under the pain of separation

I rediscovered the eyes no longer veiled with fever

And your laughter like a flame piercing the shadows

Has revealed Africa to me beyond the snows of yesterday

Almost one year my love

With days of illusions and shattered ideas

And sleep made restless with desire

The suffering that burdens today with the taste of tomorrow

And that turns love into a boundless river

In your presence I have rediscovered the memory of my blood

And necklaces of laughter hung around our days

Days sparkling with ever new joys.

 

                                                Adapted from David Diop (Senegal)