maputo... or still lourenço marques?

01.10.2007 - 03.10.2007 and 18.10.2007-20.10.2007

I guess my expectations of the country of Mozambique were really based on a past, a past that wasn't mine, a past that belonged to those very close to me, a past I had wished I had belonged to... a past long gone.
Or is it?
It didn't dissapoint me. As the plane landed, it not only felt like I was landing in a different country, almost on a different space in time, but for me it was my first glimpse of this great continent, Africa. Everything changes scale. Why are rivers so wide over there? Why is it that every house has so much space around it, why is it that here children still play in the streets? Why is it that time seems to stop as you land?
The heat took me by surprise, I could breath but I started getting stuck to my own clothes... 10h in a plane from Lisbon didn't help. Heat, humidity and that so anxiously awaited for smell of dirt... red dirt.
That was it... I was definetly Africa.

And the best thing of all, we had family friends waiting for us, cousins, a surprise birthday dinner for A.T. (organized by me and friends in Maputo!) a huge plate of shrimps, hmmm my favorite and a HUMANGOUS chocolate cake for A.T. with "tanti auguri A" on it!!! There were even 28 candles on the right and 1 candle for Maddalena in Palestine for her 1rst birthday, to let her know her uncle and "aunt" were thinking of her!
Maputo... a big city with millions of people. It looks so busy, it feels so full of life, there isn't one single open space in this city, or better, empty spaces, because they'll ocupy every m² they can get their hands on. You may find strange that I would still allow myself to call this city Lourenço Marques, I don't want to start a political discussion, but for a lot of people who had to leave after the independece, who chose to leave, it's still Lourenço Marques and that's the name I grew up to love.
I personally think it's impossible to forget it was a colony until 30 years ago. Proudly, as an architect, and as a protuguese citizen I loved seeing that the best kept constructions are of portuguese architects, or ar least done in the colonial times.
(for those who are already getting nervous, this isn't political, and it doesn't mean I'm against Mozambique being independent)
There are constructions in Maputo that you cannot ignore, be it for their architectural detail, or the fact that nowhere else in the world, except maybe Brazil, things like these were built. In Portugal there was no freedom of speach let alone freedom of building things so modern, in Mozambique there was space, modern architecture had a white canvas, for good or for bad, the colonists built to last.
I can't hide how proud I was when people would tell me that it's impossible to get good architects in Mozambique, how they'd love to still have the same "masters" as in colonial times, schools are not as good, they lack in what you could call "school of thought", there is no search for esthetics, no search for a line of thought. Of course in the middle of the Sofala desert I won't expect buildings to be built by a famous architect with it's own recognizable design. There , architecture is built out of necessity, schools, medical center, AIDS info centers, churches are built with the same plan, same construction method, things need to be easy, fast and efective. But I had expected to see Maputo come out of this horrible 16 year long war with the urge of making thins better, with the will to fix what was destroyed so that it would rise from the war with glory. No.

A lot depends on the government, if not everything, and everyone knows in the rest of the world, despite all the campaigns to send money over there, that corruption is part of the deal. I won't name people or situations, but it is so obvious in certain things. It is so ridiculously in your face that at first you are astonished, but you become easily angry. The only way to be able to fix Maputo from it's degration would be if the government helped out those who want to but can't afford it, to be able to restore a building you need to be foreign and filthy rich, because not only will you pay for it but you'll probably end up paying someone to allow you to do it! Or maybe you're South African and then it's ok, if you're from South Africa you can do anything.
Along this trip our feeling towards Mozambique kept changing, kept evolving let's say, sometimes wonderful, sometimes dissapointing, fustrating, cheerful and even caring... but you can't get away from thinking that somethings are just ridiculous. Hygiene, education, manners, driving, garbage, and just some of the examples of things that to the naked eye of someone from Europe look shocking, because you'd think it would come naturally to not throw things on the ground, to be polite to others, to drive without wanting to kill the small children who cross the street, dirt and dirty water don't go with eating... this is what I felt for Maputo, somethings just didn't make sense (in the middle of Mozambique I don't expect the same behavior and sometimes it was even better than in the city!), but on the other hand...
I found my past.
Churches where people were married, baptized, where my parents met for the first time when they were in university, where they would have coca-cola with shrimps, or Manica beer and tremoços.
Of course and I had already told you this, this trip wasn't to make me analize life in other continents, it was basically to relive, or try to imagine step by step the lives of those who I love and who lived they happiest years, their childhood here in such a wonderful, peaceful place.
This trip made me excited, made me very happy as you will probably recognize in my smile, it also made me cry, some moments made me think there was where I belonged, some made me understand that... not anymore.

In the silence within the Church of Sto.António de Polana I thought of what this city meant to me, I presume it's hard to understand what I mean but I wish I had been born there, I'm very much an alfacinha, I am one with my heart, but I hate to think that the happiness of my family was cut short by people who never thought of their consequences except of their glory. I was the first to be born in a new place, so I always felt I had missed out on something.
Going to Mozambique allowed me to understand I am not from such a place, but this place is part of my home.

I hope you enjoy the next posts...