Hey there,
I promised a post telling about my
socio-cultural experience in Quissico, in the province of Zavala south of
Zavora, and here it is! I will tell more about stuff that is going on during my last week here in another post.
 |
| Quissico is in the province of Zavala. |
I went along to Quissico when the opportunity
arose to have a little time off and see another town (so far I have been to
Maxixe, Tofo, Inhambane, Inharrime and now also Quissico). The town is rather
small with a big amount of official government buildings as it is considered a
big city nonetheless. While I had to wait for Yara and Jon to pay their taxes,
I was walking around with Comex on the leash to enjoy the nice lake view and a
little sun.
 |
| View to the lake by Quissico. |
After what seemed 30 minutes I was walking back
to the parked car to enjoy a little bit of shadow, since Comex was getting
really hot too. What a coincidence that it
was just in front of the school that had just finished giving start to the
weekend. I was waiting in the shadow when a kid came to investigate Comex
staying in save proximity.
 |
| Little kid curiously investigating Comex and me. After showing him this pic, he smiled. |
You need to know, most Africans are really
afraid of dogs. In Zavora there are quite a big amount of beach dogs and many
fishermen have dogs that go with them too. But other people in towns are rather
afraid of them and would not even touch or come near them. That is one of the
reasons I took Comex (and Bella and Matley which are Deons dogs) to go looking
for turtle tracks along the beach…I felt more secure walking the beach with a
dog by my side.
Comex might look rather scary to those who
don’t know him, he is a staffy with big muscles, long teeth and a strong jaw
after all, but that didn’t hinder the girls on the pic to come straight to
investigate Comex and me sitting in the shadow when they saw us. Can you see
how determined one of them walks?
 |
|
Girls walking towards where Comex and I were
having a pause.
|
And then everything started and went on fast.
All of a sudden, we were communicating in Portuguese and when they understood
that Comex is really cute and kind, they touched him. First it was just a
“touch-and-run-for-your-life-screaming-your -soul-out” kinda thing. But after a
few minutes more and more kids appeared (after all, we were in front of a
school) and soon what seemed like a whole class was surrounding Comex and me, babbling,
touching and watching Comex and calling for “tira foto” every second. That is
why I got sooo many pictures of them. After taking a picture, everyone wanted
to see themself in it! They don’t have cameras, it is not like in first world
countries in which sometimes even 10 year olds have smartphones. Here they
consider themselves lucky if they can go to school and have school supplies! So
talk about cultural differences…
 |
| Kids posing for the camera. |
Anyway, I had a really good time taking
pictures and showing them to the kids, but a lot of children congregating and
screaming in front of an official financial building in which important things
were being discussed and cornering Comex wasn’t good. So I decided to start
walking again. What was my surprise when the children walked along with me and
even wanted to hold the leash! In the end they weren’t that scared after all.
And the parade to change a police chief was apparently not as interesting as
Comex and I were.
 |
| [Happy girls holding the leash to walk Comex.] |
After a while, things settled, children were
still with us, but a few had gone home already. The girls that remained (which
were the same first three girls that walked towards us) were also interested in
my long hair and wanted me to untie it. They seemed really impressed with the
length and started asking whether it was natural. They only seemed to believe
it was not artificial hair when they looked closely and examined my roots!
All in all it was a really nice cultural
experience. I think the girls have a nice story to tell in the future. At least
they lost a little bit of their fear. And trust me, Comex was having fun too!
:D
Next post: how different is a mollusk from a
nudipleura? ;)
Until next time…baba :D
 |
| Last pic of the girls with Comex! |
Traducción al español:
Hola!
Tuve una experiencia cultural
hermosa en Quissico al sur de Zavora, sobre la que ahora os cuento.
[Quissico en Zavala.]
Quissico es una pequeña ciudad
llena de edificios oficiales del gobierno. Mientras esperaba Jon y Yara que tenían que pagar sus
impuestos, yo me fui a pasear con Comex y ver las vistas. El lago es precioso,
no es asi?
[Vista del lago en Quissico.]
Después de una media hora fui de
vuelta al coche porque Comex y yo nos estábamos asando al sol coincidiendo con
el final del cole delante de donde estaba aparcado el coche. Estaba esperando a
la sombra cuando un chiquillo se acercó a investigar a Comex mirando desde una
distancia prudencial.
[Niño investigándonos a Comex y a
mí con curiosidad. Después de mostrarle esta foto, sonrió.]
Para entender que maravilla
ocurrió ese día, necesitais saber que la mayoría de la gente en Africa le tiene
miedo a los perros. Hay pescadores y gente que tiene perros, si, pero en
general les tienen miedo. Por eso me sentía más segura con Comex (y Balle y
Matley que son los perros de Deon) cuando iba a patrullar por la playa en busca
de señales de tortugas.
Comex tampoco es que parezca muy
inofensivo con sus grandes músculos, sus dientes largos y su fuerte mandíbula.
Aún así la niñas de la foto no se
sintieron tan cohibidas y vinieron a dónde estábamos Comex y yo sin mayor
diletancia.
[Niñas caminando hacia nosotros.
La determinación de una de ellas verdaderamente me sorprendió.]
Y entonces todo pasó bastante rápido. De
repente estábamos comunicándonos en portugués y cuando entendieron que Comex es
más bien inofensivo, lo acariciaron. Al principio era más bien un
“lo-toco-y-corro-gritando-por-mi-vida” pero después de unos minutos iban
apareciendo cada vez más niños que querían tocar a Comex y gritaban “tira foto”
casi a cada segundo. Después de hacerles una foto, se la mostraba y se reian y
comentaban entre ellos como salían en las fotos. Hay que entender que aquí no
es lo mismo que en “el primer mundo”. Lo niños se consideran afortunados por
poder ir al cole y tener bastantes utensilios para él a diferencia de algunos
niños en Europa que con diez años ya tienen Smartphone.
[Niños posando delante de la
cámara.]
Después de un tiempo me di cuenta
que igual no era la mejor idea el que estuviésemos delante de un edificio
oficial (en el que estaban discutiendo cosas de finanzas) con niños gritando de
felicidad. Asi que me dispuse a caminar de nuevo y cuál fue mi sorpresa cuando
los niños me iban siguiendo e incluso se medio peleaban por llevar la correa de
Comex!
[Niñas felices llevando de la
correa a Comex.]
Cuando las cosas se asentaron un
poco y estábamos de vuelta a la sombra del coche, algunos niños ya se habían
ido a sus respectivas casas. Las tres niñas tan determinadas y a las que les
cogí cariño aun se quedaron (hasta el final que nos montamos al coche). Una de
ellas estaba muy interesada en mi cabello y me pidió soltarme la melena. Cuando
lo hice, unas cuantas niñas sorprendidas con el largo se pusieron a
inspeccionar mi pelo, acariciarlo, etc. Y me preguntaban si era natural a lo
cual yo respondí que claro. Sólo me creyeron cuando inspeccionaron mis raíces
asegurándose de que no tenía pelo artificial.
Resumiendo, me gustó mucho esta
experiencia cultural y en poco tiempo le cogí cariño a los pequeños. Creo que
también las niñas tienen una historia que contar en el futuro.
La próxima vez: que diferentes
son un nudibranquio y un caracol de mar? ;)
Hasta entonces!! :D
[Última foto: las niñas y Comex!]
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário