Some of the stories we uncover here are born of sadness and stifling traditions that seem to be the underpinning of much of what is wrong with this country and why it is taking so long to recover and progress. This particular story is, I am sure, not unlike many others that we shall never hear, but I am sure are there to be told. This is Cetilia Rodrigues’ story. She is a woman of about 48 years who lives in the village of Tchonja, 25 km north of Beira.
We discovered the District where Cetilia lives after visiting a farm nearby owned by a man named Adolpho Dauda. Tim Evans met this man in church while he was here and found out about his farm. Adolpho suggested that the district north of his farm and particularly the village of Tchonja would be a good candidate location for some rope and washer pumps as he knew some of the people in the village and could direct us to a location where we might have some good recipient candidates for our program. The next day we drove to Tchonja and established contact with Cetilia and two of her neighbors who after hearing about our pumps were interested in having us come to their village and installed these pumps.
Over the next week we purchased materials and made plans to install pumps in the three village homes that were contiguous to each other understanding at the time that the other two families were relatives of Cetilia. We did not meet Cetilia’s husband. She said he was gone. It turned out that the other families were not “relatives” as we know them, but people who all came from the same ethnic background and “homeland” as they called it.
On Monday, March 10 we carried materials for three pumps and deposited them at Cetilia’s home where she said she would keep an eye on them for us until we were able to come back to work on the installations. We still never saw her husband. We left her place without doing any work, and by way of keeping the government official of the village informed of our intentions, we stopped by the Tchonja Village’s Secretary’s office and had a discussion with him about the pumps we hoped to install. While he was very enthusiastic about our project, he said to make it official, we had to clear it with the Administrator of the Nhangua District who was located about 11 km to the south of us in the village of Nhangua. He also recommended that to keep other villagers from being jealous of having three pumps with the same family group (sort of relatives), that we place the pumps in three separate locations in his village. He said also that he could assist us in finding two more qualifying recipients but was okay that we install a pump for Cetilia.
We left the Secretary without starting any work in Tchonja and drove to the Administrator’s office in the village of Nhangua. On arriving there we were soon ushered into the Administrator’s office, a Mrs. Lauina Brito Simmongo, who greeted us warmly and listened enthusiastically to our presentation. Her concluding remarks after approving our program was to place only two of the pumps in Tchonja and one in her village at a location she would appoint later when we got to her area. We agreed and returned to Tchonja to begin our first pump project on Cetilia’s farm.
By Thursday we had completed Cetilia’s pump except for placing a concrete pad around the base that we will do later. It was only after we returned to Cetilia’s house to pick up our materials to take to the second and third pump locations that we learned her story.
Cetilia told us that she was now living alone in the house that she has lived in with her first husband for over 19 years. This husband was a nice man who took care of her, had a successful farm with many goats, pigs and chickens and had a productive farm that kept them out of poverty. Her first husband, she told us died a few years ago.
Some time after her husband died, she was courted by another man who eventually married her, and then shortly after began to abuse her because she was unable to bear him any children. She said this man (whom she has never divorced) left her some time ago taking with him to his new girlfriend’s home all the animals she and her first husband had cared for. Cetilia now takes care of her farm alone but with an injury to her left shoulder is somewhat restricted in what she can do. She has a few young chickens now, but no other animals. She lives in her home with two nieces who help her on the farm. Her only income since her second husband left her is from sale of bananas from a few trees she has on her farm.
Before we knew her story on the few days that we worked around her house assembling the pump components, Cetilia was with us most of the time laughing and smiling and on one day had several ladies with her who seemed to be there all day watching us work and helping when they could. Her young niece and older nephew and another niece were there too off and on. The day we completed her pump and started it for the first time, she and her two nieces were there smiling and laughing, drinking the water, washing their hands and showing their amazement and appreciation for what we had accomplished in a just a few days.
It is obvious that the woman now lives in abject poverty with a few chickens young running around her home and a farm that needs more care. She has worn the same rags every day we have seen her but has still been a gracious host bringing us water to wash our hands at lunch time and offering us fruit from her avocado tree.
Before we leave her to her new pump and farm we will get her started with a small hotbed with new seeds that she can start and later transplant when the gardening team of interns comes to Mozambique to work with us. I think there is a good chance that this woman’s life will be permanently changed for the better if her husband doesn’t return and take her gains away. When we asked her about her husband, she said she didn’t know if he would be returning or not. But as we know in these villages where information travels fast and far, he may hear about the pump and return to see what more he can take from this woman. Tradition will rule, I am sure, and she will be beaten and abused again if he returns.
We discovered the District where Cetilia lives after visiting a farm nearby owned by a man named Adolpho Dauda. Tim Evans met this man in church while he was here and found out about his farm. Adolpho suggested that the district north of his farm and particularly the village of Tchonja would be a good candidate location for some rope and washer pumps as he knew some of the people in the village and could direct us to a location where we might have some good recipient candidates for our program. The next day we drove to Tchonja and established contact with Cetilia and two of her neighbors who after hearing about our pumps were interested in having us come to their village and installed these pumps.
Over the next week we purchased materials and made plans to install pumps in the three village homes that were contiguous to each other understanding at the time that the other two families were relatives of Cetilia. We did not meet Cetilia’s husband. She said he was gone. It turned out that the other families were not “relatives” as we know them, but people who all came from the same ethnic background and “homeland” as they called it.
On Monday, March 10 we carried materials for three pumps and deposited them at Cetilia’s home where she said she would keep an eye on them for us until we were able to come back to work on the installations. We still never saw her husband. We left her place without doing any work, and by way of keeping the government official of the village informed of our intentions, we stopped by the Tchonja Village’s Secretary’s office and had a discussion with him about the pumps we hoped to install. While he was very enthusiastic about our project, he said to make it official, we had to clear it with the Administrator of the Nhangua District who was located about 11 km to the south of us in the village of Nhangua. He also recommended that to keep other villagers from being jealous of having three pumps with the same family group (sort of relatives), that we place the pumps in three separate locations in his village. He said also that he could assist us in finding two more qualifying recipients but was okay that we install a pump for Cetilia.
We left the Secretary without starting any work in Tchonja and drove to the Administrator’s office in the village of Nhangua. On arriving there we were soon ushered into the Administrator’s office, a Mrs. Lauina Brito Simmongo, who greeted us warmly and listened enthusiastically to our presentation. Her concluding remarks after approving our program was to place only two of the pumps in Tchonja and one in her village at a location she would appoint later when we got to her area. We agreed and returned to Tchonja to begin our first pump project on Cetilia’s farm.
By Thursday we had completed Cetilia’s pump except for placing a concrete pad around the base that we will do later. It was only after we returned to Cetilia’s house to pick up our materials to take to the second and third pump locations that we learned her story.
Cetilia told us that she was now living alone in the house that she has lived in with her first husband for over 19 years. This husband was a nice man who took care of her, had a successful farm with many goats, pigs and chickens and had a productive farm that kept them out of poverty. Her first husband, she told us died a few years ago.
Some time after her husband died, she was courted by another man who eventually married her, and then shortly after began to abuse her because she was unable to bear him any children. She said this man (whom she has never divorced) left her some time ago taking with him to his new girlfriend’s home all the animals she and her first husband had cared for. Cetilia now takes care of her farm alone but with an injury to her left shoulder is somewhat restricted in what she can do. She has a few young chickens now, but no other animals. She lives in her home with two nieces who help her on the farm. Her only income since her second husband left her is from sale of bananas from a few trees she has on her farm.
Before we knew her story on the few days that we worked around her house assembling the pump components, Cetilia was with us most of the time laughing and smiling and on one day had several ladies with her who seemed to be there all day watching us work and helping when they could. Her young niece and older nephew and another niece were there too off and on. The day we completed her pump and started it for the first time, she and her two nieces were there smiling and laughing, drinking the water, washing their hands and showing their amazement and appreciation for what we had accomplished in a just a few days.
It is obvious that the woman now lives in abject poverty with a few chickens young running around her home and a farm that needs more care. She has worn the same rags every day we have seen her but has still been a gracious host bringing us water to wash our hands at lunch time and offering us fruit from her avocado tree.
Before we leave her to her new pump and farm we will get her started with a small hotbed with new seeds that she can start and later transplant when the gardening team of interns comes to Mozambique to work with us. I think there is a good chance that this woman’s life will be permanently changed for the better if her husband doesn’t return and take her gains away. When we asked her about her husband, she said she didn’t know if he would be returning or not. But as we know in these villages where information travels fast and far, he may hear about the pump and return to see what more he can take from this woman. Tradition will rule, I am sure, and she will be beaten and abused again if he returns.
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