Govenadora

Interesting last couple of days.  After the field trip yesterday, the fun did not stop.  When I got home, I found out that it was actually a pretty important Catholic Holiday; something about celebrating one of the various sightings of the Virgin Mary at Fatima.  It’s a pretty big deal in Namaacha town due to the Church that was constructed nearly 100 years ago in honor of Fatima.  They have this huge service outside the church at night, then a nice long procession where the congregants take to the streets, singing songs and reciting prayers as they march through a near-by neighborhood

After drawing my own conclusions earlier in the day based off my broken translation of both my host father and Octavio’s  explanations of the holiday, I was curious to check and see what it was all about.  Mistake.  Turns out, the service was 2 hours long and the march was a slow roll through the streets for another hour.  Cultural for sure, but also very grueling.  I ended up ducking out early with a friend I had seen, and we chatted about our experience at church.

I walked her back to her house (she subsequently got yelled at by her Mai for this, because we aren’t married), and then made my way home.  As I was cleaning the mud off my shoes, my camera fell out of my pocket and right into a bucket of water.  Whomp, whomp.  Thanks for nothing Church karma.  (UPDATE: I was worried there for a bit, but the camera has made a full recovery.  Stuck it in some rice for a few days and Voila...functionality).

This morning there was supposed to be another service, but no one in my family attended (my mai and pai are both in Maputo for a funeral). Instead of going to church, I slept in and messed with my new (and functional!) blackberry.  Around ten, Octavio told me that we were going to go visit his work site.  He said something about “Mister Valerio” who is actually his sister’s husband (side note, Valerio is also a former military pilot that was contracted by the USSR to train and fly MIGs during the cold war).  I’m still confused why he calls him Mister, but I think it has something to do with the importance of titles here.  I guess even a brother-in-law is still a “sir” in the work place.

Valerio owns a Fabrica here in Namaacha that processes corn and turns it into floor.  He has two machines that he purchased in Zimbabwe that do this for him.  His only employee is Octavio, and he pays him 4000 meticais each month to work the machines and process the corn when customers come in.  Here’s a few pictures.

Sweet shack, bro.

Machines.

When we got there, Octavio kept saying something about Valerio and Governadora. I wasn’t sure what he was trying to tell me, but it didn’t take long for it to become pretty apparent what he was trying to say.

We waited around for about an hour and a half, messing around on facebook, taking some pictures, and talking about various things when finally a line of high profile cars rolled up to the shop.  The first was a pick-up truck with two soldiers strapped with some pretty intimidating machine guns.  Maybe it’s from all the movies I’ve seen, but the idea of having a run in with any African soldier terrifies me.  These guys looked like bad dudes.  They hopped out of the back of their truck and began scoping out the joint.  After looking around and coming to the conclusion that the funny looking Branco (read: whitey) in the purple shirt was not anything to worry about, they gave the signal for the VIP to exit her vehicle.  From the back of a Grey SUV popped out Lucidiya Ama, the Provincial Governor of the Maputo Province.  Big time.

Woman has shiny face.  Is also Provincial Governor of Maputo Province.  Big Time.

The Govenadora was followed by a trail of other people who I can only assume were a mixture of her family members and subordinates.  One woman was carrying an iPad, another was carrying a kid.  The woman with the iPad began snapping pictures.  Valerio was clearly nervous as he explained the process to the group, showing them all around his one room factory; Octavio was cool as a cucumber (by the way, they have those here, so that is an appropriate cliché to use).  When the talking stopped, my host brother put on his robe and got to work.  He processed that corn like a pro.  Everyone was impressed and Valerio wiped the sweat off his brow and breathed a sigh of relief.

The whole thing felt very reminiscent of something that might have gone on in North Korea.  Before Kim Jong Il died, there was a satirical website that would post all the state released pictures of the of the former leader looking at things in his country (Google: Pictures of Kim Jong Il Looking at Things).  This event made me feel like I was experiencing one of those pictures first hand.  It was that strange.

So that was that.  Interesting weekend. A little fun, very strange.  I never got a chance to do my laundry because the water isn’t working.  I’m running out of underwear fast.  Problem is, I won’t have another chance to do it until next weekend. It’s going to be a long, long week. Wish me luck.