Sad Mama.

The last few days have been a little somber around here.  Two days ago, my Pai knocked on my door right around 6am to tell me that he was headed down to Maputo.  Octavio’s father (My Pai’s son-in-law) was sick and headed to the hospital.  Octavio was already in Maputo, and had been for a few days.  

It was a strange feeling around the house while the big man was gone. I could definitely sense that my Mai was uneasy as well and she clearly had a lot on her mind.  I’m sure there was more they were telling me that got lost in translation.

Octavio came back today and I ran into him at home after I got back from school.  He was in the kitchen talking with my Mai.  I welcomed him back, asked how he was and how his dad was doing.  There had been some improvement reported, and although he was still in the hospital, he was slowly making progress with his stomach issues. Content with the news, I headed inside to get started on some homework.

Right as I sat down for dinner, Octavio came in and told me there was some more bad news. Apparently they had just received a telephone call that my Mai’s Sobrino (her 34 year old niece), had just died.  I didn’t even know she was sick.  Nearly right after he told me, my Mai walked in with her sister and another friend and all sat down in the couch.  Each was more distraught than the next, my Mai having tears pouring out of her eyes.  It was a little bit of an awkward moment, since our living room is also our kitchen, and I had just filled my plate up with food.  I tried to hold off from eating out of respect for the family, but my Mai ordered me to start (as she typically does when I try to wait for others to serve themselves). 

After I was done, she asked me to come sit in the chair by her.  I hesitantly walked over to the chair and sat down.  She then explained to me that she would be heading to Maputo tomorrow, and she didn’t know how long she’d be away for.  She told me that Susannah, Octavio’s sister, would be cooking me meals.  I tried to use my broken Portuguese to explain that that was not necessary and I could do it myself, but she insisted.  “Eu posso cozinhar” I repeated, but she continued to decline my offer.   

When all was said and done, I had won breakfast rights, but Susannah would be cooking my other meals.  I asked my Mai if there was anything I could do to help the family while she was gone.  I told her I’d work the farm if need be and could even sell the bananas for them, but again, she declined.  Just the offer seemed to make her happy though, and her and her friends got quite a laugh out of that.  She then told her friends the story of how a few before, I had insisted that she let me buy some banana’s off of her (she sells them out front of our house at a rate of 3 for 5 mets…a steal!).  This made them laugh even harder. I was pretty content that my cultural idiocy was able to bring a smile to their once subdued faces.

Don't really have a better way to end this.  It's depressing no matter which way you look at it.  Life in Africa is different for a lot of reasons.  I imagine that one of the most significant differences is the presence of death and how much more frequently it is encountered. I like Africa, and I look forward to service here, but I do not look forward to that.