A country of peace
A little more than 20 years ago the central market of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, was selling just two fishes and villagers wore sacks as clothes. Today, Mozambique is entirely different: it is a country that develops fast and steadily, by the African yardstick, and is noticeably changing. The secret is that more than 20 years ago there was a civil war still going on between the socialist-oriented ruling party and guerrillas in opposition. It was a long and exhausting war.
“War is the mother of all kinds of poverty,” says Professor Andrea Riccardi, Minister for International Cooperation and Integration of Italy, founder of the non-governmental organization Community of Sant’Egidio. He knows this better than anyone else because the Community played a decisive role in the restoration of peace in Mozambique by initiating two-year-long negotiations that resulted in signing a peace treaty in Rome’s small St. Giles Church. So peace is the key to understanding the current situation in that country. It is to peace that Mozambique owes being able to develop fast today.
Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, is a big and beautiful city on the Indian Ocean shore. It has a special charm and a unique atmosphere. First of all, Maputo astonishes you with its contrasts: rich neighborhoods stand next to very poor ones, posh restaurants are located on dirty streets, and expensive cars can be often seen on non-asphalt-paved roads. The poverty I saw here can only be found in Ukraine in very exceptional situations: no access to clean water, a two-square-meter lodging made of reeds and without any furniture or even floor – just a mat on the ground… In Maputo, only the poorest live in these conditions, while outside the capital this picture is the rule rather than the exception. A total of 78 percent of Mozambique’s population scrapes by on less than two dollars a day. Although the country’s development opens up a lot of new prospects, the poorest always remain the poorest.
The city displays a lot of beautiful architecture that dates back to the period when Mozambique was a Portuguese colony. The railway station designed by the architect Gustave Eiffel has a lot of posters that show verses by local poets. The Art Museum is now hosting an exhibit of Bertina Lopes, by far the most prominent Mozambican painter, who died recently. Most of her pictures show the pain of war and the joy of peace. The local cultural life becomes more and more active with every passing year. Today’s children can go to school. They sit on the school’s floor, and the teacher addresses them by number, not by name – even this is much more than their parents used to have.
Casilda, now 35, had her schooling interrupted by the civil war. Then she contracted AIDS but was lucky enough to learn about the DREAM program initiated by the Community of Sant’Egidio. This program provides for European-standard free treatment of AIDS. Today Casilda is going to graduate from the university with a philosopher’s diploma in hand – on this occasion she invites all her friends to a lavish party. Friends are carrying Casilda in their arms and bringing her presents, while her mum cannot hold back tears: she has never hoped that some of her children will graduate from a university. Casilda is an activist – as she was receiving the DREAM treatment, she decided to help other patients. Activists tell the people who have just come to know about their HIV-positive status that there still is a hope. This really sounds too strange here in Africa. An activist told us that she had not dared for 10 years to tell her parents that she was ill, for the HIV-infected are grossly discriminated against – even in the families. A HIV-positive diagnosis is a death sentence in Africa, while programs like DREAM mean a resurrection. Casilda says about this in her speech at the university graduation party. Being able to go to school or university, work, and just live with HIV/AIDS is something absolutely normal for us and a real dream for Africa. This dream is coming true today, which is the best proof of Africa having a great future.
The Day’s FACT FILE
Olha Makar is a second-year master’s degree student at the Kyiv Mohyla Academy’s School of Journalism. Aged 23, the girl is an activist at the international NGO Community of Sant’Egidio founded in Rome in 1968. Today, the organization, which has branches in more than 70 countries, works to overcome social injustice as well as cultural and religious split in society. In Ukraine, the Community’s principles are shared by the movement Friends of the Community of Sant’Egidio. Its volunteers care for old people, render assistance to the homeless and all those who are forced to beg on the streets of Ukrainian cities.
This summer Olha Makar went, as a Community volunteer, to work at a children’s nourishment center in Mozambique. The girl shares her impressions of the country and the ongoing processes on the pages of Den/The Day. “The situation in Mozambique more or less reflects the overall situation in Africa – the problems are the same. In other words, these columns are, to some extent, not only about Mozambique but also about the entire continent,” Olha explains.
