Finally the rain came.... the last many days it has been extraordinarily humid, when u open the window in the office its like a hot river pooring in.
I sat in my window pane with my legs crossed and had bisquits and milk while watching the tiny cars and people running around in the street below, and lightening after lightening after lightening after lightening....
This weekend I have to go to Swaziland again, which means it has almost been 2 months - past by rapidly. Sometimes I feel completely disconnected from the reality of people here - we went to visit our maids house (me and Luciana) last saturday, its so strange driving back into the center, when uve been in the outskirts of Maputo....
Driving out doesnt feel strange, to see the concrete buildings being replaced by dirtroads, informal shops and markets and small brik houses with tin roofs and without a squirt of paint. Sara (our maid)s family received us like royalty, we brought a small lunch and an old TV (the latter was the official cause of the visit). Sara lives in an annex to her parrents house with her two daughters, their dad doenst help her with anything so she has to provide for them herself. around the house are apart from Saras mom and dad a lot of ppl who I dont really manage to place: a niece, a grandmom, an aunt, brohters and sisters, a chubby tumbling who is from one of the neighbours...
This apart a kitten who is comepletely dead in the heat, a few chickens and ducks, one of them with more than 10 small yellow ducklings running around her. Saras dad tells us the duck had her own kids, and then adopted the ones from another duck who wudnt recognise her ducklings, and then they go to sleep they are so many that they cant all fit under the the wings of the one duck, so some of them have to sleep out in the cold.
Saras dad was a worker in the mines in South Africa for 35 years, and came back with his lungs completely destroyed, Luciana tells me, even so, the man sitting besides me is an energetic guy, with sparks in his eyes telling stories from close and far with intelligence and caress. he is skinny and has lines on his face, but Im surpised to know he is 75 years old and have so many years of hard labour behind him...
Saras mom is 15 years younger, beautiful, round, smiling and with gipsy earrings. Luciana brought her a capulana, and she claps her hands together and laughs out loud. completely contageous!
after a few hours there we unload the TV and say goodbye to the family and Sara... Sara follows us out and thanx us a lot for coming, I say we are the one who are thanking for this wonderful receptiveness, and then she says that its really rare for an employer to ever go visit the house of their maid.... Im spontaneusly surprised, even though maybe I shudnt be, but really happy we had an excuse to come.
then we drive back into town... its not much more than a 12 minute drive, but its another world: halfway home all of the sudden tall concrete buildings appear - do I really live there?
