About 9,000 kilometers away from Brazil, on a plane trip that takes an average of 19 hours, children and young people are also speaking Portuguese. But some details are quite different. It is common to mix Portuguese with dozens of other local languages, and some terms also change: breakfast, for example, becomes “mata-bicho” in Mozambique.
The illustrator Angelo Abu says that he discovered a real “linguistic treasure” when he spent a month in the country, in 2016. He had just been invited to illustrate several book covers by the writer Mia Couto, author of works such as “Terra Sonâmbula”, required as required reading in one of the main entrance exams in Brazil, Fuvest. Mia is from Mozambique, and Abu thought it was essential to get to know the country in order to do a good job.
The illustrator’s destination was the capital Maputo. In order to support himself on the trip, he proposed to a social organization to teach in drawing workshops for local children – in exchange, he would receive accommodation. And there, Abu had such a rich experience that it is difficult to say who learned more: the teacher or the students.
With an audio recorder in hand, he invited children and young people to tell stories. Anything that came to mind. “I was impressed with the strength of orality and the ease they have in telling such rich stories, with so many characters and places”, says the illustrator.
Anusca, Anselmo, Bruno, Carol, Damião, Edson, Ernesto, Faizal, Helena, Isildo, Mércia, Maria, Moisés, Nhelete, Raul and Reginalda shared stories that Abu, back in Brazil, decided to gather in a book full of illustrations that made of the city of Maputo and the children he met. Thus, “À Sombra da Mangueira” (Peirópolis publisher, R$ 45, 56 pages) was born.
Abu explains that the main character of the work is the language and that he wants readers to celebrate the respect and importance of what is different. But the illustrator also sees many similarities: “In Maputo I had a feeling of brotherhood, that they are like us, and we are them. And the common language is an important part of that.”
As the emphasis here is on Portuguese, Abu’s book allows you to go beyond reading and enjoy the words by listening to them. An online platform gathers the audios of all Mozambican children narrating their stories.
With about 800 square kilometers, the territory of Mozambique corresponds to approximately twice that of the state of Mato Grosso or three times that of São Paulo. The country became independent in 1975, is located in Africa and is bordered by the Indian Ocean.
As in Brazil, in Mozambique Portuguese is the official language — the one used in government activities and taught in schools. But that doesn’t mean it’s the most widely spoken language. The country has around 31 million people, and only half of Mozambicans speak Portuguese.
The place where other local languages are most present is indoors. Three out of ten Mozambicans speak Macua (or “emakhuwa” in the original) when they are with their families. It is the main language.
Portuguese comes second, spoken by 16% of the population at home. Changana is the third most spoken, by 9%. These data are part of the latest Census of Mozambique, a survey based on conversations with the country’s population to map characteristics such as age, religion and income.
Much of the similarities between Mozambique and Brazil is due to the fact that both countries were colonized by Portugal. Another six nations make up this list, and all speak, to a lesser or greater degree, Portuguese. They are: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, East Timor and São Tomé and Príncipe.
“À Sombra da Mangueira”, the name of the book by illustrator Abu for the book, is a tribute to these connections, according to the author himself. The mango is a species of tree taken by Portugal from eastern countries such as India and Myanmar to many of its former colonies such as Brazil and Mozambique. “It’s something that unites us,” says Abu.
EVERYONE READS TOGETHER
Text with this seal is indicated to be read by guardians and educators with the child
.
