Nymphs of the Tagus ...

I just wish I could be one of João Cutileiros's "Nymphs" ... carelessly bathing by the Tagus river ...

This unexpected heat wave has been asphyxiating ... and according to the latest meteorological news ... it will linger on longer than it was intially predicted ...

Nessinha and the forthcoming "trip" to the beach ...

I can't help wondering what Nessinha's reaction is going to be like when I take her to the beach not far from where she lives with her great grandmother ...

I can already imagine her on the bathing suit Sandra has bought for her ... building

sandcastles or just playing with the beach bucket and spade I have also bought for her ... though... I cannot be that sure...  once some of these children's reactions are not so predictable as the ones we are used to in Europe ...

... I have a feeling she has never been to the beach ...
In fact, most of these small children have never left home or their mothers' backs to go anywhere ... they watch them work from morning to dawn ... they get used to the daily routines and what will be expected of them in a few years (not many) ... at the age of 12 most of them can already take care of a household ...

It may be "wrong" of me to get her "distracted" from what her daily life is ... or may continue being, when I am gone ... but ... so be it ...

... I am going to take her just across the road  ... to "touch" the sand and the sea ...

The fear of being with others ... or the feeling of not "fitting in" ...

                                 My grandmother's house in Figueira da Foz

Having been born in a fairly wealthy family, surrounded by servants who were supposed to  also substitute the friends I very rarely had (except those at school, in the  extra curricula school activites, such as ballet and piano lessons or  in the eventual games mosly played with my brothers and cousin, in which I was the odd one out ...), I always found it difficult to adapt to the typical children birthday parties' atmosphere or any other party for that matter ... because of not "fitting in" ...

I was more of an "isolated" type of child, who used to "travel" in the innumerous adventure books my mother bought for me or "fly" up and down and around the military barracks'gardens just at the end of my grandmother's street on my bike for endless hours ...

My sense of "inner" freedom must have started then ... Books provided the references,  opening up the horizons...  (apart from the Enid Blyton ones, "Aventura entre ciganos" - Adventure within the Gipsy community - was the book I was mostly impressed with, as a 6 or 7 year old child) ...  and the bike provided the temporary "wings" with which I took to the fearless "roads" of my imagination ... without "tied up" hands ... in a  seemingly never ending energy ... which would surprise everyone (as I was fairly tiny and fragile ...).

Being confined to a world of strict behavioural attitudes, society parties at the Tennis club society or even the Casino ballrooms every weekend  at a slightly later age (8 or 9) ... didn't make it easier on me ... because I still felt I didn't "fit in" (though I must confess I didn't exactly dislike them)... but the streets and my "imagination" were the territories I most felt easy at ... I needn't be among others ... I just needed to be ...

I love travelling on my own ... and have  ... until recently ... Being on my own is also something I don't  quite dislike ... the weight of not "fitting in" is not that strong ... but the habit of being the "odd" one out still bears some resemblance to the past ...

In front of the commercial harbour, Figueira da Foz, 2009

Note: I (at the age of 6) and my brother Miguel just behind me at Teresa Fontão's birthday party (Black and white photograph).

Childhood memories ... childhood fears ... or The fear of the sea ...

Cabedelo beach, Figueira da Foz

I have been wanting to write about some of my childhood memories for quite a long time ..., though I feel I don't exactly know where to start ... maybe because among those too many memories, there have been fears ... fears I have never expressed.

We were taught from an early age to overcome our fears with a smile on our faces ... never to complain  ... and to show a strength we didn't have ..., that's maybe why I still do that, or try to ... with some success (I guess ...).

The sea was one of my first and greatest fears ... the fact that I come from a  coastal city located at the mouth of the Mondego river  with inumerous beaches  dictated my fate in ingloriously  trying to struggle against this fear.

Around this area children were traditionally  subject to prolonged "immersions"  in the waves by bathing attendants,  to whom parents called forth in order to make brave young people out of us.

Ignoring our pleadings for "mercy" (even those of us who liked the sea)...  those strong "slaughtering" hands grabbed us firmly by the shoulders and plunged our head three or four times ... or for as long as they felt it was needed  for us to become "heroically" prepared to face the tough sea of the "Silver Coastline", known for its  huge cold and fearful sea waves (... I wonder what psychologists would have to say about this methodology ...)

I have never forgotten those "immersion sessions" ... and although I must say I love Figueira da Foz, I have never been able to bathe in its waters for too long, since then ...
There is always a feeling of insecurity ... a feeling of not being able to adjust my breathing rhythm to the actual going under water,  irrespective of it not being forced ...

Buarcos and Figueira da Foz beaches as seen from Serra da Boa Viagem (Left) The  "Silver Coastline" (Right)





Note: (Black and white photo - My brother  Miguel and I on Figueira da Foz beach, when I was 5 years old).

Walking around the streets ...

As we walk around Calheta and Veneza we come across dozens of children playing with their self-made toys ... helping their  parents in the daily village routine ... or just sitting around ...

I always feel mixed emotions I can't quite explain ...
On one hand  ... there's poverty, yet  on the other ... a certain degree of "happiness" ...

The ship-building yard under the tree ...

Cape Verdians never cease to surprise  and impress me ...
On the way to Veneza, a small village in the community of São Miguel, there is a small beach on the right hand side, where a small ship-building yard has been set under a tree.

Three ship wrights work there, in an almost handicrafted type of way, planing off the wooden boards of the two unfinished  fishing boats they were working on (when I met them) ...

 

I don't exactly know how long this ship-building yard has been here for (they wouldn't tell me) or how long it will keep on being here for  (they wouldn't tell me either) ...
They may not know ... (I believe) ... but what I know is that very rarely do Cape Verdians find excuses for not doing whatever they may be capable of doing  ... because of not having the adequate means to do it ...

Against the wind ...

I have just finished reading  the Planeta 2009 awarded book "Contra el viento" by Ángeles Caso, who in unveiling the life of the character of her book, São takes us right into the hardships and misfortunes of this ordinary Cape Verdian woman and all that she had to go through, from the earlier stages of her childhood, within a family she knew was not her own to her adulthood mishaps, which ultimately led her to going abroad in search of a better life ...

The obstacles this woman  has had to overcome were innumerous but the inner strength and determination with which she forced herself to keep on going forward are undoubtedly an example of "heroism" ...

What makes the difference is that this heroic character has not been invented ... , neither have all her misfortunes ... São lives in Spain and has been helping the writer in the upbringing of her child.

What mostly impressed me in this book was what has actually always impressed me in Cape Verde ... the capacity these women have to continue moving forward when the chances of  having any sort of success in their personal lives are almost non existent ... their strong belief in being able to turn some of their dreams and expectations in "attainable" goals against all odds ... being able to overlook the fact that irrespective of the wind blowing against their will, their strength lies on  their inner drive to face it ...

Selling tobacco, Assomada market, Santiago island, 2009 (Left). With three of her children, Veneza, Santiago island, 2009 (Right)

There are many Sãos in and out of Cape Verde ...
... I have met a few, whose stories have not been unveiled ...  and may never be...

Going against the wind seems to be Cape Verdian women's birth trait ...

May they continue to be strong in their ongoing "struggle" against the wind ...

The Art ..., the art of story telling ... or Casa da América Latina ...

Outside Casa da América Latina in Lisbon there is a mural painted by several African and South American painters which does not immediately catch people's attention.


I have mentioned it to several people I know, who had no idea of what it was or even what it looked like ... and although I can't find a direct answer as to why they have never felt its presence, I would say that maybe the bright yellow  imposing façade of the collonial like house condemns the background painting to natural oblivion.

Every picture tells a story and every stroke of paint leads the way to travelling in the immense world of our imagination, but so do stories.

Today, as I walked into the magnificient yellow painted façade to listen to a story-teller from Cuba I had no idea that I would soon become a child sitting by a big tree in Africa ... eyes and ears open to  a contagious shade and colour like voice, as Rosália led us into a world of interwoven simple stories with a striking educational value.

Living the life of each character, she was responsible for the "colouring" of the whole drama, adjusting gestures and movements to "paint" the scenario ... pausing to add the next paint stroke to the story ... singing  and dancing  to better mix  the already profuse tinged palette ... inviting the audience's cooperation  to  give it the final touch ...

"Era una vez un cocrodilo verde" ...

The workshops in Calheta and the parent involvement ...

Mothers of the newcoming children enrolled in the workshops sitting at Sillibel's patio watching their children (Left) as they colour mandalas (Right)

We all know how parent involvement is important and how much it pays off in other significant ways regarding the children's education.

Mothers around here do want to get involved in their children's education, and I say mothers, because most families are single parent ones ... but one of the problems is that most of them are fairly young and have difficulties to understand what is really wanted from them as parents, as all they have ever heard of is work as a source of financial support and not much more than that ...

Academic achievement is something they expect their children to have, as if it were a hidden dream of theirs, that never came true regarding themselves ... but because they force their way through life, in order to (sometimes) barely survive ... they feel to "help" their children learn and further develop themselves implies using force ... which again is not much different from the methodology used by most teachers I have talked to.

 

 Neuza's mother, a young mother of 10 children (Left) and Tarine's mother (Right)

Dedicating some time to increasing the awareness of these mothers by emphasising the importance of them being the "backbone" of their children's school development, by encoraging them, not to help the children when they have homework to do, as that would be asking them to do something most of them cannot do, but at least understand how important it is for them to allow children some time for school related activities, even if they do not immediately understand the benefit ... by letting them see what their children are capable of doing, rather than just focussing on pass/fail marks they cannot understand.

As some of them watch their children while painting or once they see what they have actually painted, one gets the feeling they would like to be given the chance their children are being given now ... and the more I think about it the more I would like to design a workshop in which I would have them involved, not simply as mothers of these children but as "children" themselves ... the children some of them have certainly not have had the time to be ...

Nate, mother of seven (Left) is the example of an "interested" mother, whose children (Leinira and Cesaltina) have attended every possible workshop related to their age. Mothers of the children (Right) who attended the last workshop at the closing ceremony, in which I must proudly say 4 fathers were present.

"Street Art" in the heart of Lisbon ...

I started getting interested in "street art" when I  first visited San Francisco in 1989 and then again in 1990.

Although none of the artistic murals I have seen since then, with just a few exceptions, has really attracted my attention, I must confesss that from time to time I'd rather see some graffiti covering the walls of many of the "dying buildings" within our city, than the plain "demolishing like" façades ... looking us in the eye, as if to remind us that nothing is everlasting ...

As I was wandering around the city this morning ... I came across these buildings, which I just had to photograph prior to them being eventually demolished or painted over.

It was not only the overall image that attracted me, but especially the details (one that cannot be easily detected is the "eye" which being supended slightly moves back and forth, giving those who look at it the idea of being under surveillance.

Note: According to the Lisbon cultural agenda these artistic demonstrations are included in the Crono Project headed by the urban artist Pedro Soares Neves, and whose aim is exposing artistic façades, which are to be painted by some of the most outstanding urban artists until  June 2011.

The façades on the top left have been painted by the Brazilian twin brothers Gustavo and Octávio Pandolfo, as well as the Italian artist Blu. The façade on the right has been painted by the Spanish artist Sam3.

"Rabelados" Art Galery façade ...

A lot has been written about "Rabelados" and their principle of "independence", which dates back to the 1940s when they first opposed the introduction of a new Catholicism teaching system  in Cape Verde and which ultimately led to them being "banished", persecuted, emprisoned and even tortured.

 

A few years ago, the project developed by the Cape Verdian painter Misá in the Rabelados community of  Espinho Branco brought "colour" into the community and made their culture and traditions known to the "outside world" ...

I don't know if the Art galery I photographed in Cidade Velha and which was closed is actually a Rabelados galery, as in accordance with what is written on its façade ... but I quite like its paintings ... 

Why? I don't exactly know ... (I always seem to repeat myself when it comes to Cape Verdian art ) but there's something about ...  the simplicity of the lines ... and the naivety of  the expressions ... that I really like.