"Magic " moments ...

The moment I walk into a classroom, irrespective of the number of students and the underlying purpose I know that there will be a feeling of warm affection toward them, without which the genuine desire to impact them (should that be one's ultimate goal) does not work ...

I've recently experienced quite a few "magic" moments while teaching ... (or maybe I should say "learning") ... According to an unknown author to teach is to learn twice and there is definitely some truth in it ...

If teaching one particular group seemed to be rather challenging because of the technical Language involved, the other two, where the approach to the English Language was less likely to lead us into "technicalities", was no less challenging precisely because of the subjectivity of the themes we should be discussing.

I don't think it might be possible for anyone to really understand how "precious" these moments were, except those who actually shared and contributed towards them with their almost contagious enthusiasm, committment, singularity and unique approach based on one's life experience and perception tinged by specks of poetry, sadness and even humour.

What  a marvellous way it was to start the morning ... knowing that there would be "inevitable" differences of opinion ... turned into rather special and "magic" moments for us all ...

Praia, Cape Verde - the last day - The 24th of April 2012

(...)

We headed back to the little fishing port to have lunch ... stopping along the way to admire the little bay and the village houses.

 

We had "caldo de peixe à moda da cidade Velha" (fish soup cidade Velha way) which was as delicious as it looked, followed by a dessert of "doce de papaia e queijo de cabra" (green papaia jam with goat cheese) ... equally delicious ...

We sat in the sun enjoying the last minutes in cidade Velha, once we had to get back to the pension on one of those outgoing "hiaces" and  get ourselves ready to spend the last evening at Graça's before making it to the airport.

Any local drive, wheter it is in a "hiace" or any of those trucks open at the back where there seems to always be"available" space" for any extra passenger or passengers even if  all the places are taken can be an adventure in itself, though the trips to cidade Velha and back were quite uneventful this time.

Once we got to Praia, we still had a stroll in the Plateau area with one last stop at Sofia's café where I met once more my rather special friend Zezito, and Henriqueta managed to send some e-mails (which are quite difficult, if not impossible to send from almost anywhere else).

We started our "slow descent" towards Varzea as if wanting to delay the inevitable return home ..."capturing" the last images of the city bustle, as children came out of school  ...

 Hundreds of "moving" uniforms, a reminder of how important education is and always will be, filled the streets as the sun was going down ...

As we were getting closer to the pension we started feeling this rather disturbing feeling Cape Verdians know so well ... wanting to stay yet having to go ...

And as we were packing the last things I noticed we were bringing quite a few packs of "milho cuchido", "feijão pedra",  "bolacha da terra", coconut cakes and other "precious" local  food the mothers of those we are helping had literally forced us to bring to the "godmothers who hadn't been able to travel to Cape Verde. ... 

What a great lesson ...what a better world we might be living in if we shared what we have, similarly to those village women who shared with us the little they had ...

The rest of the evening was spent at Graça's, who after having worked at the Parliament all day long and a family to look after still found time to make us a special dinner ...

The wait at the airport before boarding the flight was spent talking to another amazingly "strong"  young lady, Poliana, whom we met at the passport gate, whose unconditional love and courage to face the obstacles a rare disease one of her children has developed, as well as the prospect of an uncertain future, touched us all ...

(The end)

Praia, Cape Verde - the morning of the 24th of April 2012

(...)

The children seemed to be fascinated with the texture of my hair, which they asked me to touch ... and for all I said they could I never imagined it could be so uncomfortable ...

As Henriqueta left the post-office Lurdes and I together with the children started calling out for her in a singing mode, whilst clapping our hands to music - "Nha Keta ... nha Keta ..."  ... it was unexpectedly funny, as she looked rather suprised by the " welcoming" atmosphere.

Some children caught our attention, whether it was because of their smile or the rather creative hair style ...

As we had ordered lunch and would still have to wait for quite a while, spent some more time with the children, playing games, singing which were familiar to us all and even organizing a model show in which eacah of them had to select a different way of walking ...

The children were called back to school as a small fishing boat was just reaching the beach with not much fish caught but enough for the day' s needs.

We still had time to walk up to the seventeenth century Cathedral remains and take some photographs of the once gabled facade and  walk around ... just imagining what it must have been like centuries ago ... as we stumbled across a few tombs.

(To be continued)

Praia, Cape Verde - The morning of the 24th of April 2012

I couldn't fly back home without having my friends visit Cidade Velha. Despite the fact that everytime I travel to Santiago island I end up spending part of any day re-visiting this UNESCO village, I always take pleasure in strolling around it. There is something rather special about it that makes me want to always  go back.

We stopped at a little shop run by a women's association that sells a wide variety of local handicraft - rag dolls dressed in local outfits, "soap" which ressembles none of the soap bars we buy in Europe because of being made out of some local plants, sisal-made bags and "panos d'obra" amongst others.

We then walked along the street of Banana, where some people were re-thatching the roofs of their 15th century houses.

Once the Chapel of Nossa Senhora do Rosario was closed we headed towards the open air chapel overlooking the little bay and afterwards down onto the main Square and along the stretch of small restaurants towards the little fishing beach to watch the incoming boats.

 

As there were none we went to the post-office, not without having stopped at the Café with a Museum-like exhibition room with typical banana peeling handicraft "paintings" and other typical  Cape Verdian "artistic pieces".

 

Some colourful stamps on one of the walls of the little post-office caught my attention as Lurdes and I were walking out to check on the fishing boats leaving Henriqueta behind.

 

Some primary school children could be seen playing in the cobble-stoned street just across from the fishing beach. As soon as they sighted us heading to the stony beach they came running from what looked like everywhere. I was surrounded by them.

 

(To be continued)

Praia,Cape Verde - the afternoon of the 23rd of April

Having had part of the afternoon free we decided to head towards Achada de Santo Antonio and after having sat at a nice Café overlooking the beach of Quebra Canela walked down towards Prainha along the coastline.

 

 

We sat in the sun for a few minutes watching the bathers, which were by the hundreds ... That made me think back to when this little beach was considered an almost "isolated" one  (2001) ... it must have been due to the "teachers' day" ... as many of those who were there looked like school children and adolescents ...  

Night came and with it the accords of "mornas" and "coladeiras" ... and the profoundly  heartflelt voice of Simas, a long gone friend I hadn't  spoken to for a few years.  The brief conversation took us inevitably to the African atmosphere of the also "long gone" Lisbon nights ... where we had met each other in the eighties.

 He dedicated one of the songs to my friends and another one to the children of Calheta. We were touched by the whole atmosphere ... in what might be considered an inspirational moment Henriqueta took to dancing with Simas  leaving Lurdes and I, not to mention everyone else who was having dinner and listening to the "tocatina" at Quintal da Musica, astounded by the feeling she put into it ...

We had a marvellous evening ... one we shall certainly remember for a long time ...