Thursday, November 5, 2009

Live Free or Stand-fast (or translated from nerd talk: Thoughts on Standfast and Mozambican National Elections)

Standfast.

The word itself looks kind of interesting at first glance. I mean, think about it: You take something as boring as ‘stand,’ add an exciting word like ‘fast’ and a cool looking and sounding combination is what comes out of it… much like die-hard I would say.

But what does standfast mean? Does it imply that somebody has to stay on her feet without eating for days on end? Does it mean that somebody has to jump up from his seat really quickly? And why is it that this word is so capable of driving fear into the hearts of Peace Corps Volunteers everywhere, including Mozambique?

Well, to make matters clear; Standfast, for those of you who are not versed in Peace Corps lingo, is the third stage of PC’s security plan and it involves Volunteers staying in their community until danger, either real or forecasted, has passed. Not so exciting anymore, is it? I guess it depends on your perspective.

For the past three weeks, Peace Corps has had all of its volunteers on standfast because of the once every five year occurrence of national elections. Despite the extremely peaceful and relaxed comportment of Mozambicans in general, PC has had its share of fears about possibilities that might come up… especially as a newer party rapidly gains influence throughout the country. Thankfully, as standfast is now just ending, no such violence has been realized and put a volunteer in harm’s way, but it’s never a bad idea to be cautious.

Having said that, time during standfast for me has at the very least provided a very interesting outlook on Mozambican politics and the role of the campaign as I’ve experienced some of it firsthand. For instance, I’ve become more and more fascinated with the FRELIMO party, which controls all Moz political branches and most significant appointments. One thing is for sure, as I’ve passed through the city and have seen their endless rallies, I have been constantly struck by the popularity of the party itself, but also, by the silence of the other parties. Do other parties even exist? If so, don’t they know that its way past time to get up and campaign?

What’s interesting about the political demographics here is that down South especially, you’d be hard pressed to find anything other than FRELIMO support. FRELIMO posters cover telephone poles from top to bottom, chapas, walls, and so on. Meanwhile, RENAMO, which up until now has been the only ‘major competition,’ if you can call it that, have been mostly silent as residents of Maxixe still have vivid memories of RENAMO’s war crimes during the civil war years back. ‘E Frelimo e que fez, e frelimo e que faz…’ you hear everybody singing constantly: ‘It’s FRELIMO that got things done, it’s FRELIMO that continues to get things done.’ It’s FRELIMO who won independence from Portugal, it’s FRELIMO that is currently developing Mozambique.

But let us not forget that there’s the third party: MDM. MDM is a new political player that has roots in both FRELIMO and RENAMO and has gained serious momentum in the country from other FRELIMO dissidents following its creation in March. Despite this fact, it encountered a serious roadblock months back (along with cries of injustice from the international community) as FRELIMO prohibited MDM from registering candidates in 9 out of 13 provinces from Assembly. FRELIMO claims the proper documentation was not handed in on time, while MDM is crying ‘corruption’ and ‘foul play.’ Whatever the case, the US ambassador recently commented in response to the situation on how the point of a democracy is to include as many choices as possible, rather than to limit them.

Despite all this drama, I’m sitting here during standfast having already spent numerous hours reading, studying Portuguese, and listening to people talk about politics and development. I do not believe that having one party dominate politics is a democracy, but I have also wondered what might happen if FRELIMO fell to another party. What would happen if a party like FRELIMO lost to another like RENAMO or MDM, who have no experience, and some would argue ‘capabilities,’ to govern a country? Would Mozambique lose all of the progress that it has made in the past few decades? Or are these very politics of fear and entitlement holding the country back for choosing another, possibly better way?

I suppose that’s not my place to decide, is it?

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

A Brief Rundown on a Traditional Wedding

Not too long ago, my friends Nick, Anne, and I attended a traditional ‘Mozambican wedding’ for our buddy Shaun and his girlfriend Epifânia.

Now, before I go any further, let me just explain that I qualify the words ‘Mozambican’ and ‘wedding’ for two reasons: First, while Epifânia is indeed a Mozambican woman, her fiancée Shaun is an American, ex-Peace Corps Volunteer from Boston. Second, the ceremony that took place was not a wedding in the sense that it used to be back twenty or thirty years back. No, it was a ring ceremony; a way for Shaun to ask permission from Epifânia’s family for her hand in marriage, in exchange for requested goods, in accordance with local tradition.

When we arrived at the house of Epifânia’s family; Nick, Anne, and I found Shaun waiting in the living room with a few friends. As he explained to us, he pulled up to the house and was met by Epifânia’s aunts singing as they processed towards the car. One of the aunt’s put a sheet over his head, picked him up (and Shaun’s a taller guy mind you), put him on her back, and carried him to the spot where we found him.

When we asked Shaun what was supposed to happen afterwards, he told us that he had to wait until the family called so they could put a sheet over his head again, lead him to the bathing bucket and have him wash up before he put on his suit for the ceremony. Apparently he was supposed to not use all of the water and then leave some money by the tub when he finished.

As we waited for Shaun to finish his bath then, I asked a friend from the University what these traditions were about. Why the sheets and the separation from everything? And interestingly enough, neither he nor anyone else I asked seemed to know what the reasons were. It’s still shrouded in mystery to this day…

Finally, Shaun and Epifânia came out and sat in chairs across from her entire family with nothing between them except an esteira (straw-ish) mat laid out on the ground and a suitcase on top. As the ceremony continued, a woman opened the suitcase and took out all of the gifts that Shaun had brought. She would say something in Xitswa and then Shaun and Epifânia would walk on their knees with the items in hand to give to the father, mother, aunts, grandmother, etc; who would in turn impart words of wisdom or a blessing on the couple. Then Shaun and Epifânia would walk on their knees back to their chairs until the next gift was ready to present.

Flash forward past the delicious food and the party chit-chat, and we arrive at what was, in my opinion, one of the best parts of the party. As Nick Anne and I stood watching, guests moved down the row towards the couple in song and dance to give them their presents. ‘No Joao, you can’t just leave presents on a table and wait for the thank you card in the mail 3 weeks later, you need to bring your present to the couple while singing and dancing… I hope you brought your dancing shoes…’ Needless to say, Nick, Anne, and I had an awesome time dancing our card up to Shaun and Epifânia as the women around us sang songs and clapped.

After that, they had a local dance group get up on the dance floor and bust a move as everyone sat down kind of tired from the gift giving. ‘But no… we must dance more!’ Everyone seemed to say as they got up anyways. A bunch of booty-shaking songs later, I found myself in a dance off with some members of the dance troupe. I’d like to claim a moral victory on that one, but am glad it wasn’t caught on video… :)

Yeah, but that was it… Seven hours of awesomeness that honestly felt like two and enough dancing that Nick and I even decided by the end that our own weddings would be much better off if they were more like Shaun’s. Here’s hoping wedding number three of the season comes sooner than later…