Mozambican Spotlight: Meet The Girls

Each day at site would not be complete if I didn't spend some time with The Girls. Three 13-year-olds and one 18-year-old entertain me with conversations that twist and turn and overlap with four simultaneous voices. Last week I asked them some questions group-interview style, and scribbled to write down all the answers of their dynamic 4-way conversation. I wish I could capture here the way they talk all at the same time, each telling their own story, each singing for attention, chiming in to each others' tales, interrupting each other, shouting with laughter and answering each others' riddles.

Lena, Whitney, Mafalda, Telma

1.       What do you want to be when you grow up?

I want to be a nurse.

I want to be a doctor.

I—

I—

You  go.

No, you go.

My dream is to be a nurse.

My dream is to be a police officer. If not…

2.       What do you like to eat?

Lena

Wow! Mandioca xima with amejua [a type of shellfish].

Stop interrupting me!

What I like is bread pudding.

What?!

What’s that?

I never ate that.

Teacher, do you have raisins at home?

Yesterday it was my first time eating raisins.

Get some for us when you go to Maputo!

Can you bring back fresh grapes for us?

3.       If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Mafalda

I would go to the US.

Me? Brazil!

Maputo.

US, Brazil, Maputo.

You would go to the US before going to Maputo?

Whenever the president goes somewhere, everyone watches him and sees what he does.

Today a plane passed and Flora [a friend] said, “hey, my dad is in that plane!” and then Teacher Steph looked up and yelled hello!

Was it a helicopter?

What if you owned your own helicopter?

I think the president has his own helicopter.

Once I walked up the steps of a plane. But I didn’t fly.

I’ve never flown on a plane.

Yeah, you’ve never been on a plane.

I have!

Nope. You really haven’t.

4.       What do you like to do in your free time?

Write, write, write!

Go to the beach, sunbathe.

You never even went to the beach.

Lena, what do you like to do?

Write!

Eh, I don’t like to write, I like to play cheia.

Telma

5.       What do you think about Nauela?

Wow, Nauela is spectacular!

Some people say it’s not good because it has no electricity.

During the day it’s fun, but at night it’s really calm, you feel lonely.

It’s really good to live here.

What's the next question?

6.       If you could be any animal, what animal would you be?

Bird.

Bear, I like bears.

Bird!

You would be a mataquenha [fleas that burrow in the toes] wouldn’t you!

No! I hate them!

I hate dogs. Lions even more.

Telma doesn’t like any animals.

One day I know they’ll come to teach me to fly – I’ll fly and float!

Pigeon.

Lena would be a cat.

What, no! I’d like to be…what? Which animal? An ant. I would eat people’s mangoes.

I’d like to be a lion. Lions and dogs aren’t friends.

They’ll fight! I bet the dog would win.

7.       Would you rather have three arms or three legs?

Whitney

Three arms.

Me too. Three arms.

Everyone wants to have three arms.

For me, three legs.

Everyone has to explain why!

One arm would wash dishes, another could cook, and the last could hold something else.

If I had three legs, I’d be able to do things really fast.

If someone told me to get a bucket and a pan and a spoon, I could get them all at the same time.

I would be the fastest, the first to arrive to the market.

8.       What do you want to say to your friends in the US?

That I’d like to go there in the US, and talk to people, even though I don’t know them! It would be a pleasure!

I’d want to talk to a girl. No boys! Only the girls, even if she’s just a little kid.

I want to talk to Teacher Steph’s parents.

And siblings!

How many siblings do you have?

How old are they?

What do they do?




Sometimes, I just can't keep up. All I can do is sit back and listen, and enjoy the show.