AFRICA EXISTS IN LOVE RELATIONSHIPS

Ilustration by Claudio Brites

Daamn man, yesterday I took an Uber, on the way to the hospital, The driver started the typical chit-chat, he asked me if everything was okay.

– Yes, Everything is fine, my brother.

– Ahhhh you’s Brazilian?

– From Rio. From the North Rio.

– And are you feeling too hot here in Lisbon today?

– Damn it. Some days it feels like Rio.

– In the North Rio, was it very this hot?

– North Rio and West Rio, my brother. I lived in a favela, it’s hot.

– Ah, what was the name of the favela you lived in?

– Vila Aliança.

– Is it very hot?

– Oh boy. Vila Aliança is a inland area called Bangu. So, picture a place with no beach, no sea, only trains.

– It’s very suffering, isn’t it, my brother?

– It’s, a lot.

– And you miss it there?

– A lot.

– I don’t know many Brazilians from the North Zone.

– It’s because the majority of brazilians who arrive here come with money. Or they are from Goiás (a conservative State from Brazil, ruled by white farmers).

– Goiás?

– Yeah. A complicated people. And the Brazilians that come here are sometimes rich, white, arrogant. You have to know more about the slums, the favelas.

– What is different?

– There are many Afro-Brazilians. A lot of blacks, mixed people. My own family is mixed. I recently did a test, and it says that in my DNA that I have Nigerian origins. Brazil is still on its way to self-awareness. Everything is very confusing still, there is a lot of poverty, my brother. The police abuses a lot, bro.

– Yes, always the police, bro.

– Yeah.

– Listen, when I visit your country, I want to go to Madureira.

– I was born there !

– AHH, maaan , I really want to see Madureira. Is it big?

– It’s a kingdom, my friend. Many families of former slaves went there, to Morro da Serrinha. It is Birthplace of samba, there in those suburbs. Including many references from Angola that we have there.

– Angola? I am from Angola!

– Oooh, my brother. There is a lot of Angolan descents in our country. A lot. In the poor regions we revere more our origins. In the richer regions they want to be European. There was an African king there, bro. Ganga Zumba. There was an African kingdom of all ethnicities. It was a big thing.

– And the Portuguese, what did they do?

– For a long time, nothing. Ganga Zumba was king and diplomat. But then they looted.

– Look, I want to visit there, to see all this. And I really want to go to a samba circle (gathering)! Sometimes, I go here, in Cais do Sodré (in Lisbon). I like it a lot! It must be very hard, no? To miss being away from our people, right?

I held back the tears. Looking at the city through the window.

It’s very hard, my brother. In the suburbs, in the slums, all we have is ourselves.

– I know. I miss it all so much. It’s very lonely here, brother.

– Oohh, hell yeah.

– But listen, one day you’ll come back. ok ?

Before I went down, he came out, opened the door and gave me a hug.

It’s all I needed; it was all there.

It is impossible to put into words. It was all there.

That’s what I am always talking about.

To find in the streets of the world the brotherhood with a black Angolan man, who sees us with affection. There is a multitude of people hugging each other here and there, without you even noticing it. It is a lot of history behind us.

Africa exists in love relationships.

I got out of the Uber, and before entering the hospital, I cried. Tears of joy, there alone, on the sidewalk. Like a few times in this old continent I have cried. Thank you!