In themselves, Thursdays were typically rather dull. I only had two classes to teach and Thursday
followed Wednesday, which had no classes and offered plenty of time for me to
get work done. However, this Thursday
unfolded into a strange series of events that left me dumbfounded, yet
altogether pleased with my part in them.
Having finished our lesson early, I decided to do some word
exchange with my 8a 3 class.
We selected a few Portuguese words and I told them the English equivalent,
they told me the Changana equivalent.
For the last 5 minutes of class, the 10 students who stayed for the last
period (out of a roster of 40) and I laughed as the other tried to pronounce
words like grill (they have a lot of trouble with this word) and chloko
(head). An extra bounce in my step, I
left the classroom and headed home when the Pedagogical Director waved me over
to the window of another classroom.
Being the end of the day, hardly anyone remained at the
school, and yet a small group of students gathered inside the classroom around
a girl who was lying on the ground, unconscious. Apparently this girl had a history of fits
and on this day had one before passing out.
Immediately, my brain went through my very limited knowledge of medical
conditions that could explain fits and passing out: seizures, dehydration and
lack of food in the day’s extreme heat all came to the front of my mind. All wrong.
The PD informed me the girl was inflicted by mau espiritos (bad
spirits).
I laughed at first, but she was serious. Spirits aren’t a major part of everyday life,
but they are a part of Mozambican culture, and for some people, can stand as a
valid reason for strange phenomenon: such as a girl having a fit and collapsing
during class. At the Escola Secundaria
de Mabalane, students talk about Jossefa, a girl who died and whose spirit
still haunts the school. The students’
belief is Jossefa causes strange events such as this. So, to heal this girl and combat the spirit,
the small group of students and my PD called the curandeiro, a traditional medicine and spiritual healer in the
community. I personally have had no
dealings with the cuandeiro, but from what I have heard, there is at least on
in every community and this person is both respected and feared by everyone.
My PD told me this person was on the way, but that it could
be a while. As I planned to meet Charlie
in town for a free meal, I decided to leave the situation to bathe and head
into town. On the way back to my house,
my neighbors were playing a game of keep-away soccer, so I stopped to join.
Now, I should remind you, it’s late February at this time,
which means that it’s summer in a tropical African country and I’m playing
soccer in slacks, dress shoes, a button down shirt and a lab coat. Needless to say, before long a healthy sweat
covered my face and arms. After ten
minutes, I left the game and continued to my house. As I entered the back door, I heard the sound
of rustling plastic on the table to my left.
I turned my head and quickly saw the plastic bag that made the sound,
but what caused the-
There! Its head and
body moved up the grate covering our window.
After backing away a few more feet, I watched as the biggest snake I had
ever seen outside of a display slithered up our window grate. The body was skinny, green and a meter
long. After the initial shock of
encountering a snake in my kitchen passed, I tried to think of a way to get it
out of my house, and quickly realized I had no experience with such
things. I could kill it fairly easily,
but that didn’t seem fair. This dumbass
snake just happened to come into an inhabited house, was now cornered and
likely scared. I decided to ask my
neighbors what to do and stepped back onto the back stoop.
The crew of four who had been playing soccer were now
resting. This is how I remember the
conversation going:
-
Me (calmly): Hey! There’s a snake in my house.
-
Them: Yeah, ok teacher. Sure there’s a snake.
-
Me (seriously): It’s this big!
-
Them: Oh, shit!
Something I had never seen before and seriously
underestimated was the Mozambican’s reaction to snakes. The words grave and severe come to mind, and
yet don’t seem to quite capture their response.
These teenagers arranged for battle when they realized I was
serious. Sticks, bricks and garden hoes
in hand, we went through the front door.
The snake still hung in the grate and they boys let out sounds of
excitement and disbelief when they saw it.
I won’t go into the details, but after much throwing,
rustling, smashing, and shouting, the snake lay crushed and beheaded. They quickly removed the body from the house
to a pile of brush and burned it. The
burning of snakes is another cultural act done to ensure the snake is dead and
prevent its spouse or owner from tracking the scent to you and killing you.
In the aftermath of the battle, I abandoned the bath to hit
the road into town and give myself some time to process what just happened.
The heat and sweat persisted throughout the walk and I
quickly began to regret not taking a bath.
However around halfway into town, the doctor of Mabalane pulled up and
asked if I wanted a ride. I hopped in
and was blasted by a wave of cold air.
Of course the doctor had an air conditioned car. I, however, had not felt air conditioning in
over two months and was in a near vegetative state from the euphoria my sweaty
body suddenly sensed.
In town, the doctor dropped my off at his turn and I stepped
back into the heat, though now the sweating had stopped and I felt a little
better. I made the short walk to the
restaurant, grabbed a cold Fanta, sat down and told Charlie about the strange
whirlwind I had just passed through.
