"Participation Builds Unity"
"MADE IN AFRICA - FOR AFRICA"
"Participation Builds Unity"
"MADE IN AFRICA - FOR AFRICA"
PRESENTS
Angela ...a girl child in Angola
Sazi
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8 April 2005 on Constitution Hill, South Africa
Angela
There is a girl child in Angola
Some days
She knows what will sell
Unwritten
Because of the civil war she knows no family
She knows nothing of what happened
Angela
a teenager
She has physical strength
Sazi
In the traditional markets of Luanda
Days, she appears at dawn
At the door
Of Lao Xis dockside warehouse
Lao Xi
a wholesaler from Tsingtao
She greets him Ni Hao, Lao Xi
She casts her eyes over the shelves looking
For light and valuable goods
For what she knows will sell well
today
Not yesterday
nor tomorrow
today
She pays cash for what she can carry
To this days best place in the market
Her decisions are wise every item sells quickly
At her price
Angela does it again
Many times
Despite
the heat and dust of the Angolan sun
the rain and mud of the Angolan wet
Driven, multiplying her gains time and time again
She seeks out those from the remote Angolan interior bearing rough
The rough from which fine semi-precious gems are worked
Angela drives a hard bargain
Selects with her practised eye
Buys all the best
top quality
always at her price
Back to the warehouse
Just before dusk
Lao Xi knows her rough
Produces the finest polished gems
Lao Xi buys her selected rough
Paying her price
Angela is real
Her financial acumen is legend
She counts hundreds of thousands of Kwanzas lightning fast
She knows a discount from a disaster
Investments are her bank
Eating places, taxis, hairdressers
She owns them all
Every kwanza into a viable venture
She knows where to sell it
And how to sell it
She knows who else is selling what
And at what price
this is her second nature
Lao Xi now imports
especially for her
Products she knows will sell well
Unspoken
There is a relationship
partnership
between them
Open, trusting, mutual, profound, productive, fair
Her emotional trauma
The physical abuse
Few of us can imagine
Nights, she secures herself
In the company of other Crianηas da Rua
No roof, no blankets
Burrowing beneath an old pile of rubbish
When it gets too cold
They choose to eat what they can find
Socialise, sing, exchange the days happenings, sleep
Every week they show their shared values
Traipsing off as a family
To practice their choice of faith, together
To her father, mother, siblings
She has no idea where home was
She speaks Kimbundu and siChokwe fluently
She speaks
a smattering of Portuguese
of Mandarin
She can neither read nor write
Losing a foot and a hand to that anti-personnel mine
almost as soon as she could walk
Is no apparent burden to her!
Already an entrepreneur par excellence
She knows it not but
She is not just an Angolan survivor
She knows it not but
She is also both importer and exporter
Already an international businessperson
Inner strength,
Insight and foresight
Because the war is over
She has freedom
choice
Together with faith, fortitude, wisdom, patience and savvy
Angela is free now
Successful and wealthy in so many senses
Beyond some of the dreams of so many of us
She is my continuing inspiration
And maybe yours?
8 April 2005 on Constitution Hill
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