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I know that I said that I was done... well I am! But I also wanted to update the blog's other elements and draw your attention to them. Over the next several weeks I'll be working on a few stories to finish up the "Working Hard in Mozambique" page, so if you like this story and want to read more, check out the link on the right.

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Velosa Vasco Freitas, 53 – Teacher

While observing village life in Mozambique, one easily notices that most women are socialized from a very young age to be relatively timid and reserved, especially so around their male counterparts. Thus, it shouldn’t be surprising to discover that there are not many leaders in the whole administrative post of Nauela who are females. In fact, the large majority that are present here are not of local talent, but rather young, bright-eyed teachers that have been recently imported from urban centers across the province. Velosa is an exception. To say that she stands out only because of her accomplishments in regards to her gender and origins, however, would be false.

All the while remaining culturally respectful to the opposite sex, Velosa holds quite a presence wherever and with whoever she may be. Although she is not an official community leader (a position normally reserved for elders who are no longer working), her accolades are no less remarkable. Now going on 35 years of teaching at the primary school level, Velosa has been at her profession as long as Mozambique has been an independent state (how many people in the world can say that?!). That relatively uninterrupted work schedule includes years spanning the civil war where she continued to teach even in the thick of battle. Thriving in the years since the peace agreements, having been skillfully molded by her life experiences, Velosa now stands as a beacon of hope and an example for all of Nauela and Mozambique.

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Like so many Mozambicans during colonial times, Velosa came from a poor, yet plentiful lineage. Born in 1958, just a stone’s throw from her current residence in Nauela, Velosa was her mother’s third child of eight (two brothers and six sisters). Both of her brothers passed away at a relatively young age and none of her sisters had interest in doing anything other than what their ancestors had already been doing for as long as anyone could remember – living off the land as a subsistence farmer.

While her sisters and other peers hop-scotched back and forth, in and out of school, Velosa was academically determined from a young age. Unlike so many of her female counterparts growing up, Velosa had almost no interest in getting married young. Indeed she had much bigger plans: a dream of one day becoming a teacher (back during colonial times, only a select few educated Mozambicans were allowed to become teachers).

Working to attain that goal, Velosa attended school at the catholic mission just outside of Nauela until 1973. At 15 years old, an age by which most local women had long since been married, Velosa had the privilege of being able to say that she had completed 4th grade - the maximum level of education available in Nauela at the time. Had she had the money, she would have liked to continue studying in Molócuè, Quelimane, or Nampula until 10th grade or beyond, but that just wasn’t financially feasible for her money-strapped family. At this point, with no jobs open, a looming war in sight, and no more educational opportunities to be had, things stalled for the anxious Velosa.

In the years that followed, many of the affluent assimilated Mozambicans who were Velosa’s classmates at the Catholic mission were sent off to fight for the Portuguese army to combat the growing disruptive force FRELIMO. Some of these men returned home after the war (known as the War for Independence after FRELIMO dethroned the Portuguese colonial government), but several notables weren’t immediately heard from again, leaving doubt as to their fate.

After Mozambique’s independence in 1975, an opportunity arose when a cousin of Velosa’s became the newly appointed local government secretary. Knowing that they’d be looking for many more teachers to accommodate for the sudden influx of Mozambican students, the secretary asked Velosa if she would be able to start teaching adult literacy classes just down the road in Eiope. She quickly accepted. After giving several literacy courses over a year’s time, the young Velosa was eventually invited to join others in taking an official teaching exam that would be held the following week at her old stomping grounds, the Catholic mission. Studying intently for the entire week, Velosa passed the exam with ease. Velosa could now be integrated into the budding public education system, fulfilling her childhood dream at only 18 years old. In total, fifty-plus individuals took and passed the teaching exam that day, only 8 of them were females though.

Things were looking up for Velosa. Mozambique was now an independent state which allowed her many new freedoms and consequently she was finally realizing her dream of becoming a teacher. Almost at this exact same time, her family received an unsolicited letter from Francisco Janeiro asking for their daughter’s hand in marriage. Unheard of since he had been sent away to fight for the Portuguese against FRELIMO, Janeiro was the son of a wealthy farmer (he had several field laborers who actually did the work) in Nauela and also one of Velosa’s classmates back at the Catholic mission.

Turns out, Janeiro had moved to Beira after fighting in Tete province for the Portuguese, but was now interested in marrying a woman from back home. As Janeiro wrote the card that would ultimately guide his life’s destiny, he tried hard to remember any specific names of girls he had found alluring back in his younger days at school.

As fate would have it, the name that jumped out above the rest happened to be: Velosa Vasco Frietas.

Surprised, yet interested in the marriage proposal now after having finished school, Velosa wrote cards back and forth with Janeiro for some time before he came and officially visited her in Nauela. After a few more years of getting to know one another via correspondence and sporadic visits, Janeiro and Velosa were officially married in Nauela on October 2nd, 1978.



Velosa, Janeiro, and some neighbors posing with me for a photo

Throughout the courtship, starting in February 1976, Velosa began teaching kids, 1st through 3rd grade, on a yearly rotation between the area’s various primary schools. She started in Eiope (where she had been teaching the literacy classes), next moved to the catholic mission, then on to Maloa, and finally back to Eiope. Even though she had a job, her life at this time was not glamorous or posh. In fact, she never even had a permanent residence at these schools. Instead, she would live in makeshift housing or with relatives while she moved from place to place. It’s important to note that Velosa didn’t teach at the big school in Nauela during this time though because the wife of one of the white Portuguese merchants was still teaching there even after the Portuguese government had long since been disposed of (many Portuguese didn’t leave the area until the communist government nationalized everything in 1977-78).

After their wedding, Velosa temporarily left Nauela and travelled to Sofala province where Janeiro still lived and worked as an agronomic chief for a large farm called Mafambici (spelling?). Only 6 months later, however, a very pregnant Velosa was forced to make the trek back home alone - after all, it’s against local tradition for a woman to give birth to her first child away from her home. In 1979, their first of four children, Augustinho (now working as a primary school teacher in Morrumbala) was born. After giving birth, Velosa stayed put in Nauela for 6 months, allowing herself and the child to grow strong and healthy before making the trip back to Sofala (a full two day trip because one night had to be spent awaiting transport following the boat crossing on the Zambezia river - this was before civil war wreaked havoc on the country’s roads and transportation) in order to show the healthy baby boy to the father.

Practically no sooner had Velosa and the infant made it safely to Sofala, than they turned around and came back to Nauela. Despite their marriage, Velosa and Janeiro knew that they were lucky to both have reliable jobs and neither could afford give that up… even with the terrible inconvenience of constantly having to travel back and forth between provinces. Thus it was decided: the couple would spend the next several years leading up to the civil war separated, visiting one another only sporadically for two weeks or so at a time but still managing to have three kids nonetheless.

Around 1986, as the civil war really started getting serious in northern Zambezia, Janeiro cautiously made his way back to Nauela. Not long after having made it home however, RENAMO entered and sent cards out to the various leaders in the area requesting their presence the following afternoon. Janeiro was one of many who received the dreaded invitation, but fearing the worst, he left his wife and three kids with her parents that same evening and fled, walking from Nauela to Molócuè - a distance stretching over some 30 miles.

Arriving in Molócuè the next morning, Janeiro had to think fast. He sought out the help of an affluent Portuguese family who were good friends of his father and, upon hearing Janeiro’s predicament, the wealthy merchant gave Janeiro eight sacks of corn to transport and sell in Nampula City. With the money he raised from this rapid commodity transaction, Janeiro was able to buy a plane ticket back to Beira, but unable to inform his family directly about his plan.

Janeiro spent most of the next seven years within the confines of the relatively secure city of Beira. His wife and family, on the other hand, weren’t as lucky. Like so many others in Nauela, they were stuck. Upon RENAMO’s arrival into the community, the troops forcefully recruited Velosa and others to join their ranks – giving them a rather unappealing alternative: join the other side and we’ll kill you. Velosa was an asset as a teacher and thus was instructed to continue to give lessons. Even as the war raged around them, Velosa continued to teach classes inside makeshift grass and mud huts. To help sustain Velosa and her family, students brought whatever they could scrounge up: corn, beans, and field mice. Deprived of even the most basic learning tools, the students and teachers used twigs to write notes on available banana leaves. At some points, RENAMO soldiers brought writing pads that were no doubt stolen from who knows where. Sometimes Velosa and others would come across teachers and students who had been massacred and left to rot in the bush because they supposedly hadn’t been teaching things the soldiers liked. It was all incredibly unnerving, but especially so for Velosa.

When the war finally came to an end in 1992, Janeiro cautiously began his journey back to Nauela. Though he repeated received assurances from war-torn refugees that his family was still alive, there was always doubt because the news was typically several months old. From Beira, Janeiro first stopped in Quelimane and spent nearly a month asking around to see if anyone had any up-to-date information regarding his family. Although the news was inconclusive, he got bits and pieces hinting that most of the fighting in the Molócuè area had stopped, albeit there were still some roaming bands of fighters.

He decided to risk it.

After several days more of travel, his caravan pulled into Alto Molócuè where he spent an entire week before making the final leg of his journey. Eventually he was able to find a friend who believed Janeiro’s family was still alive and was willing to accompany him out into the bush to look for them. Arriving in Nauela, they had no trouble locating all of his family minus his middle child who had grown sick and died during the war.

Even after undergoing this tragedy, Janeiro was reluctant to permanently move back to Nauela and Velosa was unwilling to move away. In the years that followed, Velosa gave birth to one more child, Dulce, as things began to return to normal. The country had their first democratic elections in 1994 and the new government called for the former public service employees to enter back into the work force the following year. Soon after this, Janeiro finally agreed to move back to Nauela permanently as a community judge to help settle civil disputes. When Janeiro relocated to Nauela, Velosa and the children packed up and joined him at their current housing plot closer to the village’s administrative post.



Velosa presenting her daughter Dulce with a gift at the girl's Mwale ceremony.

Both employed and successful, Velosa and Janiero didn’t rest on their laurels. Velosa completed a year-long continuing education course in Mugema held weekly on Saturdays to refresh her mind and increase her pay level. Janeiro, meanwhile, went back to school in 2005 starting at 6th grade and is currently on track to finish 10th grade this year. As of 2011, Nauela’s secondary school only offered up to 10th grade, but if they were ever start an 11th or 12th grade Janeiro says he would continue on studying. Likewise, Velosa says that if Nauela were to ever get electricity, she would teach during the day and do night school… but for now that will all have to wait on the back burner.



Even though she is successful and highly esteemed doesn't mean she's exempted from the daily chores.


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To give some more perspective on the education situation in Nauela, one must understand the educators’ mindset: disgruntled. Currently, Mozambique’s public education system practically demands that new teachers be sent to fill spots in the least desirable locations. Mozambique’s talent is highly magnetized toward the cities and thus rural placements, such as Nauela, are considered by many to be at the bottom of the barrel. Newcomers are oftentimes counting the days, weeks, months, or years till they escape. To complicate matters though, unless you successfully bribe a high ranking government official, a new teacher will be stuck at their first teaching post for at least five years before being able to even request a transfer. In spite of all this though, Velosa is one of the few home grown talents who is still around.

Largely because of the recent stretch of the destructive civil war, Mozambique’s rural teaching force is not a normally distributed curve of experienced and inexperienced teachers. There are the few who started teaching before the civil war and those who started some time after (i.e. – a decade or so later). Most are the latter. Thus, compounded with the transfer rules, even some of the most long standing teachers in Nauela have been here for only 5-10 years – this severely cripples within-staff mentoring. That said, of those who started before the civil war and who still remain active in the work force, none are as willing to help or support other teachers as Velosa.


Sisa, one of the new and upcoming female teachers in Nauela, is intimately mentored by Velosa since she lives next door in a small house owned by Velosa and Janeiro