They sit. On the ground, on a piece of mat, on a stool, on a broken chair. In the shade, necessarily in the shade. Or covered with a piece of cloth, especially their heads. They sit to survive the heat. I understand them. And I don’t understand either. I understand that the bodies are exhausted. […]
English version
At the end
It was dark and damp. I was washing the dishes after dinner. By a tourist lamp. In water from a bucket that my husband had just brought from the well. It was pouring outside. It had already been a day without electricity. The fridge had stopped keeping the last of the cold. We had to […]
I am thankful
In this room I became myself. That’s what I think when I remember little Ania. The one who had huge dreams, reaching far beyond the borders of small Jeziorany. Today, after many years, my family home is a breath of fresh air from these dreams. For me, this small town is like a return to […]
No photos
I’ve seen it many times. A smiling Westerner who embraces and hugs a Mozambican with emotion. But with one hand. Because in the other one he holds a phone and is taking a selfie. I’ve seen it more than once. A Mozambican who can’t say “no” because he’s just been given a gift. So it’s […]
Moderation for us
As a child, I collected stickers from Turbo chewing gums. I remember my mother giving me 5 cents and I would go to the shop next to our home to buy one. I remember that on the day of the big holiday I got Coca-Cola in a returnable glass bottle and salty sticks. I would […]
Not much is enough
Eight years ago, I packed almost everything I had into a small basement, and I left for Africa with one suitcase. Since I’ve been coming back to Poland just for a while, I’ve been throwing out bags of unnecessary things. But that time I left them because they seemed important to me. Today, I don’t […]
Home
When I arrive in Poland, all the Mozambican hardships are forgotten. My experiences flatten out on the way to the airport. I can at best count them, and not very conscientiously. The time that has passed is shortened, as if these long months were just a hazy moment. A brief memory. And yet they are […]
A sense of guilt
It appears every time I see their difficult behavior. I can even explain the situation to myself in various ways, but regardless of the results of the analyses, this small part stays with me. A part of the reason. A part of the non-obvious beginning. Guilt. My fault. The feeling that my children behave this […]
How good it is here
At first I felt relieved that I could drink tap water. And that it wouldn’t give me diarrhea. Or worms. Not to mention typhoid or cholera. Relief that I didn’t have to look for an open store with mineral water to drink at 11 p.m. Right after we entered my apartment in Gdansk, I turned […]
Uncomfortable missions
It is uncomfortable in Mozambique. I had never thought about this country and myself there this way before. This conclusion was born maybe two weeks after arriving in Poland. At another breakfast together, when the hardships of the last months were just a safe memory. As safe as it was far away at that moment. […]