29 Years

            I was on my way home from Pemba in an open-back chapa (a fancy way to say the bed of a pick-up truck) and doing as chapas do, it stopped in every small town to drop off and pick up passengers.  Climbing in and out of a pick up truck is usually not a graceful process but it is something that any Mozambican wishing to travel more than walking distance (the Mozambican threshold is much higher, mind you) is very familiar with. 

            We pulled up alongside an elderly couple that had flagged down our truck.  It took some heaving and huffing, but the gentleman was able to lift himself over the edge and into the bed of the truck.  His wife required a little extra assistance as she had the disadvantage of having her legs basically bound together by the capulana she was wearing but with a pull and a boost, she joined her husband.  When they sat down next to each other, the woman’s face not didn’t reveal much but the man was laughing at what a ridiculous spectacle they had made of themselves and he continued to grin a big, blissful and for the most part toothless grin until the chapa pulled into their destination.

            Remembering the effort that went into getting the elderly couple into the truck, the cobrador (the person who works for the driver collecting fees) hopped out of the truck.  Cobradors in open-back chapas are used to loading and unloading cargo, so this one obligingly extended his arms out to help the woman out of the truck and then returned for her husband.  If he didn’t feel ridiculous before while climbing into the truck, he certainly felt ridiculous now.  He was almost laughing too hard to be of any help to the cobrador as he lifted him up out of the truck and set him on the ground. 

            Maybe it was only the comedic relief this couple provided that drew my attention to them, but I don’t see pairs like this one all too often in Mozambique.  Sure there are traditional husband/wife pairs everywhere, but this couple was older than most I’d seen (quite a feat for one of the poorest provinces in a country with one of the lowest life expectancies) but more impressive was that they seemed noticeably happy together.  Affection is not a very public part of relationships so the fact that I could tell how comfortable these two were with each other, I hope, indicates a long and loving relationship.   Incidently, my own parents were celebrating their 29^th wedding anniversary this past week (Not that either are old and toothless...).  Congratulations, mom and dad!  I love you both!