My growing sense of humor…

Some of you know that I went through a rough patch for about 4 weeks between February and March where I was pretty frustrated with things in my life and lonely for the people not in my life. Thankfully, with the help of other volunteers, a little yoga and a LOT of reflection I worked through it and am in a much better headspace now. However as a result, I learned that I have to sit back and seek humor in the situations in which I find myself; looking for little equations of reality that equal out to a pretty funny moment.

Like when your chapa blows a tire at 70 kilometers an hour, propelling you into oncoming traffic and veering away just as an 18-wheeler roars past. And then when the cobrador (money collector) opens the door to check on the damage, the entire door falls off onto the ground. Funny, right? Like something you’d see in a National Lampoon movie.

Or when the local children all shout “Mulungo! (white-person)” whenever they see you coming even before they have learned words like “mai” and “pai”.

Or when you set a meeting for 1pm and people start to trickle in at 2:30.

Or when your barber asks you why the hair on your back is not on your head?

But my favorite chuckle always comes from the music videos produced in Mozambique. These are classic and oddly fascinating. You can see them in barracas or sometimes in a really tricked-out chapa where the owner has made the wise decision to invest a portion of his limited profits into installing a TV and DVD player. This of course enables him to watch these music videos while swerving to miss potholes and driving at a safe 65 miles an hour down the EN1. Anyways, I notice that there is such a dichotomy between what the Mozambicans want to mimic in surrounding cultures and the limited available talent and resources to do so. Like trying to pimp-out your mother’s station wagon in high school, or trying to make an American flag out of red, orange and green pieces of cloth. Difficult, right? Mostly these videos are people standing in a field or on a farm with animals in the background, and swaying back and forth while the camera zooms in and out in the attempt to make it look like there is some action and excitement going on. The sound editing is pretty bad with people mouthing words that just aren’t quite there yet. The choreography is relatively basic with the idea that as long as you put at least 2 girls showing their stomachs and shaking their hips people will watch. However, my favorite move thus far has been the “slow-motion-jump-from-rock.” Sort of like what you would see in the music videos of the 1980’s where a performer would leap into the air from a structure in slow motion at a critical point in the song. Alas, in this particular video the director apparently forgot to explain to the performer the concept and simply said, “Just jump off the rock.” The result is a middle-aged man slumping off a rock like you would step off a stool in your kitchen….only now it’s in slow motion.

This isn’t meant to laugh AT this facet of Mozambican culture, as there are MANY examples at which my Mozambican friends can (and do) laugh at ours (like the idea that you would ever kiss a dog or let it lick your face…that can kill you, you know?). But finding humor in everyday life is helpful in getting past moments that would normally derive stress and frustration. In other words, it keeps this Mulungo sane.

ZS