sábado, 16 de junho de 2012

First impressions of Cabo Verde - Rev.Dan Drápal


First impressions of Cabo Verde

I sit at the computer with some trepidation. I was just a week on Cape Verde and only on one of its islands. I realize that my knowledge is indeed just what the title of the article suggests: First impressions. They can be inaccurate and certainly incomplete.
 On the other hand, I spent something spiritual during that week and it couldn’t be attributed to anything else than the atmosphere of these islands.
Cape Verde is former Portuguese colony. They've gained independence after the fall of Portuguese dictator Salazar in 1975 - when Portugal got rid of all its colonies. The population is predominantly black, but with a strong Portuguese influence, so that in Cape Verde you can meet people of all colours - from white to completely black. They speak Creole, which is - simply put - modified Portuguese.
 Most Cape Verdeans live abroad.
(Directly on the islands live about 430.000 people) . For example: there is a big Cape Verdean colony in Boston, USA. But these emigrants usually remain bound very closely  to their homeland, and particularly in old age they return back to it. From abroad flows to their homeland also quite a lot of money. Cape Verde is certainly poor country - compared to our country - but in any case it doesn't belong to the poorest countries of Africa and the world.
 The spiritual experience that was perhaps the strongest was the feeling of relaxation and wellbeing. Was this experience just because of touristic destination? Don't the local entrepreneurs want to cause exactly this feeling?
I do not think so. Indeed, Croatia and Bulgaria are also a touristic destination, visited by many Europeans because of the sea, but such a feeling you definitely don't have there - at least I did not.
It's not even a feeling that for everything there is enough time - in terms of Spanish "mañana" which means "tomorrow", but  often means "I don't care" with the result "never". I would say that inhabitants of Cape Verde are quite enterprising, but somehow relaxed.
When the driver sees on crosswalk a nice girl, he stops and looks at her. A line of few cars starts to grow behind him, but no one on it toots. After all, he will be not watching the girl forever, that ...
I just have a feeling that people are not lazy, but also not sill chasing after something.
Women are pretty, and do not appear to be mousey. They are not subject to European extreme detection until nakedness, nor utter extreme Islamic veiling.
Even them and their behaviour is very relaxed.
In Cape Verde, however, you will meet street vendors trying to impose a variety of trinkets. But almost all of them are not Cape Verdeans but Senegalese (Senegal is the closest African states on the mainland). Their officiousness bothers not even the tourists, but the Cape Verdeans as well.
Souvenirs which Senegalese sell in their stores, are souvenirs from Africa, not souvenirs from Cape Verde.
 The vast majority of Cape Verde inhabitants are Christians, and especially Roman Catholics.  But there live many evangelicals as well, and from what I could tell, I concluded that there are peaceful relations between Catholics and evangelicals.
 When a Senegalese enter the evangelical church (almost certainly he is a Muslim), they offer him a chair in a front row and treat him very pleasantly. This makes usually a strong impression because Senegalese are aware that they are not too popular in the country, and furthermore they know that Muslims against Christians usually do not behave nice at all. How many Senegalese became Christians on Cape Verde, I do not know, but the number is probably not completely negligible.
How the Cape Verdeans laid back approach I experienced in a Christian home-cell, which I visited. Led by a woman named Fernanda, some troubles could appear, when slightly stoned and rather dirty guy from the street visited the group. The way they treated him almost affected me. The man disturbed a bit, but Fernanda and the others cope with him very kindly, without letting him to crook the group. I think Holy Spirit touched him very deeply. Me too.
 I heard from Europeans settled permanently in Cape Verde that Cape Verdeans are not envious. In Cape Verde there are no unemployment benefits, child allowances and other social amenities. Most Cape Verdeans earn something between 250 and 350 EUR per month (but in local currency, which is Escudo). Food is on the islands mostly more expensive than by us because almost everything has to be imported. For 1 kilo of tomatoes you pay about 4 EUR. (Exception is, of course, fish.) But brand-clothing is there much cheaper than in Europe. For a Cape Verdean is probably more important to spend time with his wife and children, than to earn a lot of money. Government is trying at least to take care of health-care - e.g. full vaccination of children is quite cheap: in total just for one euro! Medicines are also considerably cheaper than by us.
 Amazing is the relationship to children. When a woman enters a shop, the first what employees do, is that they take her the child, so she could arrange her shopping without stress. (If there is no shop-girl available, some shop-boy takes a contrary of a woman with a baby carriage or cart, and put the goods in it as she wishes, while she carries the child in her arms.) It is quite common that a strange woman changes some baby's diapers, but even - alas ! - even a stranger man! A pregnant woman has priority everywhere and the children are in great esteem.
They like to wear different titles there. The country has a president but there is also president in all inhabited islands. And in the church - except, of course, their pastor - they have a "President" of Sunday school etc. A penchant for titles is associated with taste for different celebrations and rants on them. The Cape Verdeans are constantly celebrating something, various festivals are held, but before the music starts, you will hear many long speeches and orations.
  Crime is very low there - the island is safe. Your car or motorcycle will be not stolen. Indeed, it would be big problem to get stolen car out of the land.... Ferry boats do not operate there - small aircrafts are flying between the islands. And the island is too small so that the stolen car will be sooner or later seen by its owner.
Well, what about the thieves you do not need to be worried - at least not so much like in Czech Republic. But
be careful with the sun. On Cape Verde the wind is constantly blowing - that cools a bit, but it confuses as well. It dries your skin a lot, and because you don't feel hot, you can underestimate the care of your skin and burn very easily. Atmosphere is also very aggressive - nearby Sahara wind brings salty sand. Therefore all vehicles are treated with paraffin, dissolved in oil. Without this the corrosion proceeds much faster than by us. If you leave your bike somewhere for half of the year without use - the chain will "turn into stone" and will look like one piece - the bike would probably pass away.
Cape Verde has experienced a huge building boom. Flats, houses and apartments are relatively cheap there and there are many Europeans buying. Beautiful T-4-apartment, which is not directly on the beach, you can buy at a fraction of the price of the like-here in Prague and other larger city in Czech. Most of building materials - and workforce - are in fact local, but above all: You do not need any wall insulation against water or against cold. But the low price might be a bit confusing. The apartment itself is not expensive, expensive is its maintenance! If the Europeans are using it just two months in year, the aggressive environment will do a real destruction. Nevertheless the owners may entrust their property to local agencies that will take care of it, but the service is definitely not cheap.
 The strongest spiritual experience was conviction of senseless rush, and I consider myself as a very easy-going man.... (Some years ago I had to change dramatically the way of my life, because I had serious health problems.) At home, however, it bothers me when I have to wait in the restaurant over an hour till they bring me my lunch. (Nevertheless, the grilled octopus was worth it!:-)
I had a strong feeling that Cape Verdeans know better than we, what really matters in life. They love their country, they do not envy and do enjoy the life.
I apologize to all readers that in this article I do not pay attention to beautiful beaches of Cape Verde and its nature in general.
Watching sunset over the ocean or the starry sky, which is quite different from ours - it is truly a strong experience. Regarding beauty of Cape Verde, however, you can read enough on the Internet and find stories there, certainly better than mine. Nature interests me, however, here I wanted to write mainly about people.

Dan Drápal, 7.4.2012

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