About Mozambique
Mozambique is a south-east African country with a long coastline bordering the Indian Ocean. Its neighbours are the United Republic of Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Eswatini. It has mountains to the interior. These fall to coastal hills and plains via a broad plateau. It has beaches, coral reefs and several islands.
Region
Language
There are over 40 languages spoken in Mozambique. Portuguese is the country's official language, but it is only spoken by around half of the population.
Population
31.2m (2022)
Area
799,000 square kilometres
High Commissioner
Her Excellency Albertina Mac Donald
Capital
Maputo
Joined Commonwealth
1995 following its first democratic elections, becoming the first member state to have never had a constitutional link with the United Kingdom or another Commonwealth member state.
Episode guests
H.E. Albertina Mac Donald
The current High Commissioner for Mozambique in the UK
Prior to her arrival in London, the High Commissioner was Mozambique’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative of the African Union (AU).
If You Want to Know Me
Poem read by Wilma Terresa Vieira.
(English)
If you want to know who I am,
Examine with careful eyes
That piece of black wood
Which an unknown Maconde brother
With inspired hands
Carved and worked
In distant lands to the North.
Ah, she is who I am:
Empty eye sockets despairing of possessing life.
A mouth slashed with wounds of anguish, huge flattened hands,
Raised as though to implore and threaten,
Body tattooed with visible and invisible scars
By the hard whips of slavery…
Tortured and magnificent.
Proud and mystical.
Africa from head to toe
-ah, she is who I am!
If you want to understand me
Come and bend over my African soul,
In the groans of the Negroes on the docks
In the frenzied dances of the Chopes
In the rebelliousness of the Shaganas
In the strange melancholy evaporating…
From a native song, into the night…
And ask me nothing more,
If you really wish to know me…
For I am no more than a shell of flesh
In which the revolt of Africa congealed
Its cry swollen with hope
(Portuguese)
Se me quiseres conhecer,
estuda com olhos de bem ver
esse pedaço de pau preto
que um desconhecido irmão maconde*
de mãos inspiradas
talhou e trabalhou
em terras distantes lá do Norte.
Ah, essa sou eu:
órbitas vazias no desespero de possuir a vida.
boca rasgada em feridas de angústia,
mãos enormes espalmadas,
erguendo-se em jeito de quem implora e ameaça,
corpo tatuado de feridas visíveis e invisíveis
pelos chicotes da escravatura…
Torturada e magnífica.
Altiva e mística.
Africa da cabeça aos pés
– Ah, essa sou eu!
Se quiseres compreender-me
vem debruçar-te sobre minha alma de Africa,
nos gemidos dos negros no cais
nos batuques frenéticos dos muchopes
na rebeldia dos machanganas
na estranha melancolia se evolando…
duma canção nativa, noite dentro…
E nada mais me persuntes,
se é que me queres conhecer…
Que eu não sou mais que um búzio de carne
onde a revolta de África congelou
seu grito inchado de esperança
Black Outcry
Poem read by Wilma Terresa Vieira. Translated by Stephen Gray.
I am coal!
Brutally you wrench me from the ground
And you make me your mine
Boss!
I am coal!
And you ignite me, boss
To serve you always as your driving force
But not for ever
Boss!
I am coal!
I have to burn, yes
And scorch all with my burning strength.
I am coal!
I have to burn while I’m exploited
Burn down to cursed ashes
Burn alive like my Brother the tar
Until I’m your mine no longer
Boss!
I am coal!
I have to burn
And scorch all with the burning of my fire.
Yes!
I will be your coal
Boss!
