Parque Popular, 2013
Peça sonora, 14’46’’

Um agradecimento especial a Inês Castaño, Henry Cronje, João Mota, Luisa Seixas, Maria do Céu Madureira, Maria Filomena Molder e Nicolau Lavres.

1.

— And, you know, to me it feels like I’ve done a circle. I grew up in a very similar environment to this. The conditions were different in a lot of other ways but we had limited resources… very limited resources and very helpful people. The whole world cut us off. We were completely landlocked and we had to improvise a lot. And you looked after your stuff and everything. So, we had to make do with things. It’s like I’ve come to the other end of my circle now; I found my destiny. The people here are extremely helpful, very willing to learn, they are like sponges. So, it’s almost like you’re saying, you’re reviving the whole cenacle and servant scenario. But, with respect… Sometimes it sounds like slave drivers… Yes… But we aren’t. We are just trying to discipline… Or to create self-discipline… And in the process of doing all this work, we’re training people – what I find very interesting. I love sharing knowledge, I love sharing what I know. Sometimes you don’t realize it, sometimes you think it’s just common sense.

2.

— When, in a football pitch, a tired player, running from one goal to the other, dribbling all the other players, arrives in the penalty area to score [and he misses]… Because he is all alone. But, if he shares the ball with one of his teammates, maybe, the other guy scores. Now, you can’t say that the other guy stole his merit, no... it’s something to help the team. And what is a team? A team is a group of people working together to achieve a specific goal, right? When you’re going alone you are harming your team. That’s why you have to share. Here, we start a fire and the fire goes wherever we want; with dry straw. Here, green straw doesn’t burn at all. That’s why we call it... a mystery! Suddenly, tonight, a storm may appear from nowhere and in the morning we can have sun. Sometimes, on this side it is raining and, fifty meters away, it’s sunny. That’s how this island is... it’s a mystery – a thousand times saint island.

3.

— After... no, I came in January, this was in February, there was something that they normally do here – collective baptisms. So, there was a party, a huge party, an amazing thing as I’ve never seen before and never came to see again, that’s for sure. That was a unique year. An extraordinary event. An enormous table, with everything you can imagine... We were there and I had lost my appetite. Maybe I ate a desert, a pudding or something and then, we’ve began to drift from one house to another and as soon as we were inside, the first thing they would do was to bring us two chairs, a table, food and drinks. And this lasted the whole afternoon. Truly, I’ve never ate and drank as much as that... a perfectly abnormal thing to do. Later that night, there was a disco, but I was so drunk that I said: 

– Mimi, I am leaving. 

– Hey, but I am not. I am staying here. 

And I answered: 

– But I don’t know the way home. 

He replied: 

– Oh, but you have rides to give. 

– Ok, then. 

So, somehow we found our way to the city. As I arrive there, maybe 2 a.m., I see a party and I stop. “I am not going home now, I have to enjoy myself tonight. I already know my way home from here, so”. And I stayed there until 5 a.m. in the morning. This was a day to remember, not one of those to forget. 

4.

— I’ve been complimented a lot – they call me the moncó, now. And I set there and complete strangers come up and greet me and call my name. They heard from this one, and that one, and that one and… I kept saying “thank you” and they said to me “Why are you thanking us? We thank you!”, and I said “But, honestly, you are helping me as well”, and they “No, but you’ve came to...” and I said “No! We help each other”. When I first arrived here, a year and eight months ago, there were very few expatriates on the island. So, no matter where you entered to, you were noticed… I had an hell of an influence on the people here... and they had a big influence on me as well. But these people are just... magic. Really, they are. I have a full time social life here, I ended up being an advisor, last night I was a marriage councilor… I’ve become part of the furniture now. But yet when I set down and speak to them, there’s great respect both ways. I mean, respect as to be earned.

5.

— I was born under the Portuguese flag, twelve, thirteen, fourteen years.  I lived with Portuguese boys. We came from the plantation together, on foot. We... went to the feet of mango trees, we ate mango, we smeared our mouths, we came with our clothes dirty. It is not “I came”, it’s “we came” (!) with our clothes dirty. We smashed coconut with stones... More: we ate (...), we climbed papaya trees, we smashed ripe papaya with stones – we, black people and white people, that time.  We used to bring bobo fito [fried banana] to school, as a snack, they used to bring bread, ham and cheese. They used to enjoy eating bobo fito and we swapped.

6.

— There were a lot of people and there was a big baptism that Sunday. That is... Saturday, the second of March. And they wanted us to sit down and eat. And there was this big table prepared. And as we walked pass: “Ah, Henry!” and they grabbed me and made me sit. I didn’t know these people from apart of sight. Do you know? It comes down to one simple question. And a guy asked me this once: “When have you earned enough money?”. You set a goal for yourself; you want it: a house, a nice car. You buy that but are you satisfied with it? Eventually you want better. So, when is money enough? And, you know, they were quite shocked when I told them that I’m buying a house. “But what for?”. I said: “Yes, where’d I go?”. “Will you go back to where you came from?”. I said: “No, this is my home”. And, now, they’re sort of realising and accepting my permanence. Really, I’ve no intention of leaving this island. And I think they are starting to understand that I’m trying to prepare my things.

7.

— I feel attracted to the idea of someone reading me the cards, but I wouldn't do it. But people would say: “you won't see the future, you will see more or less the way you are”. I had a cousin and I could watch him for an entire hour and It would be like pure magic. He could predict the cards and the ideas would flow and it would just not stop. It’s true, truly extraordinary. When you look for safety, as a pre-programmed search, it converts into instinct. Because, you know, we have to be unprepared, on one side, for life, and, on the other, we have to be aware that life is a really serious matter.

8.

— It is! There is very few old people on the Island. And the strange thing about people here is… The elders are always respected… They are always looked up as the advisory council, you know? Because they have the wisdom. I mean, they have the experience. And, if there is ever a problem in a village, or something like that, they always go to the elders. The elders are always treasured, looked after. Here is the exact opposite. Very few people worry about the old age here. My theory is that it comes from slavery. If you thing about it, if you’re going to get slaves you are not going to collect the old people. You are going to collect young people. And, very much like military training and all that, they brain wash the young people. First of all. And get them in to their way of thinking. Whoever the slave traders were, ok? So, I mean, people from fourteen to eighteen years are the easiest people in the world to brain wash with hard labour. So, you break them down and build them up your way. So, what do they actually remember if they have been brain washed in such a way?

9.

— I am like a small cancer running around doing evil. For example; one time, there was nothing in the market, there was no soup and in one of my uncle’s theatres I said:

Sad days of Prince. 

When it rains, everything gets wet.

With the mist, everything gets darker. 

If we run out of fuel it gets darker, smaller and even more wet.

There is no more communication with the outside. 

No more ships, planes or boats.

Babies scream for milk, 

Kids for food, 

Sick people for soup and, the stores, 

Are empty.

And the Prince screams, shouts but no one hears.

All this because Prince is Picão, Picão is Pagué, Pagué is Picão and Pagué is a parrot.

10.

— So, just to tell that we had dinner – Fish soup! The guests arrive, and I said: 

– Everyone prepares his own dish, go on while it is still warm...

– And what about the rice? – Someone said. 

And I replied: 

– I have no rice…

– You have no rice!?

But, for example (...) I can´t (...) or it’s very difficult for me… I love chips but I have to confess, there is one thing I can´t do that is to eat chips with rice. One of these times, we had wine, a starter, and something else… So, just to tell that It seamed a pretty normal scenario. When the dishes arrive with the fried egg, you would see: a stake with fried egg, but the fried egg would come under the stake! So, a completely ruined egg and the stake on top. I just stood there looking at it… and asked: 

– What is the logic?

– Isn’t it how it should be?

– That’s not how it is… this is called stake with egg on top because the egg comes on top of the stake!

– Really?

11.

— You need to know the habits, what the animal likes and what the animal dislikes. When you read about hunters – true hunters – you see, they are not part-time hunters, they are full-time hunters. And they know really well what they are doing and, specially, when not to hunt. It is a very complex activity and, from what I can imaginatively understand, it is… it teaches us a lot about life. You can only follow traces if you have already followed them. People have already tracked traces that is why one follows them.

12.

— Depending on the situation, to imprison someone you need the authorities – and not only – to find the fugitive, to enclosure and arrest him. How did they arrest the fugitives during the "colonial" times? From time to time they would open holes along the way, to hunt for pigs and, after all, the runaways were the ones trapped. Maybe that way, as I tell you. That is how they would trap the runaways. A group of people would go down to the hoods for pig hunting, but also to see if they had trap a fugitive also. The hole would be from three to five meters. Falling there, who could get out? 

13.

— Some people don't like to eat at the house of someone they don't truly know, especially elder people. That’s because food, when cooked, can be poisoned. And, without trust… can we agree to go into someone’s house, for example? Or, can we accept the invitation? It is very difficult to imagine the possibility of life. I really do think that is the greatest crime of all times.