[151] The In-Between
"Why do we prune the garden?" the little girl asked. "So the branches can sculpt new beginnings," said the old woman. "And why do we need...
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CAPTURED IN WORDS
BY LORRAINE JOHNSON
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- Jun 18, 2022
- 1 min
[128] Moved
She used to smile wide and reveal an orange rind her long hair—grey and straight—gently hanging down her spine She'd make us...
- May 26, 2022
- 2 min
[126] Came To Go
There lives a kind man with wavy, silver hair and a latin tongue that speaks volumes of romance even when ordering simple pasta with red...
- May 5, 2022
- 2 min
[125] Tomorrow
There was a young Mozambican man who carved beautiful birds out of wood. They stood tall and stately—some with elegant bent beaks, all...
- Apr 3, 2022
- 2 min
[120] On The Road
The strip and curve of Waikiki—with its swanky designer stores along Kalakaua and its glistening, almost fully human-made beach of clear...
- Feb 20, 2022
- 1 min
[114] Holding A Life
The village was buzzing with the musings of everyday, as the rhythm of the pestle hit the bottom of the mortar—the clap in the...
- Feb 3, 2022
- 1 min
[111] The Arrival And Departure
I once lived in a far off culture where the ceremony of arrival was full of tradition—the host breaks the pink kola nut cut into small...
- Jan 27, 2022
- 2 min
[109] In The Deep Breath
I met a kind man in 1991. He had travelled across a large swath of land in Mozambique some years before, stepping over the borderline of...
- Jan 16, 2022
- 2 min
[108] To The Edge
There is a memory of a river—long and deep—remote and isolated but full of the things it is meant to carry—in a place ever swallowed by...
- Jan 2, 2022
- 1 min
[105] The True Spirits
Mistaela Correia was born in 1954 in Gorongosa. When he was 12 years old his grandfather died. As was customary, his family made a...
- Dec 19, 2021
- 2 min
[103] The Hands In The Making
In the village, the chore always comes, be it child or not, with the silhouette of a woman or girl for this one, no doubt—though...
- Dec 9, 2021
- 4 min
[101] My Friend And A Journey
The village was nestled in the rainforest, over 15 miles from the main, red-dirt road that slithered the country of Liberia from north to...
- Nov 14, 2021
- 2 min
[97] Distance
It was 1995 and a very long ride of swells on a dhow to get to the Island of Ibo, with its bluest waters and pink coral, its whitest...
- Nov 7, 2021
- 1 min
[95] My Friend And I
The rains would come heavy each afternoon in this hot tropical land—mostly—without fail. And those who had—even just a bit more than the...
- Oct 31, 2021
- 1 min
[93] Into Courage
It was a blanket of mystic and awe along the River Buzi. Its water embracing precariously those who travel along its deepness. And then...
- Oct 24, 2021
- 2 min
[91] Begin Well
Chomba Chakala Chakulumamwanyoka was born of the Makonde in Miula in the year when they built the shops in Namawa village. An elder—Ndona...
- Oct 17, 2021
- 1 min
[89] The Many Colors
It was July 1992 when Samsão Damangani sat down with me in the urban sprawl of Maputo City. He was 78 at the time, an old man—he...
- Oct 3, 2021
- 1 min
[87] The Art Of Temptation
Under the shade of tall, swaying coconut trees in the far away town of Buzi in Sofala, in December 1994, a woman—an elder—Macore...
- Sep 16, 2021
- 1 min
[83] Gnarled
To the side of my door, he would come. His young face gnarled with piercing eyes and burned out skin, that's what, today, floats to the...
- Sep 9, 2021
- 2 min
[81] Flushed With Spirit
The boy walked the streets—cobblestone, dirt, paved. With long back, strong feet, determined eyes and quick wit, he walked the streets of...
- Sep 2, 2021
- 2 min
[79] From Tradition To Trend
They call it musiro in Kimwani. It's a piece of wood from the xumbuti tree—ground against a sand-like stone using a bit of water creating...
- Aug 19, 2021
- 1 min
[75] The Beating Heart
In the spirit of tradition, the men cleared the farmer's field, made offerings to those who had come before. The women—lined up, wrapped...
- Aug 15, 2021
- 2 min
[74] Waiting for Sunrise
They used to go early in the morning to the beach. They used ndala—prawns—as bait for fishing off the coast, casting the line and hook...
- Aug 8, 2021
- 2 min
[72] Under The Shade
They keep the bzinyanga in a sack on the veranda of Phoinde Vinte's house in the village of Mpadwe in the Province of Tete. It's much...
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