A Festa de Liberdade

Since it is the capital city of the country, Maputo houses embassies from countries all over the world. Avenida Kenneth Kuanda is sometimes referred to as “Embassy Row” as there are over 40 different government houses from India and Brazil all the way to Angola and Tanzania. Of course the largest, most ostentatious and most heavy fortified of all the embassies is that of the United States of America. I guess in this post-9/11 you never know where al-Queida could strike next. Still Maputo doesn’t seem like a hotbed of Islamic terrorism, but of course the Americans just can’t take any chances when it comes to national security.

However, rigorously defending US interests abroad requires highly trained personnel on the ground. This is where our friends Toby and Scott come in. These boys are official US Marines stationed here in Maputo to defend the US Embassy against any and all security threats. Despite being well oiled machines ready for combat, Toby and Scott have each been embraced by our circle of friends for their strong desire to see and experience the world outside of their US worldview and their Marine compound. They are both strongly attracted to the freedoms that we possess in terms of thought, lifestyle and career choice. They have each noticed the extreme irony of how they are employed by the US government to defend “freedom” despite having such little freedom themselves. Our desire to help Toby and Scott expand their worldview, and question many of the messages handed down to them by their authorities, gave birth to the Festa de Liberdade, or Freedom Party.

We put on the grand affair at Scandinavia House, home to Tina the Dane and Ana the Swede, two floors down from me at the infamous 134 Rua Marconi. Mondi provided a massive sound system which got the people out of their seats and dancing all night. My friend Mundo, the guy with the massive smile on the left, brought along some of his drumming buddies and we had an amazing drum jam, interspersed with some of the Songs of Freedom, allowing everybody to sing along with the spirited choruses. The spirit of the evening carried the Festa on until 5 AM and really only ended after our guests had consumed every remaining ounce of food and beverage in the house.

While we may not have succeeded in “elevating” Scott’s mind that night, we were successful in helping to free his spirit as he danced energetically to the rhythms of the drums as well as the movements of our Portuguese friend Luisa. He has not stopped talking about how awesome the night was for him. A wonderful night on all accounts and a joy to share it with all of our “freedom loving” friends here in Mozambique.

A Rainbow of Beautiful Ladies