Mayombe
(Pepetela)
Most of people know few African writers, specially Sub-Saharan's ones, Pepetela (Maurício Pestana dos Santos) is Angolan. Angola, which was one of the Portuguese's colonies, became independent only in 1975. The independence war was followed by a period of civil war, when two sides, one -- MPLA -- sponsored by Soviet Union and led by Agostinho Neto, the country's first president; and the other -- Unita -- led by Jonas Savimbi, with support of United States of America, fight for years. This war only finished in 2005, after Savimbi's
death. Nowadays, Angola is one of the poorest countries in the world, with no infrastructure, and cannot cultivate lands, because of mines, which injured many people.
In Mayombe, one of its innumerable romances, Pepetela talk about a camped guerrilla group in the heart of a rain forest. People that had no resources of all kind. They lack food, weapons, strategy. Most of the soldiers was illiterate. Many of them do not understand each other, because Angola has different communities, and 36 languages. Many people do not speak even Portuguese.
The group has also hierarchy problems. Some tribes consider themselves cultural and genetically superior, and do not accept to receive orders from "ethnically inferior"commanders.
Pepetela's romance is about the adventure of this people, the fear, the superstitions, the corruption. He knows about it, cause he fought in the guerrilla, as its personages.
Mayombe is a chance, a privilege to the reader. It allows us to explore a very particular and unknown universe. That of the poorest part of planet. The most abandoned and desperate one. So, besides the pleasure of reading, we can understand some roots of problems that persist in Angola and other African countries.
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