My education had equipped me to suffer in silence, a form of passive endurance. Even though I know nothing about being brave, I soon realised that se… - Farida Karodia

On the way we encountered many other people: families on the move, women wearily limping along behind their men, carrying bundles on their heads and babies strapped on their backs, their children tottering alongside, dragging behind them bags and baskets overflowing with artefacts of their dislocated lives.

I thought again about the contradiction Mozambique was. On the one hand there were people like Dona Maria, compassionate and caring, and on the other hand there was those who had no concern for the people in this country.

One could only hope that this country, which had always been poor – not through a lack of resources, but because Portugal had decided that this was to be the country’s fate- would finally develop to its full potential.