Changana

Later this week I am having to leave Mozambique so today I was relieved of my passport, for the previous work visa to be cancelled. It has to happen due to my new job but it feels strange given that since 2018 I’ve been trying to obtain a secure visa to live and work in Mozambique peacefully. It feels like that never panned out as intended. Although I’ll visit, hopefully often, with the new job, I wonder whether in the future I’ll live in Mozambique again, albeit with the correct paperwork from the start…

Changana, or Shangana, or Shangaan, is the dominant indigenous language in this area of Mozambique, spoken by the Tsonga people. I can’t remember having seen a Portuguese-Changana dictionary before until today in this shop window. It’s not a language I’ve made any headway with, and for a laugh Mozambicans on the street like to address a foreign-looking passerby in Changana and witness the confusion and response in Portuguese. I’ll miss these japes.