―The evil eye enters through the back. That is why so many mothers insist that their children never take off their shirts when they play in the street. Or they hide them at home when they see a person in the distance. feiticeiro.
—And how do you know that a person is a witch?
– It's not easy to know. But it is said that they are usually old people who live alone, usually in the kill (jungle), who just because they are witches have been abandoned by their families.
The conversation takes place in front of António Dias' house in Ferreira Governo, a small town not far from the capital of Sao Tome and Principe. Here there are cases of elderly people who are accused of witchcraft or of being able to cause evil, usually when they suffer from an illness, and they are ostracized. A harmful superstition that also occurs in other African countries, but is an exception to the traditional respect that older people enjoy in most of the continent's different cultures.
Elders who are accused of witchcraft in Sao Tome and Principe are, however, sometimes abandoned by their closest relatives. When they are pushed out of the family home, they have no choice but to retreat to isolated areas, usually in the middle of the jungle, where they survive poorly. And if they approach the villages, they generate fear, hence they are insulted and invited to leave the inhabited areas. “It is quite inhuman treatment that these people receive most of the time,” says Valencian Maria Montroy, who participates in a project to change the perception of these elderly people, accused of being feticeiros (sorcerers).
Sitting in a room made of zinc sheets painted green, in front of the family house, Dias comments that when he was a child things were not like this. “When you passed an old man, you always put your hand on your chest and made a small genuflection as a sign of respect.” To regain esteem for the elderly and put an end to superstitions, Dias collaborates with the Montroy initiative that seeks to bring children and the elderly closer together through joint activities that break prejudices. One of the instruments they use is the teaching of forro, the native Creole of the island of São Tomé, which is in danger of extinction.
Elderly people who suffer from degenerative diseases in Sao Tome and Principe are routinely accused of being witches, condemning them to ostracism.
Montroy landed in the country in 2016 as part of an initiative that sought to offer basic knowledge of English to local tour guides. She was immediately struck by the fact that very few young people spoke Spanish. “I am interested in all minority languages, because I speak one, Valencian. Here they referred to the lining as an 'old man's language' and from there I began my research,” she details. She graduated in Translation and Interpreting from the Jaume I University of Castellón, and decided to focus her doctorate on that language. Now, as a scholarship recipient of her Margarita Salas (an aid granted by her university, in collaboration with the Unesco Chair of Linguistic Heritage of the University of the Basque Country), she continues her investigation. Through workshops she tries to contribute to the revitalization of the forro and, at the same time, bring together older people and young people in the community. The former use Creole to speak among themselves; and the latter, Portuguese. This not only creates a linguistic and generational distance, but also puts the local language at risk of extinction, since it is not transmitted to new generations.
To carry out his project, Montroy allied himself with the Bierzo-Sur Cooperation NGO, present in the country since 2011. This organization launched an intergenerational initiative to change the perception of older people. The end was common.
Now, the promotion of the lining has become one more activity of the project, along with those already carried out by the association. Among them, showing the community that what is generally considered witchcraft or spirit possession is nothing more than a condition typical of age. “Cognitive, degenerative or neurological diseases (dementia, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, osteoarthritis or diabetic retinopathy, for example) here are seen as witchcraft; and they are a reason to expel people who suffer from them from the community, because it is believed that they will infect children, or with any other excuse,” explains Carmen Álvarez, president of the NGO and a nurse.
You scuteiros (scout groups), implemented in all the populations of the archipelago, are key to the intergenerational project. They are the ones who detect cases of abandoned elderly people, locate them in their new settlements and guarantee them help and support. Formed by the members of Cooperación Bierzo-Sur, they have acquired the skills to work with them. In addition, they carry out activities and workshops that put the elderly in contact with the little ones and are interested in speaking the language and transmitting it. Without them, Montroy's initiative and the NGO would be unviable.
The intergenerational project, in addition to raising awareness among families, organizes activities with both groups. The elderly are encouraged to tell stories and folk tales that enchant the little ones. These are invited to visit the elderly and do simple jobs with them.
The promoters of this initiative have even taught a dubbing workshop with the elderly, with the support of the local station, Radio Lobata. Thanks to this training, cartoons for children have been translated into the cover and plays are performed in which Portuguese is interspersed with the cover. This project also recovers traditional recipes that are being lost. The women teach them to the younger ones while speaking to them in Creole.
An initiative has translated cartoons for children into the cover and launched plays in which Portuguese is interspersed with the cover.
So far, the results obtained are satisfactory, say those responsible. “Possibly, we will not be able to change the situation of abandonment of many of today's elderly, but we are laying the foundations so that this will not be the case in the future,” says Álvarez.
The conversation with Mr. Dias continues.
―What is my name? (“What's your name?”), invites you to repeat.
―Nomi mu sa Chema (“My name is Chema”), replies the person questioned.
The children present laugh. They do know some common phrases or expressions in Spanish, although they do not use this language in their daily lives. They communicate among themselves in Portuguese, as well as with their parents, some of whom consider it backwards to speak with their children in the local language. Creole is not learned in schools nor is there an institution that promotes it. Only some poets use it occasionally in their verses. However, two of the best-known Santo Tomense
musical groups with international projection, Calema and Familia Forte, use it from time to time in their songs and are very successful. “Also, it's funny to see how proud people are to have the lining. Although at the same time they don't teach it to the little ones. Maybe that's why they support us in these types of activities, and they like their children to learn the language,” says Montroy.
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