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Blackboard

I know, it is a weird topic, but I did not get it out of my mind since Sunday so I guess I will just have to write about it. As part of our visit to the Orphanage, we distributed some gifts and a mere 3.5 Euros blackboard was a great moment of celebration. As each of the 1st graders showed the others they could write their name, the blackboard filled its mission: to teach. From that moment, we learnt Paulinha has dyslexia and writes her name perfectly backwards. From that moment we learnt that the walls around us needed more colour, the chairs asked for some paint and we definitely needed to get money for a solar panel and finally ensure continuous light in our “playroom”.

As each child wrote his/ her name in the blackboard, I learnt something else. I learnt that the combination was beautiful, I learnt that having different names on the board that all fitted together was what made it special. And I learnt a way to fit more names into the blackboard of this NGO that tries to change the world in its own little way.

João is now helping me with the operations here in Mozambique. It was a difficult choice (especially given I still don’t know where I will find money to pay for the fotovoltaic panels) but I am sure it was a great one. Otherwise who could tell me that there are 4.000 and 5.000 watts panels and that we also have to buy batteries! Clearly, I was in need of help and, because in life there are no coincidences, João and Rosa crossed my path in the right point in time.

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