Stichting Teran Foundation is a charity registered in the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce: registration number: KVK/ dossier number 34205610
When foreign volunteers come out here to join
and help us, the list of things they must bring
has been whittled down to bare essentials. The
three inherent musts are: to care, to have positive
energy and to have a good sense of humour. In a
country as poor as Mozambique, the latter is a
constant necessity. Despite all the problems here,
we are surrounded by laughter. It rings out of
the bush more loudly than the birdsong. It rises
over the drum beats, it clusters round the well
heads, and echoes over the sea.
OTTO
Lisa St Aubin de Terán
This extraordinary novel is based on a true story of a revolutionary who was advisor to Castro, friend of President Salvador Allende, and married to one of the leaders of the Kurdish rebellion in Iran. Code-named Otto, he became an enemy of both the KGB and the CIA.
Otto is a fabulous and picaresque journey of the lives and loves (plenty of those) of an astonishing man.
‘A novel about greed, lust, cruelty, truth and poetry. Dazzling’ Guardian
* In 2007 one USD = 25 Mozambican meticals
* Abdala Morripa (director and student), Amina Abdala, Amina Sadique, Ancha Abacar, Anifa Serra, Anifa Sualehe, Assina Atija Amade, Selemane, Cabo Canira, Fatima Alberto, Fifinha Ibraimo, Ibraimo Essaica, Jaleca Abudo, Juma Roche, Manema Abili, Marufo Ussene, Momade Ussene, Sergio Abdul, Sumaila Ali, Victorino Alberto, Vulai Ussene,
* A. Hampâté Bâ, Amkoullel, L’Enfant Peul: ‘Quand un vieillard meurt, c’est une bibliothèque qui brûle.’
* Praise be to God.
Table of Contents
About the Author
By the same author
Copyright
Dedication
Preface
PART ONE
I: Squeezed Between the Bush and the Ocean
II: Dream Catching
III: Parallel Lives
IV: If Not Now, When?
V: Meaning and Distance
VI: The Lure of Mozambique
PART TWO
VII: How I Found Mees or How He Found Me
VIII: Pioneering in Mossuril
IX: When Business and Pleasure Are One
X: Home-made Tools and a Giant Learning Curve
XI: The Workings of a Heart
XII: The College
XIII: Varanda: A Slice of Paradise
XIV: Beachcombing
PART THREE
XV: The Tradição
XVI: Natural and Supernatural
XVII: Macua Rituals
XVIII: A Visit from the Curandeiros
XIX: Mossuril and Fabulous Chocas-Mar
XX: The Remains of Slavery
XXI: Ilha
PART FOUR
XXII: Morripa, the Local Hero
XXIII: The Staff and Students
XXIV: Vakháni Vakháni
XXV: Pacino, the Enraged Baboon
XXVI: Nampula, Capital of the North
XXVII: In Search of Our Lady of the Cures
XXVIII: Momade and the Farm
XXIX: Planting Dreams
XXX: Consider the Lilies, How They Grow
XXXI: The Two-kilometre Sea Snake
AFTERWORD
Appendix
OTTO
Mozambique Mysteries Page 34