Fotos

"Nja Fransisca" - love conquers all.

As so many Capeverdians and Angolan people, she was deported as a young woman to Sao Tomé, during the Portugese colonial rule. Although Portugal officialy abolished slavery in 1876, the practice of forced paid labor continued in the Sao Tomé plantations. The sporadic unrest amongst the laborers culminated in an outbreak of riots in 1953 in which several hundred African laborers were killed in a clash with their Portuguese rulers. This "Batepa Massacre" remains a major event in the colonial history of Sao Tomé (listen to Cesaria Evora latest album, the song "Sao Tomé na equador" - where the barefoot diva sings about this tragic yet forgotten period in recent African history).

Today Nja Fransisca is living with her children and grandchildren in Mindelo. "casa é picni, ma corazon é grand".