I remember as if it was today – mid November 75, I was in the queue to enroll in the FAPLA (the glorious Angolan Army). I still keep the piece of paper that proves it, and my husband loves to show it to everyone!
Afterwards, I went straight to the queue at the university. The classes were starting soon at the Faculty of Economics and no way was I going to miss my place!
In the beginning we did some revision as the 74-75 school year had finished early and the teachers didn’t have the chance to cram everything in.
The 2 years I was at uni were memorable. I made loads of friends, they all were “tyre sandals” (made of car tyres, as there were no shoes to be found in the shops). We had great teachers but that didn’t last long! On red Saturdays we went to cut sugar cane to help the national economy and rebuilding the country. And you know what? We loved it! We used to go in groups, all with our own cutlass and it was fun!!! And what’s even more surprising, nobody ever got hurt! Nowadays, the safety rules would never allow it!With all its difficulties, Luanda was a real oasis! And the best of all is that everybody who decided to stay knew each other……….or if they didn’t, they knew the friend of a pal of a friend……….It was a tiny community!!!!!!!!!!!