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between countries

 

Sat in a surprisingly comfortable sofa, drinking some Porto wine, I admire the amazing African sculptures all around the house. Nelson Santo’s pale arms lie on top of the dark coloured armchair. Little did I know that his bleach colour was the source of much suffering and discrimination.
 Santos, is a white 55- years- old Angolan/Portuguese with grey, almost bald hair and an enormous passion for sports and politics, but mostly Angolan politics. If you do not have a doctorate in Angolan politics, do not dare to start a conversation with him about it. You will end up wondering if you know anything.

 

He is very enthusiastic about the history of his so-called countries Portugal and Angola and he makes sure his kids know about it too.


 Yes, he is a father of two amazing kids Beatriz which is nine and Diogo who is three years old, but unlike him, his children only have one nationality. They are solely Portuguese citizens. Was it by choice? Yes, it was. He has a love hate relationship with Angola and although he loves it, there are still a lot of open wounds waiting to heal.

 

“I was born in Angola exactly the year the war started officially, in 1961” he says with a distant nostalgic look. He refers to the colonial war between Portugal and Angola.
The Angolan Civil war started after the country’s independence from Portugal in 1975 and it ended in 2002, 27 years later. The three liberation parties fought for the total independence of Portuguese influences as well as for the leadership. Most parties would consider themselves the best bet, mostly because they believed the country should be ruled by ‘real African people’ no white Portuguese /African people.

 

This belief had severe impact on Nelson’s life as he and his family were being targeted for being white Angolans. “We had to leave, we were considered Portuguese at this point” he stops and says: “Me and my family were privileged because we found a way to leave Angola and go to Portugal". He explains,  "At the time our idea was that we would leave for a short amount of time, convinced that that war was so useless and stupid, it was a conflict that it was not going to last. I was wrong, and I stayed for 35 years.”

 

Why wait so long? Why not go back? “We did not go back because the normal conditions were non-existent, there was a tremendous insecurity. Straight after the independence the government nationalized everything, the goods of people that were in the country and the ones that were not there.” He shrugs “Henceforth there were no objective conditions for us to return as everything was taken. So, we started a life in Portugal in 1975.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What was it like to start life in Portugal from scratch?

 

“Starting life in Portugal was not easy either” he says “It was a reality that we were similar physically with the Portuguese people in Portugal, but we were very different from them. That was when I started to feel big differences and to understand how people would perceive me” Confusion and shock with what had happened many years ago, fill his face. This is visibly a very personal question for him as he angrily shouts “They classified us! The Portuguese people that were living in Africa, were considered officially as second category. Our descendants, children and grandchildren, were considered third category”

 

“This process was long but with time people started to accept us.” It was like an achievement for him, as though being accepted by the Portuguese society was a reward. He explains: “During this process and all these years, I was always thinking of going back to Angola. I would read Angolan news, to try to understand what was going one there, and see if I could go back.”

 

He had gone back and then again things got complicated. Why? His race.

 

“I was treated like a foreigner. They would approach me and speak to me in English. That happened many times. There was once at the airport, the guy at the customs saw me with two passports, Portuguese and Angolan but he started speaking English with me.” Aggressively waving his hands he adds “I told him three times and even showed him my passport, but he would still speak English. From a certain point, I started thinking that he was messing with me.”

 

“The effects of the colonial war are still very much alive, and Angolans express that with racist and ignorant comments.”

 

“My wife whom is black”- describes his wife- “was criticised a lot during our time in Angola. For being with me, a white man. They called her the Angolan Traitor, as if she was betraying the country and its people.” 
 
“If I had stayed in Angola during the war, my skin would not be as white” he laughs “ and I would probably have a creole culture, but Angola will never accept that. They think that the Black African can only be black and it has to be always black, when the world now a day is not like that, is it?”

“The world now is Benetton, full of colors.” He finalizes.

 

 

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