The Pausa

Presidential elections will take place on August 31st and campaign season has certainly provided a lot of material for the blog. However, due to security concerns, I have decided to post about my feelings after I am no longer in the country.

Protests and rallies are expected for the next week, but so far there have been no major incidences of violence in Luanda. The campaign season has been more of an inconvenience than anything else.

As I mentioned before, all schools in Angola will be closed for one month due to the elections. Originally, I was told that this break or pausa would begin on August 15th. On Thursday, August 9th, I went to class at 8:00am as usual and began teaching. Around 9:00,  a gentleman entered my classroom and told me that the pausa begins NOW and I need to stop teaching immediately. Knowing that this man was an employee of the university, but not a member of the administration, I kindly told him that I would continue my class until it was over at 9:30.

I then discovered from my students that the night before, the Ministry of Education announced on TV and radio that the election pausa would begin on the 9th rather the 15th. There was no reason given, obviously. About half of the students had heard the news, but the others had not. I was completely in the dark. Once again, I must adapt to a situation in which I have no control.

I am not enthusiastic about this forced vacation. In another city, I imagine I would be excited about having a month off, but not here. I’m scrambling to find ways to keep myself busy. Idle time is the enemy in Luanda, but the coloring helps.