African Entrepreneurship Record

"Fernandez, Portuguese, 27 years old, what is your expertise? What was your original occupation in Mozambique?"

"Sir, I don't seem to have any expertise! But occupation should mean work. I used to be a farmer on a plantation, right?" Fernandez asked with some uncertainty.

Facing the East African staff's inquiries, Fernandez still seemed a little embarrassed, because the East African in front of him looked more majestic, which even made Fernandez feel a little intimidated.

This East African looks to be less than 20 years old. Although he looks a little immature due to his age, his gray face, which is as gray as dry tree bark, looks like it has been through a storm, making people subconsciously ignore his age.

But for Fernandez, it is not so much that this East African makes people feel depressed, but rather that he can feel the looming murderous intention of this East African.

Coupled with the fact that he is wearing an old East African Defense Force uniform that has not yet been replaced, it is obvious that he has "killed people", and it is very likely that he has several Portuguese lives on his hands. This is a shame to the Portuguese present. The deterrent power of words.

"That's the thug!" asked Proust.

Proust was not aware of the psychological activities of the Portuguese who were present. As a former Wehrmacht soldier who had just been drafted into the army, retired from the army and changed his job, Proust had indeed seen blood.

In his mind, people like Fernandez should be thugs in the Portuguese plantations. After all, farming does not look like something the Portuguese colonists did themselves. They only need to keep an eye on the black slaves.

Fernandez shook his head and said: "I have never bullied anyone. Although my status is higher than that of black people, my job is mainly to inspect the plantation, observe the growth of cotton, and then report to the management."

“Then what kind of job did you do before coming to Mozambique?”

"Before I came to Mozambique, I was born in a small fishing village near the sea in Portugal, but my family mainly farmed land for Mr. Erbak, a noble man in our village. Most of the land in the village belongs to his family." Fernandez took the photo. Said the lower head.

"Oh, so is your family in Portugal?"

Fernandez nodded and said: "I have an older brother and my father. As for my mother passed away when I was a child, I have not been married in these years, so I should be considered alone in Mozambique, but I have a few friends, but they Many have left Mozambique and chosen to return home.”

"Yes, congratulations to you, you will be a glorious German from now on." Proust put a mimeograph on Fernandez's name.

…

After becoming a "German", Fernandez and others were assigned to various plantations or farms around Maputo, but compared to the past, there is now one more required course every day.

"As a German, it is natural to speak fluent German. East African Standard German is based on Swabian and incorporates some vocabulary and content from other languages. Of course, you don't need to know too much about these. The most important thing now is to be able to communicate with others. Communicate, or understand some words,” a Portuguese translator said to the workers in the plantation.

In East Africa, Portuguese is one of the more popular foreign languages. Because there were frequent business exchanges between East Africa and Portugal at that time, and later the two countries became enemies, it was even more important to "know each other and know yourself." Therefore, the scale of Portuguese in foreign language education in East Africa Not small.

"You must first forget your identity as a Portuguese in the past, because if nothing else, many people will never have anything to do with Portugal in this life. It is not shameful to accept the reality. After all, the decline of the Kingdom of Portugal has been going on for centuries. , it’s not because of you.”

"The Kingdom of Hechingen is the future country for you and your descendants. Only when everyone loves this country can our lives become better. In order to eliminate various disputes, it is necessary to master German first."

"Of course, you can also choose to mess up and not take the initiative to learn. That will only make it difficult to make progress in East Africa. In the future, there will be no room for other languages ​​to survive in East Africa."

The words of the East African teacher were unpleasant to hear, but most of the former Portuguese people present did not have any objections. This was the awakening brought about by the defeat of the war, and in Europe, changing nationality was not an unspeakable thing due to population migration.

East Africa defeated Portugal twice, which destined the remaining people in Mozambique to be tough. Of course, there are exceptions, such as the Boers who were forcibly conquered by East Africa.

However, East Africa has adopted a completely different strategy from the Portuguese in Mozambique when it comes to the Boers. At present, the Portuguese in Mozambique have not been separated by East Africa, but continue to stay in Mozambique, but the Boers have spread all over East Africa.

"Let's start the class. Today we will learn fifty words first. Don't be afraid that you can't remember them. Someone will help you to memorize them in the future."

Then the East African teachers began to teach these Portuguese people. The content of the class was also very simple, which was to recite the copied words over and over again.

At the beginning, most East African immigrants followed this process. What really allowed them to learn German in a short time was not the classroom environment, but the German environment in daily life.

The East African government is organizing immigration work. It will only take no more than a year. By then, the number of East Africans will exceed the number of original Portuguese in Mozambique.

…

"Fernandez, did you understand everything in class?"

After class, at 8 p.m., a colleague asked Fernandez in Portuguese.

Fernandez shook his head and said: "Of course not. Now I feel a headache when I think of those weird symbols."

"Yes! I didn't expect that you need to study to become an East African citizen. This is simply unbelievable. We are not noble lords or businessmen. We don't need so much knowledge to guard the plantation."

Fernandez said: "It's too late. After becoming an East African citizen, we can't leave even if we want to. But our choice is not bad. At least the East African government didn't treat us harshly. They should regard us as their own!"

The colleague nodded and said: "You are right. Of course, the premise is to draw a clear line with the Kingdom of Portugal. From now on, we will have nothing to do with Portugal at all. But that's fine, there is no hope in Portugal anyway."

Fernandez laughed and said: "Now we are all Germans, but by filling out a form, we become Germans. If so many countries in Europe follow the example of East Africa, then there will only be one country."

"It doesn't matter if it's a country or a province, it's like Europe fighting wars every day." His colleague said.

"Portugal doesn't go to war, but its economy is in shambles, and various riots and unrest often occur, otherwise we wouldn't have gone overseas," Fernandez said.

"When the economy is bad, most countries are like this, but Portugal is too bad. Now the whole world is developing, only Portugal is retreating, but these have nothing to do with us. We are now considered part of the German people. "What happens to Portugal in the future has nothing to do with us."

Fernandez nodded and said: "That's it, but the situation in East Africa is hard to say. Let's wait and see for a while! I hope there is no problem with our choice."

There are many people like Fernandez who are worried. They are both familiar and unfamiliar with East Africa. However, in the more than ten years that the Portuguese and East Africans have lived together, one thing is clear, that is, East African cities are developing very rapidly. In the relationship between the two countries, When times are friendly, many Portuguese people will go to cities in East Africa for consumption and entertainment.