Mozambique: Meet Vovó Cecília, who runs a mobile library in Mafalala at the age of 75 – Watch

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Mozambique: Meet Vovó Cecília, who runs a mobile library in Mafalala at the age of 75 – Watch

12:40 CAT | 26 May 2025

Screen grab: STV

At the age of 75, a retired librarian pushes a wheelbarrow full of children’s books through Maputo’s Mafalala neighborhood every week, dreaming of a community library bearing her name with books for all the children there.

Maputo was still Lourenço Marques when Cecília Mate, or Grandma Cecília, as everyone calls her in Mafalala, became passionate about books.

Back then, there were few books for recreational reading and almost no libraries.

In 1978, she took part in a course that trained the first librarians in post-independence Mozambique, which increased her connection with books.

In 2014, Grandma Cecília made a decision that would end with her photo on the cover of ‘O País’: at the age of 65, she had the idea of taking a wheelbarrow from alley to alley to make access to books possible and easy for those who could not afford to buy them.

The books are kept in her parents’ old room in the family home. Grandma Cecília estimates that it holds more than 500 books.

Grandma Cecília’s brother, 65-year old José, speaks more than three languages and writes poems. He says that it all has to do with the love of reading that he has had since childhood, which is why he applauds his sister’s initiative.

Married, with four children, 12 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, Grandma Cecília has always had the support of her family regarding the mobile library.

Grandma Cecília has been taking books to her adopted grandchildren in Mafalala for 10 years, and estimates that, on average, 70 children read from her mobile library per cycle.

It is estimated that there are just over 40 public libraries in Mozambique for around six million students, a number that does not meet the reading needs.

Grandma Cecília started the library with her own books, but now also receives donations, such as the one resulting from a month-long campaign by the Fernando Leite Couto Foundation.

Cecília Mate was born, raised and still lives in Mafalala. The retired librarian dreams of “The Grandma Cecília Community Library”, without realizing that she herself is a living library in the historic neighbourhood.