Mozambique: Sílvia Bragança passed away, but the “Dream of the Moon” lives on

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Mozambique: Sílvia Bragança passed away, but the “Dream of the Moon” lives on

11:16 CAT | 23 Sep 2020

File photo: O País

Mass will be celebrated in the Church of Polana, in the city of Maputo at 6:00 p.m. this Wednesday, in tribute to her life.

Poet, writer, painter and teacher Sílvia Bragança died in Goa on Monday at the age of 83, as she was preparing to return to Mozambique.

“An extraordinary woman!” In a nutshell, this is how Sílvia Bragança was best described. She wrote poetry, children’s books, she painted, she taught and she affirmed herself as an educator who was passionate about children.

Bragança succumbed to illness at the age of 83 in Goa this Monday, as she was getting ready to return to Mozambique, a tortuous process in this time of Covid-19.

Sílvia Bragança was born on October 13, 1937, in Goa, India, and did major work in Mozambique.

She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Painting at the Superior School of Fine Arts of Lisbon in 1966, before also obtaining a Degree in Pedagogical Sciences at the Arts Faculty of the University of Lisbon.

Sílvia married Mozambican journalist-academic and widely regarded diplomat Aquino de Bragança in September of 1984 after their chance meeting in Lisbon a year earlier. Aquino died in the same plane crash that killed Samora Machel in October 19 1986, in Mbuzini, South Africa.

Silviastestevam — *Silvia de Bragança at an exhibition paying homage to Aquino’s life’s work, in Goa, 2017. [Photo: Herald Goa]*

In addition to being an artist, with exhibitions in Mozambique, India and Portugal, the widow of Aquino de Bragança led education projects with children, taught at the Faculty of Education and collaborated with the National Museum of Art.

Sílvia Bragança is remembered as a person deeply committed to all she did, and left textbooks which have not yet been printed.

Mass will be celebrated in the Church of Polana, in the city of Maputo at 6:00 p.m. this Wednesday, in tribute to her life.

Among Sílvia Bragança’s publications are: ‘A quem a minha vida, a vida deu?’ [To whom did my life, give the life?] (Maputo, Imprensa Universitária, 1998), ‘Aquino de Bragança, batalhas ganhas, sonhos a continuar’ [Aquino de Bragança, battles waged, lasting dreams] (Maputo, Ndjira, 2009) and ‘Sonho da Lua’ [Dream of the Moon] (Brazil, 2015).

“In this precious work [‘Sonho da Lua’], from the ‘Vozes da África’ series, Sílvia Bragança, a writer with a vast and profound experience of Mozambique, offers us ten poems about the universe, presenting children with the world around them, visible or not. The illustrations by Brazilian Amanda de Azevedo further enrich Sílvia’s little poetic jewels about the moon, the wind, the rain, the elephant, the spider, the flowers, the birds, the rainbow and other elements of nature,” publisher Kapulana, which launched the book in Brazil, writes.

By José dos Remédios

very sorry to hear of the death of Silvia Bragança: artist, activist, torchbearer for the legacy of her late husband Aquino de Bragança, the hugely significant transnational freedom fighter + friend/ally of Frantz Fanon + important player in several different liberation struggles pic.twitter.com/UMJwtbt12w

— Vivek Menezes (@vmingoa) September 22, 2020

Faleceu a escritora Sílvia Bragança, artista e educadora nascida em Goa e que vivia em Moçambique. Saiba mais sobre Sílvia Bragança em https://t.co/ilZQZmZ9KF pic.twitter.com/x7oYQkgNmb

— Editora Kapulana (@editorakapulana) September 23, 2020