Portrait of a Mozambique bush family

Yesterday I talked about the lunch meal preparation at Zak’s house. While I truly enjoyed seeing the process of feeding a host of women and children, I enjoyed watching the family even more. These are some of my favorite photos from the time.

And, before you ask, I have no idea who were the wives (remember that he has 3), who were the children (there are 16), and who were other relatives or friends just there for a visit!! Africans form an extremely communal society and this gathering could be a mixture of any or all of these!!

Smiling children will always capture my heart……

…as will the bond between the children and their mother……

This woman was very proud of her young daughter and seemed pleased that I was taking photos of her…..

I loved the tiny, tiny braids in this young girl’s hair…..

These two young women were helping each other with their hairstyles….

And, this little boy stayed close to the cooking building…..

…Maybe he was hungry!!

This little girl was so cute drinking from a cup that was way too big for her…..

But the child that caught my attention from the first moment we drove onto the property was this imp…..

He was a DYNAMO and moved quickly from one task to another the entire time we were there.

You could tell from the look on his face that he REALLY wasn’t sure about this woman who was watching him.

When the rest of the family sat down to eat, he decided that it was time to do some drumming!! As you see in the first part of the video, he started out sitting on the ground, but then decided that he needed a “drummer’s throne”, so found a rock to serve the purpose. You can see him perching precariously on said rock in the second part of the video!!

Again, you can see the contentment in this family’s eyes and it sure makes me think about when and why I am NOT content!!