Na guerra - as madrinhas

Zélia Sousa sorri. Sim, foi madrinha de dois soldados. Não, não deu em casamento. Numa conversa descontráida, conta dessa amizade que as raparigas – devia ter aí uns 15 ou 16 anos – mantinham com um militar que defendia o que era nosso. Angola era nossa, pelo que, aos olhos desse tempo, era preciso queos nossos rapazes estivessem lá. Conta que nas revistas – a memória não lhe trouxe o nome, mas é capaz de visualizar a capa [não era pequenina como a Crónica Feminina], talvez a Flama ou outra do género, - havia nas páginas finais anúncios de soldados a pedir correspondentes femininas, madrinhas portanto. Diz que escolheu um nome, ao acaso. Veio a saber, mais tarde, que era da Madeira. Coincidências.
- Aquilo era para nós uma missão. Tínhamos a obrigação de fazer alguma coisa por aqueles jovens que estavam longe da pátria, longe dos seus. A ideia era criar amizades e fazer alguém feliz.

Elas falavam de trivialidades, de coisas banais.... Eles falavam da guerra, do lugar onde estavam. Elas gostavam. Queriam muito saber coisas dessas províncias que ouviam falar na escola, de que decoravam as linhas de caminho de ferro e os rios. Movia-as a curiosidade e a possibilidade de se corresponderam com um rapaz no Ultramar.
Lembra-se de, enquanto madrinha, procurar nos jornais notícias do lugar onde estava o afilhado. Lembra-se de ir aos correios pedir os aerogramas. E de não pagar nada. Lembra-se de se preocupar se a resposta demorava.
Quando ele voltou, combinaram um encontro. Ela viu-o de longe. Não se apresentou. Nunca mais o viu.



War godmothers



Zélia Sousa smiled when she told us she had been the godmother of two soldiers. And then she explained: no, I did not get married to neither of them. Enthusiastically she recalled how this type of connection between the soldier who were at the battle field fighting for our country and the many young girls. At that time, Angola belonged to us so it was normal to have young men sent there to protect the territory. She explained that in some magazines, which she cannot remember the name, although she can still visualize the front page [not so small as the magazine Crónica Feminina], maybe it was Flama or some other – there were ads where soldiers asked for a godmother. She told us she picked one, by chance and later found out he was also from Madeira Island. What a coincidence.

- We believe it was like a mission. We felt we had an obligation towards those young boys. We had to do something for them since they were far away from home and family. The main idea was to entertain them, and so we wrote about everyday life, simple stuff … and they answered back giving details about the war and the place they were. We, girls, liked it a lot. It was a way of getting to know about the provinces that we had learned at school. I believe curiosity was an important figure in this process.

She remembered to look at the papers so as to find news about the place where her godsons were. She also remembered going to the post office to collect the aerograms. It was free of charge. She also remembered to get worried when the answer did not arrive soon. When he came back, a meeting was arranged. She saw him at a distance. She had looked at him for some minutes and then she turned back and went away.