grow some of the most amazing
fruit—mangoes, lychees, the most
beautiful bananas you’ve ever seen
in your life. That’s where all the
fruit we export to Europe comes
from. But on the black land twenty
minutes down the road, the soil has
been decimated by years of
overfarming and overgrazing. Abel’s
mother and his sisters were all
traditional, stay-at-home moms,
and Abel and his younger brother,
who was a policeman, supported
the family. They were all very kind
and generous and accepted us as
part of the family right away.
Tsonga culture, I learned, is