Zavala's in Africa

[Southerncomfort]

I would like to shere this e-mail with you guys. It was shorten and some names shortern,

Dear M....
Well you are right, you have never heard of me before, becuase I was born and grew up in South Africa, J... A... Zavala is the one who found me on the internet, because I posted some message locating the Zavala's all over the world. He was quite suprised like you to learn that there are Zavala's too in Africa and he send me some e-mail jokes with all of your e-mails addresses attached to it. The only relations we have so far is the surname.

My mission is to learn about the culture and the history of the Zavalapeople which is something close to my heart, Here in Africa the only cultural practice I know is that of the Mozambique Chope who were married by the people of Zavala in the early slave trade.I only visited that country for the first time in 2003 since I was born. My father Obed Phillip Zavala was born in Mozambique and he came to south africa at the age of 16 to work in the mines and all his children were born in South Africa and had very little knowledge of their history and culture. So are many childrens who were born by fathers who came as migrant labour in South Africa. That is what drives my passion, I need to put all these peaces together to be able to define who I am, origin and my cultural heritage. This knowledge will be very usefull for these genaration of mine and many more to come to know who they are. In South Africa for instance we live among the strong culteral nations, The Sothos, the Zulu, the Venda and the Tsonga, all these people have strong cultural practices and cultural backround, and to fit in we adopt our mothers side cultural practices since we have little understanding of simple practices such as, How do we name our childrens, how do we do thanks giving, how do we handle weddings and marriage in our culture, how do we connect we our roots and ancestors. This might sound less important for people who grew knowing and practising this things but for me they are very important because it fills like I am in the wilderness and I am just carrying the surname in vain. I can't speak Portugeouse, I never had a chance to atleast grew up in the land my father was born and I know little or nothing about my cultural backround.

In April next year I am also planning if everything goes well to visit The county of Zavala and experience how people live there and also visit other Portogeus country to see how much could I bring home and document for my brothers and sister who battling to connect with their roots

So you will understand too, how important and appreciating of me , to receive your e-mail, it feels like connecting with your own in this wilderness.