Mozambique Telecom (Tmcel) paid tribute, on Thursday 5 May in Maputo city, to writer Paulina Chiziane, an emblematic and unavoidable figure of Mozambican literature, winner of the 2021 Camões Award, the most prestigious literary award given to Portuguese-speaking writers.

This recognition, which is part of the company's corporate social responsibility actions, is part of the initiatives that have been promoted for years by Tmcel in order to value culture makers, in general, and literature makers, in particular.

It also aims to encourage and stimulate the taste for arts and letters among citizens, especially young people, by sponsoring the publication, dissemination, and promotion of the artists' works.

"To honor Paulina Chiziane is to exalt the Mozambican arts and letters, because she is a writer recognized in the country and beyond its borders for the work she has been doing in favor of Mozambican literature, which makes her the only one and the most respected by all," said the President of the Board of Directors (PCA), Mahomed Rafique.

Therefore, continued Rafique, "it honors us to associate Tmcel with a figure of this dimension, the mother of Mozambican literature, which relates moments and facts that allow us a better understanding of our history, the history of Mozambicans. Today, several years later, the qualitative growth of the company's engagement in this area is remarkable, making it a partner and a relevant part of the literary dynamics and national culture, maintaining and expanding the space for debate and interpretation of contemporary literature and art in Mozambique.

On the occasion, the PCA reiterated the company's commitment to be part of similar initiatives, as a way to contribute to "the strengthening of the dynamics of our literature, our art, and our culture, in general, so that together we continue to develop Mozambique.

For her part, Paulina Chiziane, visibly moved, thanked Tmcel for the gesture, a company she considers her partner from the very first moment, when many did not believe in the "power" of her work, much less the impact it could have, in the country and in the world.

"Today, at the age of 66, I am receiving the affection of all of you, children and adults, for a job I started doing when I was a little girl, about 10 years old.

Thank you for the affection. Tmcel is a company that has always supported me. I have been a partner of Tmcel since the first works. There were books that I wrote and people said, 'But that's not nice. Talking about these things doesn't look good. Faced with that, I went to Mcel, at the time, and explained the reason for being, writing, and wanting to publish the books," she said.

"I felt and still feel that when we write our story we do it in lightness and superficiality to look pretty and others like it. At the time, Mcel supported me. It was a work that told the story of a deep Mozambique. I am referring to the works Por Quem vibram os Tambores do Além, O Canto dos Escravos, and O Canto Alegre da Perdiz," he says. During the ceremony, Tmcel gave Paulina Chiziane a diploma of merit and a cell phone with lifetime number without costs in the use of voice and data within the country, and offered copies of her works to the Escola Primária Completa a Luta Continua, located in downtown Maputo, as a way to promote reading to children.

Born in 1955, in Manjacaze, Gaza province, Paulina Chiziane was the first woman to publish a novel in Mozambique, in 1990, "Ballad of Love to the Wind". She also wrote "Ventos do Apocalipse", "O Alegre Canto da Perdiz", "As Andorinhas", "Na Mão de Deus", "Por Quem vibram os Tambores do Além", "Ngoma Yethu: O Curandeiro e o Novo Testamento", "O Canto dos Escravos", and "Niketche". In 2022, he released, together with Dionisio Bahule, the book "The Voice of the Prison", an account of the inmates.

It is important to highlight that the ceremony honoring Paulina Chiziane was attended by several of Tmcel's partners in arts and culture, especially musician Yuri da Cunha.