By Armando Chicoca, Luanda ANGOLA
Before
he was laid to rest early this week, the Angolan man known as Pai Grande, or Big Dad,
drew a crowd of at least 1,000 people – including most, if not all, of his 156
surviving children and 250 grandchildren – to pay their respects.
Mourners
for Francisco Tchikuteny Sabalo embraced, wept, sang and stood
shoulder to shoulder, despite calls for social distancing and a presidential
ban on gatherings of 50 people or more during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tchikuteny,
who was in his early 70s, died last Tuesday of prostate cancer, relatives told
VOA’s Portuguese Service. He had sought treatment in Luanda and elsewhere more
than a year ago, said one of his sons, Lumbaneny Sabalo, but decided to return
home so that “if God called him, at least he would die beside the children and
their mothers.”
He was “a complete human being” who prized
family and championed education, one speaker said during the service, held
beneath sun-screening canopies on arid Giraul do Meio, known locally as
Mungongo Island, near the southern port city of Namibe.
Tchikuteny
was a Christian who belonged to the New Ecclesiastic Order of Angola, a
relative said. He was buried in a nearby cemetery newly dedicated to his
family.
That family includes 42 current wives; another
seven had left the family earlier, relatives said.
Angola
law prohibits polygamy, but it is widely practiced in the
predominantly Christian country.
First wife Eva Domingos Bartolomeu told VOA
that she hoped to keep the family united, according to Tchikuteny’s wishes. “I
will do anything to keep his children fed and OK,” she said.
The extended family primarily relies on
farming, raising sheep, goats and cows, plus crops of tomatoes, cabbage,
onions, peppers and corn. They sell the surplus at market.
In
2015, Tchikuteny told VOA that he prized education and spent more than $1,500 a
year on school supplies.
He had expressed a desire for seeing some of
his children trained in science and technology.
Three daughters currently are studying medical
sciences and two sons are learning computer science, all at the high school
level.
Lumbaneny Sabalo had volunteered as an
elementary school teacher for five years.
At Sunday’s service, Gonçalves Hunandumbo, the
director of the island’s school, praised Tchikuteny for supporting education and
starting “a revolution against illiteracy. … He was a man and a complete human
being.”
According to his family, Tchikuteny had
fathered 281 children, but 125 predeceased him. He is survived by his wives,
children, grandchildren and 67 great-grandchildren.
With Tchikuteny’s death, “We lost a father,”
Lumbaneny Sabalo said. He asked journalists and others to continue to visit the
island, “where the greatest in Angola lived, and he will remain alive in the
history of this country.” - VoA
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