An apartment in Macau’s NAPE area is home to Cape Verdean couple Jocelina and Fabio Monteiro. Their West African culture and love of art blends with Asian and European décor and furnishings to create an atmosphere of cosy comfort.
Translation Daisy Wong / Photos Mark Phillips
Visitors to the home of Jocelina Borges Tavares Monteiro are met with a broad smile, a warm welcome and a delicious mug of steaming hot Cape Verdean coffee! The apartment is three bedrooms, two bathrooms in Violet Court, NAPE.
“We’ve been here two years. Before that my husband Fabio and I lived in the Red Market area. This is a very convenient location for Fabio’s work and when I was studying at the Macau Polytechnic University it was a short bus ride or easy walk,” says Jocelina.
“As soon as I first stepped foot in this apartment, I immediately felt good, even though the place was in poor condition. It needed painting, we had to hide the ugly exposed wall-mounted air conditioning piping and the guest bathroom basin was way too low.”
The couple negotiated a five-year lease and fair rent which enabled them to afford to do the work themselves. The piping at the end of the bedroom corridor is well disguised with a deep green-black paint and the basin simply covered with a higher, more attractive countertop and basin. All the window treatments are their own – soft floaty white in the living room, pale orange in the study, and green in the master bedroom.
Gradually the balcony filled up with plants and Jocelina set about furnishing the apartment with treasures gifted from friends, people leaving or found on ByeByeZaia – a red Chinese cabinet, a rustically-painted Chinese sideboard, a small spindle-legged drop-leaf table.
Colourful floor rugs and kilims collected from their travels brighten the parquet flooring in every room, and on the walls a blend of African and European influences, basket and macrame displays, abstract artworks by sister-in-law and talented artist Jacira Monteiro, peppered with an eclectic mix of Beatles memorabilia (“Fabio’s passion!”) and TinTin pictures and some framed handmade woven fabric.
“Cape Verde is famous for this kind of fabric; it’s called Pano de Terra,” Jocelina explains, and she has used this to cozy effect on numerous throw cushion covers and bed spreads.
Born and raised in Cape Verde, an archipelago of 10 volcanic islands on the westernmost point of continental Africa, Jocelina grew up speaking both the official language Portuguese and her mother tongue, the local Creole. From the arrival of Portuguese settlers in 1462, Cape Verde remained a colony until independence in 1975 and so is characterized by a cultural mixture of African and European elements.
“That’s why I feel really comfortable living in Macau,” grins Jocelina. Macau having also been a Portuguese colony “there are a lot of similarities, things that I find so familiar. Sometimes I feel like I’m home with all the Portuguese influences around me; Macau is really my home away from home!”
Teaching has been a way of life for Jocelina ever since she became a teacher at the tender age of 18. At the time she graduated from high school, Cape Verde had a grave shortage of teachers. A scheme involving a National Exam was set up for that particular year and those who took it and achieved a high score could get a teaching job.
“I achieved the score and my first job was teaching 11 and 12 year olds.”
Then at 19 she began university studies for a degree in sociology – a five year programme including internship and dissertation.
“I taught in the mornings and studied in the afternoons.”
During this time, she suffered the loss of her mother and her beloved grandparents, so she had the further burden of taking care of the home and family. “A tough time, but I did it!” she smiles.
After teaching for almost 10 years – “I was doing something I loved but I had bills to pay and a young daughter to raise” – Jocelina started looking at opportunities further afield. “In my country there are less nationals living in Cape Verde than living overseas. There’s a culture of emigrating. There are no natural resources and salaries are low so people leave in search of a better life,” she explains. “Traveling out of Cape Verde is not something people want to do, but a pure necessity in order to send money back to help the family. Many move to Europe but they are spread out all over the world; there’s a huge Cape Verdean community in Boston, USA for example.”
When she started thinking about moving abroad, Jocelina’s best friend was in China studying for her PhD. and working as a translator. Encouraged by her friend to join her, in early 2012 Jocelina moved to Shanghai. She enrolled to study Chinese in a local school on a student visa and shortly after she got an employment visa to work for a translation company.
“I was with them for almost eight years and in 2019 I decided to quit as I wanted to spend more time improving my Chinese so I could have more opportunities and earn a better salary. I met my husband through friends, on WeChat. He was living in Macau and we would commute between Shanghai and Macau on weekends and holidays. When on a visit in early 2020, COVID hit. We then decided to get married and I’m still here!”
Not letting the grass grow under her feet, Jocelina has just completed her second Bachelor’s degree, this time a four-year programme in Chinese as a Foreign Language at the Macau Polytechnic University, graduating in July this year. Being able to speak fluent Portuguese, Mandarin and English has undoubtedly helped her assimilate quickly into life in Macau. With two degrees tucked under her arm, and her engaging charm and intelligence, she soon landed a new job with the Pui Ching school in Coloane, which she starts in September. At the same time, she’s back studying again, this time for her Post Graduate Diploma in Education. Bravo Jocelina!
Does Jocelina feel she comes from a privileged background that has given her a step up to achieve what she has? No. She believes it’s thanks to the support of friends and other Cape Verdeans that have offered her encouragement and accommodation. It’s been about being able to get student visas, working hard for one’s goals and having the courage and smarts to move out of one’s comfort zone to take on the challenges.
Now in 2024, what’s the long-term plan? Would she consider going back to Cape Verde?
“Sadly, no, it’s difficult to return after being away so long, the conversations are very different”, with all the life experiences that a better income brings “the locals may think you’re stuck up. Fabio and I both love Macau so I’m sure this will be our home for many years to come.”
