Josina Machel

Josina Abiathar Muthemba Machel (August 10, 1945 – April 7, 1971) was a leader of FRELIMO and a significant figure in the struggle for independence in Mozambique. Early years Josina was born with a twin brother, Belmiro, in Vilanculos, Inhambane, Mozambique on August 10, 1945, into an assimilado family that was nevertheless active in anti-colonial work. Her grandfather (a Presbyterian lay preacher who spoke out against Portuguese colonialism), her father, two of her sisters, and two uncles were all jailed at one point or another as a result of their participation in clandestine opposition to the Portuguese colonial administration. Her father worked as a nurse in government hospitals and this required him to periodically move the family to accommodate his job transfers. At age 7, Josina entered the primary school Dom João de Castro in Mocímboa da Praia, a school for the children of Portuguese and assimilado families. Two years later her father was transferred to the town of João Belo, and Josina enrolled in Mouzinho de Albuquerque. After 4th grade, Josina was sent to the capital city of Lourenço Marques in order to continue her education, living with her grandmother. Teenage years In 1958, now 13 years old, Josina entered the commercial school Dr. Azevedo e Silva to pursue accounting. Two years later, she joined the Núcleo dos Estudantes Africanos Secundários de Mocambique (NESAM), a clandestine cultural and political organization that was founded by Eduardo Mondlane in 1949. Her political consciousness developed within the organization, which was surveilled by colonial police, until once she was 18 she fled the country with eight other students (including Armando Emilio Guebuza) intending the Tanzania-based Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO). They managed to reach the Rhodesia-Zambia border at Victoria Falls, a journey of some , before they were apprehended, extradited back to Mozamqique, and jailed. Five months later, in the month of her 19th birthday, Josina was released from jail as a result of an international campaign carried out by FRELIMO. She resumed attending secondary school, but she was watched by police agents. Four months afterwards Josina fled Mozambique for a second time, again with a group of fellow students. From this point, Josina never saw any member of her family again. The group seeks asylum in Swaziland, where they are put in a refugee camp.