Angola Doesn’t Discriminate

MY name is Mauro Rodriguez.

I am a 29-year-old Angolan citizen, but I studied, graduated proudly in Namibia, and eventually got married to my beautiful wife Olivia and we now have two beautiful children. We are currently living here in Angola, but we want to come back to Namibia within a year.The reason I am sending this e-mail is because I think that Namibia is a great country; I love it for real and before my wife and I got married we tried for four years to live in Namibia and we never succeeded.There were always excuses with papers, visas that and other things.The thing is most people in Namibia think that when a foreigner wants to marry a Namibian woman/man is because of citizenship, but that isn’t always the case.Why can’t people believe that two people can really fall in love with each other despite race, colour and nationality? How many government officials are married to foreigners also? My wife and I had to come to Angola to get married, with no problem from the magistrate’s court here.We are both proud of where we come from and neither of us has the intention to change nationalities at all.Here in Angola she simply has a Resident Card which allows her to do just anything, even work.But she was never discriminated against nor offended by either my family or by Angolans – instead they welcomed her.So, what I want to say is people let us respect others.And I also want to congratulate The Namibian newspaper for your good work.Keep it up? Mauro Rodriguez LuandaWe are currently living here in Angola, but we want to come back to Namibia within a year.The reason I am sending this e-mail is because I think that Namibia is a great country; I love it for real and before my wife and I got married we tried for four years to live in Namibia and we never succeeded.There were always excuses with papers, visas that and other things.The thing is most people in Namibia think that when a foreigner wants to marry a Namibian woman/man is because of citizenship, but that isn’t always the case.Why can’t people believe that two people can really fall in love with each other despite race, colour and nationality? How many government officials are married to foreigners also? My wife and I had to come to Angola to get married, with no problem from the magistrate’s court here.We are both proud of where we come from and neither of us has the intention to change nationalities at all.Here in Angola she simply has a Resident Card which allows her to do just anything, even work.But she was never discriminated against nor offended by either my family or by Angolans – instead they welcomed her.So, what I want to say is people let us respect others.And I also want to congratulate The Namibian newspaper for your good work.Keep it up? Mauro Rodriguez Luanda