My mother, Ilda
Raposo da Silva
I got married when I was 21 years old. Let me tell you how I met Manuel.
Every time I went from home in Matriz to visit my mother at the hospital, I had to cross Rua Direita. During one of those walks, Manuel noticed me… and I noticed him. It was quite simple. Some time after that, we got married, I had four children, three were born in São Miguel and one in Montreal.
Life was so tough that Manuel had to emigrate. Those years I lived alone in São Miguel while my husband was in Canada were very difficult. His letters would take months to reach us. The family helped but I had to take care of the kids by myself, they were 2,3 and almost 5 years old when my husband left for Canada.
The two boys were a handful. Manuel was the most playful one… Imagine, one day he scared a cow so much, the cow jumped over a little wall bordering the Rua do Doutor Lucindo Rebelo Machado. The owner came to our house to complain.
I immediately called Manuel, who was at the top of the Rua de Vencimento. I shouted: "Hey corisco (rascal) what did you do?" I bit him on his arm and dragged him home pinching his arms and pulling his ears. Sometimes I had to spank them a bit, but I loved them a lot.
I was eager to join my husband after 4 years of being separated but I also knew that I would miss my homeland. I cried ever so much, believe me… I cried so much.
Born in Matriz, a parish of Ribeira Grande, my mother, Ilda Raposo da Silva, is an only child. She is 11 months old when her father dies in 1927. Following this tragedy, her mother will work as a seamstress at the Ribeira Grande hospital until she immigrates to Canada in 1963.