Janet Mondlane

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Janet Rae Johnson Mondlane , better known as Janet Mondlane (* 1935 at Downers Grove , Illinois , United States ) is an American - Mozambican resistance fighter and politician ( FRELIMO ). She is the widow of the first FRELIMO chairman Eduardo Mondlane .

Life

Education and marriage

Janet Rae Johnson was born in 1935 in the small town of Downers Grove near Chicago in the state of Illinois . She grew up in a medium-sized family in the country, her father worked as a car mechanic. In 1951, at the age of 17, she attended a church holiday camp in Geneva, Wisconsin , where she met young Eduardo Mondlane , who was speaking about the future of Africa. Janet Rae Johnson and Eduardo Mondlane became friends and from there began a very close pen friendship and met several times until they were able to get married in 1956 - after lengthy procedures due to the "racial differences". Together they both moved to Chicago, where they both attended Northwestern University . They later moved to New York. During this time Mondlane also had their children Eduardo Jr. (* 1957), Jennifer Chude (* 1958) and Nyeleti Brooke (* 1962).

Commitment to FRELIMO

In 1963 the family moved to Dar es Salaam , where the newly founded Mozambican Liberation Front FRELIMO had installed its headquarters in 1962. While Janet Mondlane's husband had been elected chairman of the liberation movement, Janet Mondlane became the director of the Mozambique Institute , the FRELIMO training center for all non-military matters. Among other things, he was involved in building schools for the local population in the Tanzanian-Mozambican border area. In addition, Mondlane often traveled abroad to promote FRELIMO's interests.

During the letter bomb attack on Eduardo Mondlane on February 3, 1969, Janet Mondlane was on a business trip in Geneva (Switzerland) and returned to Tanzania two days later. FRELIMO decided that the family should move to the FRELIMO Camp Bagamoyo in the Tanzanian bush for safety reasons . From there, Janet Mondlane continued her activities.

When Mozambique gained independence in 1975, Janet Mondlane and her three children moved to the Mozambican capital, Maputo . She took on various tasks within the young Mozambican state, including headed the country's health ministry for some time. At times she was also a member of the National People's Assembly . From 1986 to 1992 she headed the Mozambican Red Cross and from 2000 to 2003 the national AIDS council.

In 1996, Janet Mondlane began to set up a foundation in honor and memory of her deceased husband ( Fundação Eduardo Mondlane ). In 2011 she received an honorary doctorate from Eduardo Mondlane University .

Private

Janet Mondlane is a widow and has three children (Eduardo Jr. Mondlane, Jennifer Chude Mondlane and Nyeleti Brooke Mondlane ). According to media reports, she has since given up her American citizenship.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Laurinda Keys: Illinois-Born Widow of African Revolutionary Eduardo Mondlane Hopes for Peace. In: Los Angeles Times. February 26, 1989, accessed October 11, 2016 .
  2. ↑ a b RG 30/307 - Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane (1920–1969). (No longer available online.) Oberlin College Archives, archived from the original September 12, 2006 ; accessed on October 10, 2016 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.oberlin.edu
  3. ^ Albert J. McQueen and John D. Elder: EDUARDO CHIVAMBO MONDLANE '53. Oberlin College, accessed October 11, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Tor Sellström: Janet Modlane. In: Liberationafrica.se. April 30, 1996, accessed October 11, 2016 .
  5. ^ Sérgio Banze: Janet Mondlane distinguida “Doutora Honoris Causa”. In: O País. September 13, 2011, accessed October 10, 2010 (Portuguese).
personal data
SURNAME Mondlane, Janet
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mondlane, Janet Rae Johnson (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mozambican politician (FRELIMO) and resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH at Downers Grove , Illinois , United States