What does democracy mean to me

I am not a politcal science major, nor do I have extensive knowledge about the subject. But a few words come to mind when I think about democracy as an American living in a country that practices this system.

Equality
Freedom
Expression
Governmental
Civilized
Participation

For me the most important thing about democracy is freedom and expression. We are lucky to be able to voice our opinions about government. And I think we take it for granted sometimes. We have not experienced what it is like to not be a democratic system. I can only imagine if we switched systems and did not practice democracy. We would resort to fighting for freedom like in other countries that aren't as lucky as us.

I think the development for democracy in Mozambique is important for the people after 400 years of colonialism from the Portuguese. I want to see these people get in touch with their TRUE ROOTS and not that of another country that was forced upon them. The Mozambicans have lost so much of their own culture. I would hope that democracy can help them to express and educate themselves about their true heritage and one day be able to incorporate this back into their colonized culture.

My visit with Anne Pitcher:

I was interested in what Anne had to say about the farmers and their cashew trees. She explained that if someone plants a cashew tree on a certain piece of land that they automatically look at this piece of land as theirs. It makes me think of a time where this is how land was decided to these people a long time ago. That this is something that was practiced before colonialism. The way Anne spoke of this made me think of these people as having a spiritual connection to the land. Its as if they tend to the land, make it fruit and in return the land gives back to them. I look at Africa as a whole being a very spiritual place.