ABSTRACT
Macedo: Why did you become interested and, later, involved in the illiteracy problem in Guinea-Bissau?
Freire: Let me begin by saying that even before my interest in the literacy campaign in Guinea-Bissau, I was extremely interested in the struggle for liberation of the African people in general. With great curiosity and even greater happiness, I closely followed the struggle of liberation in Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, So Tomé and Príncipe, and Guinea-Bissau, keeping in mind the distinct nature of these struggles. The differences in these struggles were conditioned obviously by the different historical and geographical contexts. Even before the independence of Guinea-Bissau, then, I already had an attachment-both political and affective to that country and its heroic people.
