Eurwanza, 2017

Eurwanza portrays a fictional love story between Miss Rita and Mister Macuta. Rita travelled from Portugal to Angola in 1860, where she met Mr. Macuta, who had just arrived in Luanda from Lunda Norte in the far interior. They fell in love and, against the will of many, married and had a child – the Eurwanza. Eurwanza was a well-placed “mulatto”. He became a successful man, warrior, intellectual, and artist. He had five wives, three black Benguela and two white, one South African and one Portuguese. They all lived on a large farm in Kwanza Sul and had ten servants trained in the art of serving.
Eurwanza became soba of the region and famous in those times and named one of the first notes of the country after him, unknown by many but mentioned in several stories. The true struggle of Eurwanza was a struggle of love, abolition of slavery and racism, so he dreamed of having many children and living in a large community that works in cooperation and racial harmony.
Thus formed a large community with followers from around the world and especially from Europe and Angola. Its successors, travellers and open-minded people, have spread the heritage of the love and art of Eurwanza through all the lands in which they have gone on to live. This community lived under its own rules, its own freedom and rights, and used a single currency of exchange: The Eurwanza.
This coin symbolises respect among human beings, whether white, black or mestizos. In a year unknown to date, a major malaria epidemic killed almost all the members of the Eurwanza community.
Bitter years of war and prejudices have passed between people. Until finally a descendant of Eurwanza appeared in Luanda, telling the story that had become a legend from far away.
In January 2017 during the increasing financial crisis, Eurwanza was declared a currency that strengthens “political dialogues and develops more active political cooperation within a transparent currency framework that defines a set of principles, objectives and modalities that will govern relations between Angola and Europe.”