MartÃn Escobar I DP C
Pursuit of happiness for a rural family
MartÃn Escobar
18 November 2021
It's been 10 years since this exact date where my
whole family completely changed their life when we moved from a rural area to
an urban one, but how was this change? Was it a positive or a negative thing?
Is life in the rural area as bad as it sounds, how is it different from the
urban one? If you want to know these answers and more, stay reading what's
coming from this blog on the Pursuit of happiness for a rural family.
What is life like for a family in rural areas?
Why does a family decide to move from a rural to an
urban area?
To narrate what happened we must first start from the
beginning. My family was from Alamor, a smallest town in Loja, Ecuador; I
remember clearly that my family was composed of 7 people, there were my four
brothers, my parents, and my grandfather, we were dedicated to a variety of
activities, each one had a specific job, my father carried goods of different
types from one side to another, for example from Alamor to Quito, the trip is
very long exactly 10 hours and 35 minutes, and so he made trips from one side
to the other, to bring food to the house, however, he always had that
perseverance and although the salary was very low his goal was always his
family.
My mother, on the other hand, was dedicated to
everything related to agriculture, ranching, also had a bakery, but it closed
very soon, the above mentioned requires great responsibility, I remember that
she had to get up early every day, that is already had to be awake from 4:30 in
the morning if she got up late was a big problem, because of our small farm,
also came income, when a person wanted to buy an animal or request a product,
in short, the work was very arduous.
My grandfather was a retired policeman, but the
problem was that his monthly salary after his retirement sometimes did not
reach him or his colleagues, once they told him that they did not send him
because they did not know his location, they did not believe he lived in Alamor
and it was a serious problem.
While my siblings, we called ourselves the four
musketeers, where one went, the other went, I remember that we studied in a
school very far from our home, we had to get up very early to catch the only
bus of Alamor or else we had to run to school and very tired, usually, it was
always happening the second thing, and not the first thing.
However, any challenge or obstacle that appeared we
always passed them, sometimes wounded, but among the family, we help each other
and thus heal the wounds of the other and vice versa, we have been
characterized by being a united family, responsible with their obligations and
very religious, However, at that time many limitations prevented our progress
and growth, and you can see it by what was said above, for these reasons is
that one day we all sat at the table in our house and presented our problems, we
concluded to travel to Quito, to an urban and safe area to preserve the future
of the family.
When we made the trip, I was filled with fear, but I
remember that a day before practically the whole town gave us the last goodbye,
they offered us food and even money, the little they had, but for education, we
didn't take it.
In the car I was very insecure because in Alamor I
formed beautiful relationships with many colleagues and even teachers, I did
not know if I was going to do well in Quito, I asked myself what if this does
not work, among other questions, but thank God there was my grandfather who
distracted our minds as much as he could, telling us his stories in the police,
to which and how many presidents he served, as well as telling us how is Quito,
among other things.
To what extent would this change of life affect a
person, either financially, emotionally and so on
In the beginning, I have to admit that the whole
family was strongly affected by this change of life, from a rural to an urban
area, we had a budget with all the animals and products that we sold, together
with the sale of the house and the farm we kept us stable, I remember when we
were enrolled in the school Provincial Council of Pichincha, that affected me
too much, I was separated from my brothers exponentially, also my father could
not find work, while my mother for a moment thought of returning, but here who
was the support of all this was my grandfather, he gave us all his support, he
told us not to give up, we did not give up because an Escobar and even less a
Sisalima does not give up.
Those words were the impulse for the whole family and
after that came only successes, my father found a job in a multinational
company to which he made shipments of goods, but now with a much different job
and with a higher salary, while my mother found a job in a private school and
at the same time gave courses of what she did in Alamor to different
universities, she later decided to explore this subject in greater depth and
become a professional.
My brothers arrived early to their classes, they
improved their grades a lot, they practiced sports in different clubs, they
even were in the Pichincha Concentration and finally, my grandfather received
his retirement payment, monthly, on time, and without excuses.
Is this change positive or negative?
In conclusion, all those families who live in rural
areas, and the pressure is too much, as well as the stress and require a change
as soon as possible, travel to an urban area, do not hesitate to do it, because
you will not be starting from scratch, you will be very advanced by experiences
that life has given you, my family does not regret at all this change that has
been made, it has positively influenced our lives, yes at the beginning it was
very complicated, but you only have to give time to time, in rural areas you
will not find what you are looking for, while in urban areas there are more job
opportunities, more educational opportunities among other things, it is just a
matter of adapting.
In addition, I want to thank my grandfather because he
was important for the development of this blog.
