PERSONAL BLOG - Doménica Medina

 15/11/2021

Move to a different city, away of your family is a difficult decision to take, you risk everything to go somewhere you don’t anyone, and start a new beginning with new experiences, new people to meet.

Well in this point of view,is all wonderful to have a change in a new place, but we don’t think about the other perspective that are our family, the people that we left in the back.

I was a child when my family and me move to the city, we’ve used to lived on a rural area, where all the people know everyone in the neighborhood and everything is all peace, so for my parents this was a big change, because on a city they have different habits of convivence and we as the people that are moving, we needed to adapt to those habits.

For me was easy to adapt and love quickly the city and the people, they were kindness with me and also that I love so much the dinamic of live here.

The last week I've visited my grandpa and he told the story of what happaned when we move, and how difficult was that for him and the family.

When you're so close to your family is hard to be way from them, this was my case, as my family life close to my grandparent's house all the weekends we used to went to pass the day together, is like a tradition.

My mom is one of the siblings that try to mantain the family together, so when we were not close to the neighborhood my family began to distance themselves, and no one wanted to pass the time with my grandparents, so they thought that we could stay, find another job there, they practiclly were stoping us, and didn't let us to go.

But the tru is that no one can stop you, if you want to explore, go and know new habits, new traditions, new opportunities is the way that we need to take.

The life it's all to experiment, find opportunites for ourselves or for our family, do not stay just in one place and settle for what we recieve there.

The migration could affect our family that we left, but it is neccesary to them to understand that this they need to be proud and supported for us, because if we know that we could get a better job, a better education or opportunities we need to go through all of those doors that are opening for us.

The definition of a migration is a movement to another place, often of a large group of people, is a population movement that consists of leaving one's place of residence to settle in another country or region, generally for economic or social reasons. migrate is not a bad thing, just looked as a new experiences, you are gonna know new habits, meet some people, and know what is out of the burble that you used to lived, what is the most that you can get for all the effort that you made.

SO LOOK FOR YOUR OWN GOOD, AND DON'T LET ANYONE STOP YOU IN YOUR WAY, IF MIGRATE IS THE THING THAT YOU WANTED GO AHEAD, AND FIND WHAT YOU COULD GET.

Doménica Medina

HOW MIGRATION CHANGED MY FAMILY ‘S FUTURE

 Novermber, 18th 2021

         

Have you ever wondered about your origin, before your biological conception? Have you ever looked for the past of your family? When I wanted to answer these questions, I had to turn to someone very wise, and with a lot of experience as well. I am talking about my grandfather, who told me a very interesting story, which practically changed my family’s course, and now I want to tell you about it.

The story I’m about to tell you is about how migration from a rural area to an urban one has changed the course of future generations in mi family, starting with mine. So, either you are thinking of moving from one area to another, either you are interested in understand this phenomenon in a sociological way, or either you’re simply interested in the experience of an external family, this blog surely can help you.

So, without further ado, let’s get started.

Previous Context. Intertemporal Dangers.

It was the early 80s, when I was just a kid and my entire family, virtually impoverished, was working in a farm, making as much money as possible. It was hard, specially for my parents, who were young and new to being so: parents. A few years ago, my family had already thought about migration to the city, but, at the time, Marxist guerrilla Alfaro Vive Carajo didn’t make it easy.

Mi family, as if there weren’t enough, had seen a drastically drop in the sales of agricultural products due to smuggling of these products from other neighboring countries. The political context was huge convulsed nationwide, which increased the expected risk when migrating to the city; the nearest one was the capital city: Quito.

Rise of the Impulse and the Recovering of the Future.

There were, basically, two possible options to be chosen: in the first one, we have a surely decadence; on the other hand, a likely path to success, of course which would require much more effort than the first one.

One night, my grandfather talked with my mother, and they concluded that take a risk is better than never having attempted and, in second place, that, if they wouldn’t have had the courage to take such risk, the next generation would have to. There appeared clear that, sooner or later, a change was going to be necessary for a general improvement not only for they, but for the future generations. The decision was taken: mi family would migrate to the city.

         

Adaptation and Change Process. Importance of Effort, Work and Courage.

The only place we could find in city was a really shanty one. There were more people like us, migrants, and some other who haven’t been treated so well by the industry.

According to what mi grandfather told me, socio-cultural changes were not minor. The dress code was very different; also the code (in the sense of semantic category) was quite different. This made us feel somewhat uncomfortable when talking to people. We didn't have so much electronic devices and we didn't know locations neither. It took time for my family to get used to the food in the city, which for a while was a cause of great concern for my parents, as they had to take good care of my food.

My father and sometimes my grandfather were in charge of going out to work. My grandfather told me that, fortunately, he found a small, family-owned company where he was treated very well and was given a good position as a janitor. With my father it was different: he was constantly going in and out of different jobs, which was considered a sign of "instability". Many times he had more than one job, which was very tiring for him.

The economy in general affected businesses, industry, and therefore workers, a group that included my parents. Anyway, this already affected the countryside when we lived in rural areas, so, at least as far as money management was concerned, we were already, more or less, "used to it".

Even with all the changes that affected us, there were benefits that we learned to take advantage of. There were public hospitals, public schools and transportation that, while we couldn't always afford to pay, got my family out of arrears. Because of the economic and political context of the country, the services were not the best in the world, but for basic things they were very useful.

My family thought several times about moving back to our old house. But no, we knew that it was a necessary effort and that, as it turned out, everything was going to change.

Consequences. Benefits for the Future and a Brief Conclusion.

A couple of years later, my family managed to buy an apartment. It is not very big, but enough to live and study. My father, thanks to savings, today has a small car where he provides transportation services, and can maintain our (not at all luxurious) way of life. I have the privilege of being able to study close to my home, with good friends and teachers who do their best to teach me.

It's amazing to think how a single situation can change the course of an entire life, isn't it? If my family had never done this, I would never be the person I am today and, most likely, I would never have the benefits I have today. When I look back on this story, I question whether I could have had the same courage to make such a decision. I guess, children give a lot of value to their protectors, and that is certainly something we have to be thankful for. Remember that!

Alexander Chávez