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El Salvador mi Amor!
It is in this small country of Central America that I was born December First 1979. I spend a part of my childhood in San Miguel.
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My Story
My story sound like many of those that had to escape their country for political and social problems. By the end of the 1970s conflicts between the Guerilla and the corrupted Government of El Salvador started and degenerated in the horors and atrocities of an 11 year long civil war. Consequently thousands of Salvadorians ran away from their homeland in search of stability and a better futur.
My grandfather was a rich owner before the war and had many acres of land and livestock. When he had surplus of production he generaly gave it to the poors. But that was to give him problems because he was later accused of feeding supporters of the Guerilla. One day a military unit came to wreck my grandparents and relatives houses to tell them that they would be killed if they didn't leave. I was about 1 year old when my dad had to escape and 2 when my mom's turn came. My grandfather and some other relatives were soon to die.
Meanwhile I continued to grow up in a conflicted world that just seemed the usual to me, a world where I thought my grandmother was my mother and having a dad didn't mean anything.
My parents wanted to get to the United State hoping that they would be accepted as refugees for that one day we would be once again reunified. But life had other plans...
My dad's adventure was sure something. After leaving the country he went directly by land to Mexico. Once there he was kindly hosted by a local family. There, he had to learn the Mexican way of speaking and customs because he was informed that if he was cought trying to get illigally in the States he would be sent back directly to El Salvador's authorities. So he stayed there for about 1 months and tried once to get over the U.S. border but was unsuccesfull.
When he finally did it in the second time, he went to Los Angeles and lived there for about six month but didn't like it. He later dicovered that he had relatives in Virginia and moved there. By coincidence, he met my mom in Washington D.C. but their love had already faded so they divorced a year later.
Of course they applied for the U.S. citizenship but they were refused as refugees because the US didn't recognize officially the war untill 1986. So for the next six month my parents worked to get enough money to get to Canada hoping that they would be given a chance there.
After getting plane tickets, they fled to what was to become their new home. At Montreal's Dorval airport they were arrested by the Mounted Police and questionned. Finally, they asked for a war refugge status and were accepted. A few months later they went back to get me and so I came to Canada on August 14, 1986.
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SoMe InFo
El Salvador with its' 21 000 km2 is one of the smalest country in Central America. Its'population is of about 6 million people. Although it is estimated that 2.1 million Salvadorians live abroud, Australia, Canada and the U.S. being the main "Host" countries. In El Salvador the population is very ethnically homogenious, 94% are from Mestisos descent(half Spanish White and half Amerindian). Also like many Latin Americain countries, Catholism is the main religion of its'people. El Salvador economy is maily turn to the exportation of products like coffee, cotton and corn. Today although the social stability is better than during the war the country has to struggle with extremely big problems of gang violance, postwar traumas, great poverty and latelly, earthquakes.
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Here is a folkloric costume that the children in my village wear on cultural days.
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