From South America to Sydney

Bolivia… that’s in Europe Right?

  “I thought it was in Africa?”

“It’s in the South of Europe I think?”

“Ah that’s next to Cuba!”

Migration is difficult. Especially when it’s from a small land-locked country no one really thinks about, or even knows what continent it’s located in. A country where the hours are completely far apart, and a 3 day journey plus $2, 000 ticket is the price to pay for a visit home. It’s a long journey, but every trip to and back is worth the work. Immigration is difficult for everyone, and it was incredibly difficult for my family over 30 years ago.

 Bolivia is a land-locked country located in the heart of South America. The languages spoken there are Spanish, Quechua, and Aymara. There is a distance of 13,321Km between Bolivia and Sydney, and the time difference is approximately 13 hours. These are all facts I grew up knowing, in order to keep connected to my country and to my family overseas.

 When my parents arrived here for the first time, they knew little to no English, they didn’t have internet access, and had difficulty finding jobs. My mother was raising my older brother and sister, who where toddlers at the time, whilst my father went out to look for labouring jobs. There is an incredibly strange feeling, arriving on an alien content, where everyone stares at you for doing things you find normal, where everyone thinks talking louder will help you understand them. That feeling wasn’t good - it was lonely.

 My parents worked hard through the 1990s and booked a trip home. During the 3 year stay home, I was born, my grandfather passed away, and my parent’s realised how important an English speaking country would be for their children's’ future. My brother and I both had asthma, whilst my sister suffered from a vision disorder. At 15, 12, and 3 years of age, my parents took us all to the country where they had felt lonely for the longest time, in hopes of staying and creating a bigger life for us all together.

 The alien planet still existed when we arrived.

 I didn’t want to speak English. I stubbornly refused, I wasn’t familiar with anything. However, having my older siblings encourage me to watch cartoons in English helped me subconsciously. It was a lot more difficult for them as they where older, and hadn’t practised English in a long time. My family encouraged me to learn to my full potential, taking me to libraries and play groups. I became incredibly advanced for my age, skipping pre-school all together and entering into a gifted program when I started kindergarten. Migration has always forced us to work hard, to be able to accomplish everything we’ve wanted to as we have the opportunity to by living in this country.

 By that age, my elder brother began working part-time, doing everything to help my parent’s afford the rent. A small apartment in the Western Suburbs, close enough to shops, hospitals and schools, but far enough that my father took hours to travel to-and-from work. Despite all the labouring jobs, I was never ashamed of anything my parent’s worked as, because each of their jobs where done out of love, and it’s something I appreciate to this day.

 Since money was tight, we enjoyed activities as a family that involved trips and adventures to different national parks. Despite coming from a country with no ocean, we did adapt that very quickly. Fishing was a favourite pastime amongst out family. Where my father would wake us up at 5am on a Saturday morning and tell us to get dressed and pack towels, we didn’t question where we would go, we just went.

 Over all those years of adventures, I discovered so many hidden beaches, so many tiny coves where the water is clear, and beautiful, and the sand is warm. We discovered areas where you can catch a specific type of fish, areas where there are a lot of crab, and meet a lot of other migrants and their families doing the same things.

 The diversity of the country still astounds me in the best way. There are so many people from all over the world coming to the country, sharing their own culture, and allowing us to learn from them as well. European, and Asian migrants especially, there is so much community between immigrants in general and it’s so easy to befriend others who have been on the same journey. The diversity and freedom to learn and celebrate another culture is something so beautiful that can only be found in Australia.

 The Latino community in Sydney’s Western Suburbs is minimal. All migrants tend to find people who speak their language, who know their customs and norms. There aren’t many Bolivians in Sydney, if there are, there is a big chance I already know them. Because of that, most South Americans’ would befriend each other, with a similar shared experience. Here was a community where we could share our traditions together, share our language, music, and food.

 Despite all the distance, there was so much community it made us feel right at home.

 As time went on, each of us adapted to the country that helped us in so many ways. Spanglish is still the most common language spoken at home. The internet, phone cards, and WhatsApp have been a powerful array of tools to help us talk to our family no matter what the distance is. Every time I speak to friends overseas, I tell them all the adventures I plan to take them on once they arrive. To all the parks, the beaches, and iconic landmarks that my family discovered in our earliest days in the country. To all the places that helped us belong a little bit more. I am very proud to be Bolivian, but I am also very proud to have grown up in this beautiful, diverse, country that I can also call home.