What do we call homeland?
• A piece of land in the North or South hemisphere?
• A country named after the equator?
• The borders of what we were taught in Geography to defend no matter what?
• The bit of land in the map that reveals the huge territories won by brute force?
• A brand-new building that proves that there is richness and poverty living just a few blocks away?
• A mug filled with chocolate claiming “This is Ecuador” or, “Make chocobananos a touristic product again”?
Who knows…
Homeland sometimes it is not a border, is not an object, is not a brand nor a city or a specific territory, sometimes it’s just the emotional memories that makes us belong to a place, what makes us citizens of a land and not infrequently what sets us free from it.
Sometimes homeland is just memories that connect us with a scent, a flavor, a known face in the street or a stranger that could have become a friend.
• Homeland languages are beyond Spanish
• Quechua
• Kañari
• English
• Navajo or Yokutsan
Quoting Spanish philosopher Maria Zambrano, “I have never been left without a homeland, my homeland is my language”, my homeland language still keeps traces of my native language, traces of my roots, wounds and scars achieved throughout life.
It’s beyond passports or nationalities…It’s an earned and deserved identity.
My homeland is my language and its traces, and here I am staying. Will you?
How is your identity in the Spanish language?
Does it keep traces of your homeland/native language experience?
Don’t remove them, add the experience of a new one to them.
Visit
Vilma Abambari (Vega).
P.S.: Written with HI (Human Intelligence).
Vilma, Https://vazulei.wixsite.com/bluehummingbird-ec/home
City: San Sebastian de las Casas
