Dear Sabina,
I have been thinking. I have been thinking a lot about the many times I’ve been asked this question, but even more so what my answer has been, and reflecting on this has made me wonder if my experience resonates with the project that you’ve created, a project which I love and respect so much… You see I was not born here, nor was mi mamá or abuelos and or any of my ancestors. I didn’t grow up here, although the years I have spent here to some may seem like many, but to me it does not seem like long at all… I think about the future and where I might be and of course my deep desire to feel the earth under my feet in the place where I was born, again, a place I’m not allowed to return to for the time being… And so when people ask me where I’m from, I always say that I’m Venezolana, Merideña, gocha…mestiza…etc…that is who I’ve always been… an inability to return home has made my identity something I hold on to like a pillow in the night… full body wrapped around it… but how could that happen? The phrase “tener arraigo” comes to mind… which translates to “have roots”. And that’s what I try to do, to care for those roots, to water those roots every single day by remembering, learning, resisting and staying connected to the home I hope to return to one day…