We identify as Latino and grew up in Chile. We have lived in Fairmont, Minnesota for 2 years and 6 months. We both have a Bachelor's degree in Education, specifically English as a Second Language. Our students make us wake up in the morning and want to go to work!
We are fluent in Spanish & English; we can understand Portuguese, but we don’t speak it fluently. If we end up having kids in the US, language would be something we would make sure we would pass on to our kids. Language is also culture. Language is something we would be very intentional about passing down. Not everything in Chilean culture, but some values and important dates. Being open and being able to show how we celebrate things like weddings or New Year's Eve. Some important holidays to us are Christmas, New Years, and Independence days/weeks. September 18 is Chile’s Independence Day which is usually like a week of celebration in Chile. People take time off and there are fairs and food and markets. It’s kind of like a spring break for us. September is spring there and there is no school. Besides that, we don’t really have much like we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving or anything. Our children don’t need to do the same things, but they should share that part of our culture. They should be able to decide which one they feel more comfortable with.
As Christians, we have faith in God and put our trust in Jesus. That is the most important thing that we have, our faith and what we believe. It can sound really theoretical or cliché. Our faith in God affects the decisions we make, dreams we pursue, how we spend our money, dealing with the language, our frustrations, being a bridge in the community. Faith is the source of our motivations and desires and way of living. Faith has this component of things you know and can see and experience. Faith makes you go beyond that. Like trusting a person and things that are not seen yet, but you know they are real. I will fully belong here sometime, for example. I don’t see that yet, but I know it will happen. It’s like a future hope based on the past and present.
Family plays a huge role in our lives. We both grew up with a strong family and family-based community and society. I just think the way we experience that role has changed over time. Now, being here in the US, we don’t have our family physically here with us. In Chile, we would spend Sundays or birthdays with our family. They would play a key role in the decisions we make. Now, they play that same role in a different way like praying for us, thinking of us, and being available for phone/video calls.
We are inspired by others on different levels. As a Christian, God inspires everything that we do. In my day to day life, Synthia is someone that inspires me. Our friends and loved ones – the people we spend the most time with – are the people who inspire us the most. We try to always see in others things we can learn and things we can be grateful for. And our students! Maybe, it’s not exactly a friendship, but we have had several conversations after work like wow, knowing our students, knowing everything they’ve gone through, knowing everything they are capable of. Seeing all their growth and success. It’s like wow, I love my job!
Our key values are faith, love, and truth. Truth and love are so connected. Love without truth is like trying to make someone happy but you’re not being honest with them. Truth without love might hurt people and be mean, but not caring about people’s lives. Love and truth should be connected. That way, we can build relationships. If you make that a framework, you can agree/disagree with anybody. I can still do that with a loving and truthful foundation. Anytime that I feel torn about a decision or position or conversation that I am going to have, I think how can I be loving and truthful? It’s hard, but it’s worth it. We have built this relationship on that.
The most important difference between Chile and the United States is people. The way people are. I would say the way people build relationships is quite different. I think Chile and Latin cultures are more of like a collective culture, so the community has a key role. I would say that here in the US, community and grouping people like individuals–like freedom and individualism is an important part. So, that makes a difference when it comes to building relationships and making friends. Another difference in Chile is that relationships and friends are more spontaneous with less structure, while in the US structure is important and timing of things is very important– making sure you have a clear structure and schedule for everything you do is a huge difference that we weren’t used to. Each day for instance, we're used to the language although we've found people who speak Spanish in the US, but they are people from different countries, so it's like a subculture. We find a Hispanic community with people with different backgrounds and different countries and that's different to the people in our home country.
Something that we have realized recently and don’t know if it is exactly the same, in Chile and here –in both countries– people pursue education and keep growing as human beings to be successful. Probably, the ways we do it are different. In both cultures, there is an appreciation of people that go to school and study as much as they can, and that has shifted in recent years. In the past, it wasn’t like that. Our generation has that more in their minds.
Another important similarity maybe not between just Chile and the United States –but Chile and Fairmont– is family. Having family in town and doing and spending time with family is very important and very common. Fairmont is like a family-driven town. The life rhythm is different. We used to live in a big city with probably 200,000 people. It wasn’t a big city in Chile, but compared to Fairmont it was like BIG. So, transportation, getting together with people, what you do in your free time is like faster here in Fairmont. It’s a small town, so it is slower and you can take your time. At first, it’s like wow… there is not much to do here, but we have learned to appreciate taking time for ourselves and having the time to do small things like enjoying nature, going for a walk, and spending time with people. A fun thing that you can do here in Fairmont is build relationships. Something that I really like about this place is how people are so welcoming. They have always made us feel included and welcomed, like a fast immersion. That is something we appreciate. I believe that people make places special. To me, the people that I’ve met and the friends I have here make me enjoy being here the most.
The role of men and women in our culture is similar to how we see it here, but at the same time, in our culture, things are shifting. The way people see family is not the same as the more traditional way of seeing family structure and gender role context. It’s shifted a little bit in Chile now. The main thing is still there. Men and women have different roles even though they are capable of doing both things. They grew up in distinctive roles, but they are equal and hold the same value.
I haven’t experienced first-hand racism or discrimination– like towards me. I think what I’ve experienced is going to a place and feeling observed. I assume it’s because we are like Latinos. We went on a road trip a few years ago to a state that had little diversity. We went to a bar and it was very awkward. We just felt very observed. We’ve seen it happen to a lot of other people that we know. We’ve heard stories. We’ve experienced assumptions about ourselves, our life, our culture because of the color of our skin. Whenever those assumptions have happened, it’s also been an opportunity to spin it and have a conversation with one another. They are like learning opportunities. Everyone is learning. Sometimes when people say or do things, they just lack knowledge or experience. We want to be that bridge and help others. We want to decrease those things. People just need to listen to stories. They need to get to know different realities and the different reasons/motivations that people have by getting to know their hearts and spending time together. I’m convinced that relationships are a key role to prove that. When people start getting to know people that are different from them, they can break down those walls and assumptions. People are so divided and want to spend time with people that look like them and are pro/against the same things as them. It’s time to see common ground and see the good in others instead of seeing others based on the flaws or things I don’t like or agree with it.
I think when people have friends, they will start loving others even when they disagree with us. You start seeing people with more gracious and merciful eyes and that's been like, huge to us. We're convinced that one of the ways that we can solve those problems is just by starting to get to know people and spend time with people who are different from us. Not to try to change it, but try to understand them and start to have those tough conversations. Those conversations are way different when you already have a relationship. Having a tough conversation with somebody you don't know can be all about winning. Having a tough conversation with a friend is more about trying to see eye to eye with a person to understand why this person thinks or believes that. I care and believe in this person, but I’m not going to be rude or mean because I love this person. Relationships are at the heart of these conversations. It’s important to see and start loving others who are different even when you disagree.
We would say our dream is to keep growing professionally. And if God allows, to have a bigger family. That’s a dream for us. Also as teachers, seeing our students grow and grow and go beyond their own limits will always be a dream. It’s like wow. Seeing a change in our community, society. Another personal dream is traveling. Going to other places and continents.
We hope the community will start seeing each other with, again, love and truth. To me, that’s key. Seeing each other as human, created in the image of God, with value and dignity. Despite what you believe, you are created by God. If our community starts seeing each other that way, many of our failures would be torn down because we treat each other differently. There’s so much talent and good in our community, and I would like people to see that. This is a diverse community and it’s getting more and more diverse. There are more assets coming to the community like languages, skills, trades, etc. You can use that for the good of the community. That is something useful. Our hope is that this community grows in love and grace for each other.
Synthia: I’m really grateful for the opportunity of working with my students and my colleagues. Being in Fairmont Elementary has been a blessing. It’s what brought us here.
Abraham: I’m grateful for the people that I’ve met in Fairmont. There are many many kind and nice people that I’ve met that have welcomed us with such love and hospitality. We appreciate that. When I tell people about Fairmont, the people we’ve met and the relationships we’ve built are so great. We are thankful for this community. Everything we do and will do is based on our love and care for this community.