IMMIGRANTS' CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPANISH AMERICA

MY REFLECTIONS ON A PROMPT

My group of Bloggers has provided the following prompt, which I will develop in this post.

“Who is the person behind your success?

I couldn’t write about “one person”, I think I will have to expand that to at least five persons, and these would be the members of my immediate family, starting off with my Scottish Great-Grandparents, who came from Edinburgh to Chile around 1884.

My family group was a small one, and I’m the only one left alive. I never met my Great Grandfather or my Great Grandmother, but their presence in my life has been notable. John Robert Stewart arrived in Chile by means of a steamship that was brought out from Britain at a time when these innovations were still scarce. He was a boiler expert and was working in the engine room on the ship’s trial run. He was then offered a position in the nascent Chilean navy as a Naval Engineer, which he accepted. He set up his home in Valparaiso and never went back to Britain. He was definitely an adventurer and many incredible anecdotes have come down through family tradition. His wife was a talented school teacher, who educated my grandmother in the traditional ways of her Scottish Presbyterian background.

(For more information on my Great Grandfather’s extraordinary career, see my article on Hubpages that refers to The Naming of aChilean Patagonian Island)

My Granny Madge was born in Chile and married a Welshman who came out to Talcahuano as a participant in one of the great British export-import trading concerns that were established in Chile after this country’s independence from the Spanish Empire. I never met my Grandfather, he died very young, but my Granny Madge was a very important influence, she was the best teacher I have ever known. I have written at least three articles about her on Hubpages, which you can find through my profile page at http://joanveronica.hubpages.com.

Finally, my mother, who was born in Talcahuano, married a Britisher from Liverpool. My father was also an adventurer, and several of his exploits in Chile during WW2 are also written up on Hubpages. (You can find them if you look up my articles on Spy Rings and Allied Counter Espionage.)

So what has this to do with the theme of this Blog? Quite a lot, as I can truthfully say I owe most of my success in my life’s activities and career to my upbringing. I was an only child, and was taught the value of independent thinking from an early age. I was also brought up to strict self discipline (“where there’s a will, there’s a way”). The value of perseverance was never far away in my day to day strivings. 

This has been the secret of my success. Thanks to this upbringing and to the mix of British traditions with Hispanic culture, I have been able to achieve most of my goals, and to start everything from scratch more than once. I will not be defeated!

And what does this have to do with Spanish America? Actually, quite a lot!

IMMIGRANTS' CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPANISH AMERICA

 

To write this up would produce a very long book, so I’m going to choose several photos that will illustrate the point I want to make: there are many people like me in the Spanish speaking countries of Latin America.

We constitute a sort of culture within a culture, and I’m proud to say that we usually contribute with the best elements of our traditions and of the education we have received from our Hispanic American nations.

ARCH TO THE BRITISH EMPIRE, VALPARAISO, CHILE

 Source: Beatrice Murch, CC BY SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

TRELEW IN CHUBUT, ARGENTINA, A TOWN FOUNDED BY WELSH IMMIGRANTS

Source: Raul Horacio Comes, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

 SWISS ARCHITECTURE IN SAN CARLOS DE BARILOCHE, ARGENTINA

Source: Nuria Pueyo, CC BY SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons

CONSTITUCION RAILWAY STATION, BUILT BY THE BRITISH, IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

Source:  Ignacio Errico, CC BY SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons

GERMAN CHURCH IN PUERTO VARAS, CHILE

Source: Tonza90, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

SPANISH VERSION

(This Blog is bilingual)

En este post me refiero a mis progenitores como un elemento clave para mis éxitos profesionales. 

Mi bisabuelo John Robert Stewart llegó a Valparaíso. Chile, desde Edimburgo aproximadamente en 1884. Era especialista en calderas a vapor, y la Armada de Chile le ofreció un puesto como Ingeniero Naval, puesto que él aceptó. He escrito sobre algunas de sus aventuras, en mis artículos en Hubpages.com.

Mi Bisabuela era profesora y educó a mi Abuela Madge con los severos principios de su formación escocesa y presbiteriana. Sobre mi Abuela Madge también he escrito varios artículos en Hubpages.

Mi Abuela se casó con un galés (británico) que llegó a Talcahuano como funcionario de una de las grandes empresas comerciales británicas que se instalaron en Chile poco después de la Independencia.  No lo conocí. Murió muy joven, pero mi abuela sí que fue una influencia fuerte en nosotros. Fue la mejor profesora que alguna vez he conocido, una mujer realmente extraordinaria.

MI madre se casó con un británico oriundo de Liverpool, otro aventurero cuyas aventuras también figuran en algunos artículos en Hubpages, sobre todo con referencia a las Redes de Espionaje en Sud América durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. 

Bueno, esta corta reseña es para indicar que mis éxitos profesionales se los debo a la formación que recibí desde mi hogar en una mezcla armoniosa con la cultura de la América Hispana.

Aprendí  a pensar por mi misma, a aplicar la autodisciplina, y a ser perseverante. Todo esto, en combinación con los elementos de mi cultura chilena, son los secretos de mis éxitos. Me niego a bajar los brazos y a aceptar una derrota, ¡siempre lucharé por salir adelante!

Y ¿qué tiene esto que ver con este Blog sobre la América Hispana? ¡Tiene mucho que ver!

APORTE DE LOS INMIGRANTES A LA AMERICA HISPANA

El desarrollo de este tema llenaría un libro, lo que no es posible en este post.

Por tal razón, he elegido unas fotos con las que pretendo ilustrar lo que quiero establecer: hay muchas personas similares a mí en este gran mundo de la América de habla hispana.

Constituimos una especie de subcultura dentro de una cultura y siento orgullo de poder decir que generalmente contribuimos con lo mejor de nuestras tradiciones en conjunto con la educación que hemos recibido en nuestras respectivas naciones hispano-americanas.

More about similar topics in a future post.     Más sobre temas similares en un próximo post.

LANGUAGE TIPS FOR ENGLISH

Words that go together!  * Sales figures   - * Time passes  - * Go abroad   - * Come into view   – * Pay attention

LANGUAGE TIPS FOR SPANISH.

Expresiones de uso frecuente: * Cantar las cuarenta  - * Cruzar los dedos  - *  Delgaducho

How is your level of comprehension?   ¿Cómo está su nivel de comprensión?

© 2013  joanveronica  (Joan Robertson)

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