THE SAME MOTHER EARTH

Everybody has a story and life as we know it can change so suddenly. The Same Mother Earth describes the experience of an El Salvadorian woman, Eugenia. She loved her life in El Salvador heavily identified with the culture and the land. Due to the outbreak of a civil war, the beautiful life she once knew was compromised. She no long felt safe in her own country.

Eugenia made a difficult and life changing decision to leave her home country, El Salvador and migrate to Australia. The civil war started in El Salvador when she was about fifteen, continuing until she was a young woman with a husband and a family. The danger of living there grew too close to home when people she knew were killed or going missing. Naturally she feared for her own family's safety.

Her deepest fears became a reality when her family was assaulted in their own home. She then knew she had to leave for the safety of her sons. Eugenia came to Australia on a humanitarian program. She waited for close to a year to be granted the visa to come to Australia. She didn't speak any English when she arrived having to rely on her husband to communicate. This made her feel isolated.

It took her a long time to accept Australia into her heart. Her identity had been stripped; it was difficult coming to terms with a new way of life. She would cry every night as she missed her family and culture. Once she realised her son had accepted the Australian way of life she knew she had to make a change. Eventually she was able to accept her new environment as the same mother earth she had always known, just a different part of its body.