by Xavier

I’m a Basque, which I suppose makes me something like an European  aborigine, or at least belong to a group that was in this land long  time before many others came.

Those are my roots, of which I have a strong sense of pride (one of the basic ingredients for cultural survival). And for example make use of Euskera, our unique language, as often as I can so that it can be transformed from a treasure kept by just a few of us into an everyday tool used by many more.

But I have always loved to travel and find out what was out there. Those travels have taken me to Australia a few times, having spent a year and a half in Sydney in the most recent one.

My time in Sydney has given me the opportunity of meeting and learning from an incredible array of people with the most diverse cultural backgrounds, an eye and mind opening experience! I believe it was a quite well balanced interchange, as I was exposed to all influences during the week and had the chance of going on Sundays to our club where I could share a sense of belonging with fellow Basques and any friends that wanted to share a meal with us.

I have also noticed that in Australia other cultures are tolerated (and not necessarily respected) under the umbrella of an Anglo-Saxon system. That tolerance, even if imperfect (remember the Cronulla incidents and how it was just a few of us a week later rallying against racism), is much better than what you can find in many other parts of the world. However, and belonging to a nation that struggles for its survival, I found specially disgraceful to find absolutely no trace of the presence of its first inhabitants, their way of doing or their knowledge and connection to the land in everyday Australian life (seeing a few people playing the yidaki – didgeridoo is not enough). I must admit here that I probably didn’t do enough to approach them, and even if they have my absolute respect as native people, in the end my personal connection with them was close to non-existent. I wish things were different or at least I had done a bit more.

Oh, before I forget, I tried to extend my stay in Sydney (migrate) where I felt really comfortable enjoying all this cultural interchange. But even if I tried hard, as many others, I didn’t succeed overcoming all the difficulties posed by the Australian migration policy, and had to leave the country a few weeks ago.

Now I’m back in the Basque Country. Back to my roots? Not really, my time out of here has shown me that this is where the source of my roots are, but that identity, those roots, are part of me and come
with me wherever I go.

It seems I will be never be able to satisfy this need to travel and learn from others but I’ll keep trying … soon, in a few weeks time, I’m going to Central America … pack my roots … and leave …we will see
what I find there.