National Adult Literacy Database

January 5, 1998

The following story was written by Ana Marie Vaquerano, from Prince George, British Columbia. Ana Marie adores her four year old daughter and often thinks about her own childhood in El Salvador. Her main interests are learning to speak English as well as Canadians do and improving her education. Her goal is to find a career that will provide a better life for her daughter and herself.

Snow, Clean and Pure

By Ana Marie Vaquerano

When I was a child, I used to ask my father many questions about life. One day that I remember well we sat together on the sofa, talking and laughing. I asked him a question about snow, and he happily answered, "Snow is white like cotton, and sweet like sugar". I don't think he expected me to believe that, and I just laughed.

All the time, I wanted to please him by asking new questions, and he liked that very much. He always said, "A person has to be curious and ask questions if she wants to learn." Oh, I remember how good he made me feel any time I asked him something!

Living with my parents and my brothers was the happiest time in my life. But suddenly the political conflicts arrived. I remember my mother saying, "We can't go out because it's too dangerous out there." I knew something bad was happening. People in the streets were not the same as they used to be. I was very scared of them because they looked mean and evil, and were very impolite. At school everybody was talking about dead bodies or people disappearing. Even one of my teachers in Grade 5 was found dead with four other people in a nearby river. So even the school was a scary place to go.

The years passed, one by one, and the conflict grew worse. More innocent people were killed each day, and as more people died, more children became orphans. These poor children had to go to live with their relatives, and were often abused by them. Some of them were kidnapped by the guerillas, and trained to fight at a very young age. These poor children never had a normal life. I'm so lucky that nothing bad ever happened to my parents or to my brothers, and that I had the chance to immigrate to Canada.

When I came to this country, I certainly left the war behind. I now have freedom, peace, and the opportunity to study and to get a good job. I have the opportunity to raise my child in a land where the children don't know anything about hate, unhappiness, and war.

Last winter I took my child to Rainbow Park here in Prince George. In the park were many children playing with the snow, and my daughter started playing with them. They were laughing and having a wonderful time. While she was playing, I took an amount of snow onto my hands. Then I sadly remembered my father's words about the snow, and I also remembered the sad memories of my people, especially the poor children. Even a teddy bear seemed a luxury to these children, but the only thing they had in their hands was a terrible weapon.

Oh! Believe! In the moment that I saw the shiny white snow on my hands for the first time in my life, I wished I had been born in this country!

[This story was taken with permission from In This Country... Personal Stories About Northern BC, p.154, written by students in adult education programs, a publication by the College of New Caledonia].