Last month marked the one year anniversary of Mundo Citizen Blog. Reaching such milestone prompted me to start thinking about all that has transpired since its inception. 2012 was the year I “come out of the shadows” and made my story of deportation public. I could have stopped at the first article that was published about my experience. However, after encouragement of friends, I started this blog.
At first I asked myself, “What else do I have to say about my life?” I did not think I would make it past a third post. A year later, I find myself with new insights and experiences shaped by my past that might be worth sharing. When I start questioning my writing and began to wonder whether this was just a space for rumblings I should keep private, I receive a note or a message from someone interested in my perspective and experience. It is a reminder that this is not about me, but of a collective experience that needs to exist in a public forum. With that in mind, Mundo Citizen is ready to continue for a second year.
It was unthinkable to me a year ago I would be in such different circumstances. Life has an interesting way of working. Although looking carefully, I noticed there were some similarities in my experience of arriving in Mexico and living abroad in the United Kingdom. First, I continue to reside in a foreign country! Mexico was as foreign to me is Britain. I suppose the one advantage I have now is that I speak and think in the language that comes more natural to me.
Secondly, obtaining my immigration paperwork to study abroad was as tedious and difficult as obtaining all my documentation in Mexico after resettling. Actually, at some point I thought I was not going to be granted a UK visa as it was denied the first time I applied. Although I had the acceptance letter from my university and the required funds to quality on the point-based visa system, I had missed the requirement to prove I had possessed those funds for 28 consecutive days. If it had not been for a last minute scholarship that came to the rescue, I would have not made it to London on time to start my graduate program.
Despite of it all, here I am migrating to engage in an academic dialogue about a topic that is easily politicized, oversimplified and misunderstood: Migration. To Be Continued…
Food For Thought
Increasingly, borders have been opened to capital and goods, but closed to people. As a result, migrants who are forced to cross borders in order to survive have become modern outlaws.*
*From Borderless by Min Sook Lee (2006). Click here to watch documentary.
Updated Nov 08, 2013.
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