Reconciliation Week in Australia – my accented view

I arrived in Australia almost 7 years ago from my country of origin, Venezuela, whilst being fortunate enough of having traveled for both pleasure and business to other English-speaking countries before deciding to relocate Down-Under.

By then, I’ve been many times to the US – or America, as Aussies like to call it –, spent a summer in Canada learning English, visited the UK, so Australia seemed same-same but different: another English speaking country, the farthest of them all, but with better weather, a surfing spirit and theoretically full of very friendly people.

It felt like a no-brainer to give at go for a while… and here I am still.

I arrived in October 2013 and it soon seemed like Australia was a very welcoming place.

I am a very observant person and I started to identify a special day was coming up soon after my arrival through many advertisements all-around: Australia Day.

Judging from the viewpoint of someone who comes from a country which was colonised by Spain and became sovereign, it sounded to me like a sort-of Independence Day. I thought: “cool, those are usually public holidays”.

Turns out that Australia Day – and Reconciliation Week for that matter – have a totally different meaning to what I was used to and, after a number of years living in Australia, I now comprehend many things I didn’t before.

Consequently, I’ve developed an understanding of these celebrations and initiatives within my own paradigm.

For me, Reconciliation Week is a time that reminds me the need to acknowledge and pay respect to the past, present and future Traditional Owners of this land: Aboriginal and Torres Strait people.

This week also calls me on the task to support the continuation of their cultural practices, and I personally believe everyone stepping on this country has a responsibility in that regard.

Since my early days in Melbourne, I was captivated by the unique names many places had and today I’m humbled to reminisce that:

• I used to live at City of Boroondara “where the ground is thickly shaded”
• I’ve spent a day at Birrarung Marr “River of Mists”, jogging along the Yarra “ever flowing”
• And I’ve driven through Wurundjeri Way – “Wurundjeri” is the Aboriginal Australian nation situated around the present location of Melbourne

I am grateful to live here, proud to be part of a country with such rich cultural heritage and a bit frightened of put my 2-cents out there in regards to this sensitive topic… but I’ve personally seen so much courage within the Indigenous community, I feel honoured to keystroke on their behalf, aiming to support their equitable inclusion in the society.

With all my accented love,

Mayet

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I am Mayet Ojeda and you should probably know that:

I truly believe that a diverse background, combined with the right amount of hard work, can lead to success in any market and language.

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