Many of us come to the point where we start wondering more and more about the people that came before us and the countries and cultures they left behind. Especially for us that have been in the US for many years or multiple generations find it harder and harder to bridge that gap. We struggle because “it has been so long”, or “I don’t even speak the language”, “I just don’t think I am going to find information” or “I don’t know how to ask my family for information” and I can go on...
Let me say first, you are not alone…but the beauty of doing your Genealogy no matter how scary, sad or intimidating it can be, it is one of the gateways to our Hispanic Heritage. When we build our Family Tree we are not just searching for names. Through the records you start learning about your family’s story and as you get more curious, then you go into the history of the town and country they were from. When you go through that gate of your family tree then other gates appear, the history of your people, the customs of your people, your family. For some of us we connect through the other gates first but believe me when I tell you that you will find your self in front of the gate that opens to your family tree. For those of us that start with the others, going into your family tree solidifies even more that connection you have established to your Ancestral country, peoples and customs.
In this day and age with technology that information that we thought was not accessible is becoming more and more accessible. It has become possible for us to know our individual and collective history and as a community become more empowered with the knowledge of, “mi gente estuvo aqui tambien”.