Family...

By Kerwin De Matas

An African Family


Family, I should be the last one to try explaining the term. Saying I came from a dysfunctional family would be overstating a little bit. But after the aunt of my father died, I guess whatever contact I had with the term also died. The perfect family....keep on searching, because that is a myth! Very well, the family that I had weren´t the brady bunch, but they were all I had. Then I met my Chilean wife. In stopping this from being a book and coming to the point, she said," let´s go live in Chile". Chile? Where is Chile? Isn´t that a communist country? Doesn´t a guy named Pinochet live there?

A financial district in Santiago Chile


Fine, I was a little bit nervous about the idea, but what the heck, I´d give it a try.

Regrets were never known. I love it!! Chile, a thin strip of country that would never cease to exist in this wild but beautiful andean territory, the famous Easter island, the fantastic 18th of September independence festivities, the world famous festival de Viña,... but what really caught my attention was the family. Generally, the devotion was obvious. Just imagen one family inviting another family to their home for a barbecue, everyone present with their kids, grand kids, sons and daughters with their partners, I mean, everyone related someway or the other.

Volcan Osorno Chile


Beer, pisco, rum in my favour, no, drinks weren´t ever a problem(of course, it wasn´t a drinking party either!) but the atmosphere being very warm, lots of good companionship all over, and the greatest part being, it was all genuine. I know, and I remember the time I felt like that before my father´s aunt died.

An American family

In Trinidad and Tobago, even though we are going through rough times with the crime problem, mothers and fathers leaving their kids behind for someone else to take care of, while they try to make a decent living, outside of the twin island state, (some never returning) we need to try and get back or maintain our family values. Living here has taught me how to want, maintain and appreciate these little family values. This won´t make me a brady bunch member, but it sure can help me to be happy with what I´ve got. Think about this and have a good day.