Editor's Note:
First Encounters - we hope the letter below will serve as the starting point in a series of personal accounts by staff, spouses and children - memories of what we experienced as families when we landed in a new country.
Spouses and children often experienced a new country quite differently than those of us who were staff members. As staff, we quickly found ourselves immersed in new work, a new office, a new supervisor, meeting new colleagues and counterparts; not to speak of travel - lots of it. Yet the language and culture staff encountered was mostly familiar - the culture and language of UNICEF.
Spouses, on the other hand, were more likely to find themselves left alone to deal with a totally new culture and often in a new language. While 'the other half' was busy at the office or on travel, spouses often found themselves 'on their own' in finding and furnishing a house, getting children into school, navigating open markets, finding doctors, and so forth.
For children too the experience was special -finding their way in a new school, making new friends, encountering a new language, food, and sports. Despite the challenges, for most of our children growing up in a new country made deep and lasting impressions.
We hope you will contribute to this series your memories - your first impressions. Please also ask your spouse and your children to contribute - directly or through you - their recollections of those first encounters with a new culture, language, and country.
Keep in mind that 'first impressions' are a 'two-way street' - not just impressions of those who went, say from New York or Geneva to a field office, but also those who worked in field offices and came to the US or Europe. No doubt, the streets, sounds, and smells of New York were just as astounding for a new-comer as the streets of New Delhi, Nairobi, or Bogota.
We thank Victor Soler-Sala for sharing the following letter written by his late wife, Suzanne in 1971.
The editors
From Victor Soler-Sala
Like most of our colleagues, I have been enjoying the articles published in the XUNICEF Review. After reading among the papers written by my wife, I found one from our arrival to India in 1971, and it occurred to me that it may be interesting to include in the News the voices of the spouses and older children in our UNICEF postings.
Suzanne's piece reflects the impressions of living in that fascinating country, with the enormous human constraints and the opportunities to learn its marvelous culture and lore. You will see that Suzanne did not mention anything about the difficulties she faced in arriving in a new country, including organizing the lives of our four children, establishing a household, finding help, going to market.
I hope that this report shall encourage others to contribute their experiences.
Spouses, on the other hand, were more likely to find themselves left alone to deal with a totally new culture and often in a new language. While 'the other half' was busy at the office or on travel, spouses often found themselves 'on their own' in finding and furnishing a house, getting children into school, navigating open markets, finding doctors, and so forth.
For children too the experience was special -finding their way in a new school, making new friends, encountering a new language, food, and sports. Despite the challenges, for most of our children growing up in a new country made deep and lasting impressions.
We hope you will contribute to this series your memories - your first impressions. Please also ask your spouse and your children to contribute - directly or through you - their recollections of those first encounters with a new culture, language, and country.
Keep in mind that 'first impressions' are a 'two-way street' - not just impressions of those who went, say from New York or Geneva to a field office, but also those who worked in field offices and came to the US or Europe. No doubt, the streets, sounds, and smells of New York were just as astounding for a new-comer as the streets of New Delhi, Nairobi, or Bogota.
We thank Victor Soler-Sala for sharing the following letter written by his late wife, Suzanne in 1971.
The editors
From Victor Soler-Sala
Like most of our colleagues, I have been enjoying the articles published in the XUNICEF Review. After reading among the papers written by my wife, I found one from our arrival to India in 1971, and it occurred to me that it may be interesting to include in the News the voices of the spouses and older children in our UNICEF postings.
Suzanne's piece reflects the impressions of living in that fascinating country, with the enormous human constraints and the opportunities to learn its marvelous culture and lore. You will see that Suzanne did not mention anything about the difficulties she faced in arriving in a new country, including organizing the lives of our four children, establishing a household, finding help, going to market.
I hope that this report shall encourage others to contribute their experiences.
Victor
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| 1971 A Sadhu Blesses our youngest son, Pablo - Suzanne with three of their four children |
New Delhi 18 November 1971 - Letter from Suzanne Trainer Soler-Sala to friends and family
Thanks a lot Victor for sharing this amazing and so interesting letter that Suzanne wrote.
ReplyDeleteRegards Karin
Thanks a lot Victor for sharing this amazing and so interesting letter that Suzanne wrote.
ReplyDeleteRegards Karin
Thank you Victor, for sharing this beautiful and so well written account by Suzanne of your first year in India. It makes you forget that such assignments come also with hardships, but Suzanne takes it in stride and sees the adventure and beauty in living in this amazing country,
ReplyDeleteThanks, Victor, for sharing Suzanne's letter written at the end of your first year in India. Wonderfully done. You may remember that Chloe and I arrived a year after you, but I found it brought back so many memories – and mentioned things I knew nothing about...
ReplyDelete