E-VITA

I was born in a very little town inland in the middle of the countryside, in Spain, 1943. I lived there till 19 years old.

My life was very monotonous: I was helping my parents in the farm. When I was old enough to ride on bike, I used the bike to go to the main city to attend the school. Having a bike was a wonderful gift.

There were not very much good possibilities in the town (for work or living). I went to work to the capital. There were a lot much of possibilities to work, but I wanted to go further. I asked for going to Germany, but immigration denied that possibility. The last chance was going to Switzerland, because in that zone (Cantons of Switzerland) they need a lot of people to work. As I was coming from a farmer family and I had not very much experience, going to Switzerland was the only option.

The immigration office, they solved all burocratic aspects. They performed a health revision on me. They gave me a bag with food and also some money. I got impressed of how well organised they were.

I was alone in the Cantons of Switzerland because the rest of Spaniards where disperse. It was a very hard period. I felt very comfortable with my farmer work as I was used to it, not like the rest of my colleagues.

After six months of working I had to come back to Spain, because I had to do the military service. Two years after, in 1968, I came back to Switzerland. That was not very usual as the Switzerland legislation made not easy the immigration, but that was easy for me because a company sent me a contract to work there.

From 1969 to 2008 I was working in an international high tech company. I had the chance to live and work around the World: China, Mexico, Perú, United States…

The best country to live in my opinion is South Africa, the bad point was the apartheid where the minority white people enact laws against black people.

I have been living in the United Arab Emirates. A country blessed with a lot of natural resources, fertile ground, mineral wealth, etc. Once that I went to Arabia I brought a occidental magazine to show it to my colleagues. In the airport, the police looked at the magazine, they check it in case there was any nude woman. I was very worried because if they saw any woman not correctly dressed, they would arrest me, tortured me and I would have a trial that would be hardly fair. That was the worst moment of all my life, I felt defenselessness. I was trembling, sweaty and I was very afraid.

Due to differences in religions, society and politics, I could not be integrated in Arab society.

Other day, I was driving in a motorway, where the driving is very abrupt. There, only men can drive (and women if they go together with a male relative). I was looking very carefully the signs, but I got misunderstood and I ended up in a motorway only for arab people that go to the Meca. The police stopped me. I did not know very much was happening. The police saw my cross that I was wearing on my neck, that was the worst think that I could have done. Fortunatelly, the police understood that it was only a mistake and he was kind enough to let me turn and leave that Holy Land immediately

I have never been to Israel, because if you went into that country and they stamp your password, then you wouldn’t be able to go into any other Arab country. I asked for another password as my colleagues had, but the government denied me that.

I cant forget, and I will always remember the green grass recently cut

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