A NEW LIFE - 55 Years in Venezuela
After WWII there were two countries with open-door policies for refugees like us: Australia and Venezuela. (See: A Desperate Decision - Our Escape to Freedom) We (my father James Goerke, my mother Anne-Marie Dietrich, an older sister, two brothers, and I) had fled Hitler Germany in 1937, traveling through Europe and Asia Minor. When War II broke out the British interned us, - because we were GERMAN! They sent us to Africa where we lived in different camps for seven years. After the war we chose Venezuela and spent the next 55 years in that country.
This book relates of life there, the difficulties of coming to a different culture, learning a new language and overcoming all kinds of problems. We bought a piece of land with the intention of building our home there. However, it had no facilities: no road, no electricity, no water, not to mention telephone service! My father employed a peon and together they make mud-and-wattle bricks with which they built our home.
Two weeks after arriving in Caracas, the capital, I landed a job as bilingual secretary with an international company, although I was not yet fluent in Spanish. While working there I met my future husband, a 'Yankee' from New York. We raised three great children, all of whom grew up completely bi-lingual.
My father left this world at the age of 80 and my husband died 10 years later, leaving me bereft and heartbroken.
The years after my husband died were difficult indeed. Our two younger children, adult by then, were living in the States. My older daughter had married a Venezuelan and had two children with him. The marriage was not happy and I helped her overcome severe depression and alcoholism. She divorced him and when it became final, she decided to follow her siblings to the country of their father's birth. After four plus years of therapy and counseling she felt she was strong enough to strike out on her own. She asked me to accompany her. This was in 2003. We moved into the small townhouse my husband and I had purchased in the 1970s.
counseling)she in Venezuela were
He died when I was 62 years old.
1104038261
This book relates of life there, the difficulties of coming to a different culture, learning a new language and overcoming all kinds of problems. We bought a piece of land with the intention of building our home there. However, it had no facilities: no road, no electricity, no water, not to mention telephone service! My father employed a peon and together they make mud-and-wattle bricks with which they built our home.
Two weeks after arriving in Caracas, the capital, I landed a job as bilingual secretary with an international company, although I was not yet fluent in Spanish. While working there I met my future husband, a 'Yankee' from New York. We raised three great children, all of whom grew up completely bi-lingual.
My father left this world at the age of 80 and my husband died 10 years later, leaving me bereft and heartbroken.
The years after my husband died were difficult indeed. Our two younger children, adult by then, were living in the States. My older daughter had married a Venezuelan and had two children with him. The marriage was not happy and I helped her overcome severe depression and alcoholism. She divorced him and when it became final, she decided to follow her siblings to the country of their father's birth. After four plus years of therapy and counseling she felt she was strong enough to strike out on her own. She asked me to accompany her. This was in 2003. We moved into the small townhouse my husband and I had purchased in the 1970s.
counseling)she in Venezuela were
He died when I was 62 years old.
A NEW LIFE - 55 Years in Venezuela
After WWII there were two countries with open-door policies for refugees like us: Australia and Venezuela. (See: A Desperate Decision - Our Escape to Freedom) We (my father James Goerke, my mother Anne-Marie Dietrich, an older sister, two brothers, and I) had fled Hitler Germany in 1937, traveling through Europe and Asia Minor. When War II broke out the British interned us, - because we were GERMAN! They sent us to Africa where we lived in different camps for seven years. After the war we chose Venezuela and spent the next 55 years in that country.
This book relates of life there, the difficulties of coming to a different culture, learning a new language and overcoming all kinds of problems. We bought a piece of land with the intention of building our home there. However, it had no facilities: no road, no electricity, no water, not to mention telephone service! My father employed a peon and together they make mud-and-wattle bricks with which they built our home.
Two weeks after arriving in Caracas, the capital, I landed a job as bilingual secretary with an international company, although I was not yet fluent in Spanish. While working there I met my future husband, a 'Yankee' from New York. We raised three great children, all of whom grew up completely bi-lingual.
My father left this world at the age of 80 and my husband died 10 years later, leaving me bereft and heartbroken.
The years after my husband died were difficult indeed. Our two younger children, adult by then, were living in the States. My older daughter had married a Venezuelan and had two children with him. The marriage was not happy and I helped her overcome severe depression and alcoholism. She divorced him and when it became final, she decided to follow her siblings to the country of their father's birth. After four plus years of therapy and counseling she felt she was strong enough to strike out on her own. She asked me to accompany her. This was in 2003. We moved into the small townhouse my husband and I had purchased in the 1970s.
counseling)she in Venezuela were
He died when I was 62 years old.
This book relates of life there, the difficulties of coming to a different culture, learning a new language and overcoming all kinds of problems. We bought a piece of land with the intention of building our home there. However, it had no facilities: no road, no electricity, no water, not to mention telephone service! My father employed a peon and together they make mud-and-wattle bricks with which they built our home.
Two weeks after arriving in Caracas, the capital, I landed a job as bilingual secretary with an international company, although I was not yet fluent in Spanish. While working there I met my future husband, a 'Yankee' from New York. We raised three great children, all of whom grew up completely bi-lingual.
My father left this world at the age of 80 and my husband died 10 years later, leaving me bereft and heartbroken.
The years after my husband died were difficult indeed. Our two younger children, adult by then, were living in the States. My older daughter had married a Venezuelan and had two children with him. The marriage was not happy and I helped her overcome severe depression and alcoholism. She divorced him and when it became final, she decided to follow her siblings to the country of their father's birth. After four plus years of therapy and counseling she felt she was strong enough to strike out on her own. She asked me to accompany her. This was in 2003. We moved into the small townhouse my husband and I had purchased in the 1970s.
counseling)she in Venezuela were
He died when I was 62 years old.
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940012764362 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Ruthmarie Matthysse |
| Publication date: | 06/27/2011 |
| Series: | ON WINGS OF HOPE- From Berlin to Caracas. , #2 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 116 |
| File size: | 578 KB |
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