The Pirates’ Hook (PH): What brought you to Durham?
Alvaro Garzon (AG): I’m here because my wife is an elementary school teacher, she applied to DPS and they gave her the position. So we all came here as a family. Then I started looking for my work permit and after that I got a substitute teacher position here at Riverside. Riverside then asked me to stay here.
PH: Where are you from?
AG: I’m from Colombia.
PH: How strongly do you connect to your culture?
AG: I’m so proud of my culture, and I feel my culture is something that is beyond my language, beyond what I believe, what I think, is something that comes through my end result, you know its like my blood. It’s just a way I see the entire world.
PH: How do you and your family celebrate your culture?
AG: Well, actually we don’t do that, it’s something new for us, like when we came here we said, “oh there is a specific month to celebrate Hispanic heritage,” but as Hispanics we didn’t do that until we got here.
PH: Do you see any reflection of your culture in either Durham or in the school?
AG: Well, as I said for me my culture is a way to see the world and I see it everywhere. There are a lot of Colombian people here in Durham, but you don’t see them because we don’t want to call much attention to ourselves. We are here but not as visible as others. For example, you can see many Mexican restaurants but very few Colombian restaurants.
PH: What elements of Hispanic heritage do you see in Durham?
AG: The Hispanic culture here is so strong and I always say to my students that you can live here without knowing how to speak English. You can go to restaurants, supermarkets and schools only speaking Spanish. Most of the time there are one or two workers that speak Spanish. Durham is one of those cities in the United States where the Hispanic culture is really strong.
