CHAPTER FOUR: 1965 -1975
Bienvenidos a Venezuela!
Our first impression of Caracas was of a dynamic, bustling city, full of noise and music and with a pleasantly warm climate. Traffic regulations were largely ignored, and it seemed that everything was transported on motor scooters. We were alarmed to see passengers on scooters facing backwards and holding a large pane of glass, a bed mattress or perhaps a small child, while maneuvering between buses and cars.
Working in the Barrios
Accion en Venezuela was a not-for-profit organization staffed by Venezuelans and American volunteers. The program worked in the barrios - the shanty towns in the hills surrounding the capital, and which by 1965 housed about half a million people. As the city grew, land values rose and the owners became interested in recovering their land. To defend themselves the barrio communities sought the support of local political parties, and most barrios became highly politicized. So we found ourselves working in a highly politicized environment, with frequent harassment by the police.
We were working to improve the physical infrastructure of the barrios and to help communities mobilize to obtain services such as electricity, roads and schools.
Needless to say, having only rudimentary Spanish was a challenge, but Elizabeth had an ear for languages and quickly picked up a working knowledge of Spanish. In addition to being the only Brits, we were among the very few accionistas who were married. Elizabeth found working in the barrios challenging but fascinating, and the lessons learned affected the rest of her life.
Matthew and Martin Arrive
In 1967, when we were beginning to think of returning to England, our first son, Matthew, announced his arrival. Fortunately Mike was offered a full-time staff position in Accion, so we decided to stay in Venezuela.
Elizabeth had to end her work in the barrios, but she was able to use her language skills to teach ESL. Later, after gaining her certification, she worked as a public interpreter with an agency for a number of years—enabling her to combine working form home with raising two children.
None of the American volunteers had children, so Elizabeth had to rely on the advice of the older Venezuelan women in Accion, and on Dr. Spock’s “Baby and Child Care.”
When Matthew was 6 weeks old, there was a very large earthquake which killed several hundred people in Caracas. We had to sleep in the street for a couple of nights until someone from Accion found us and we were able to move to a safer location.
The family was soon able to move to a bigger apartment, near to the Parque del Este, the main city park. The following year Martin arrived, much to Matthew’s annoyance, as he did not wish to share his mother.
Growing up in Venezuela
The boys seemed to enjoy the Venezuelan lifestyle and quickly became bilingual with equal numbers of English and Spanish speaking friends. The huge Parque del Este, with its zoo, wild animals and a train that you could ride on, was one of their favorite places. One day, we noticed that Martin had vanished. When we found him about 20 minutes later, Elizabeth asked him crossly “where were you?” He looked at her with large innocent eyes and said “I knew where I was!”. There were some large and brightly colored parrots in the Parque that the boys were very nervous of. Elizabeth, to show that you did not have to be afraid of parrots, put her hand through the bars of the cage to stroke it. It immediately bit her hand!
Although Elizabeth came to enjoy Venezuela, she admitted later that when the boys were small, and Mike was frequently traveling, she would often lie awake wondering how she and the boys would cope if something happened to Mike on one of his travels. She remembers the moment when she decided that the easiest way to cope with uncertainty was to face the possible problems face on, and after that she began to fully enjoy all that Venezuela had to offer.
Getting Back to England
We managed to get back to England every two years and usually every year when the children were small, and our parents greatly enjoyed seeing their grandchildren. The testimonial section at the end of the book includes many memories of the visits to England.
On one trip Elizabeth bought a very elegant trouser suit which, on our return to Venezuela she proudly wore to one of the fashionable movie theaters in Caracas. To her great annoyance, she was not allowed into the cinema because in the 1970’s trouser suits were not considered suitable attire for young ladies. One of her friends faced the same ban, but she went into the rest room and took off the trouser part of the suit, and she was then admitted to the cinema essentially wearing a very short mini-skirt which was considered suitable. Go figure!
Exploring South America
As Mike became involved with Accion International, Elizabeth was able to join him on trips to Colombia, Peru and Brazil.
When the boys were old enough to stay with the maid, Elizabeth joined Mike on a work trip to Curacao. In addition to the beauty of the island, and the fascinating Dutch-Caribbean culture, for Elizabeth it was a great luxury to be able to take a shower without having two small boys hammering on the bathroom door. However, when we got back, the maid sighed with relief. One day the boys had managed to lock her on the balcony and she had to shout down from the fourth floor to ask someone to call the fire brigade to rescue her.
As the boys grew older, they also enjoyed some international trips. On one memorable trip to Machu Picchu in Peru, Matthew came down with an extremely painful ear infection made worse by the altitude (over 10,000 feet). It was quite a challenge to find a doctor in the middle of the night in the village where we were staying.
After 10 years, we were ready to move on. Fortunately Mike was offered a consulting position with the World Bank in El Salvador, so after saying goodbye to our many friends and many happy memories, we moved to El Salvador for 3 years.
