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local Thursday 21 July 2022

Moises Fernandez from Association Friends of Colombia

“Colombia is the nation of my birth and Aruba is my second home”

Aruba is known as an island all of us. As I always say,
that is home to many mi- we Colombians are resilient
grants, be it from other con- people, we adapt to any
tinents or the Latin Ameri- circumstance or when we
can region. Yesterday, are confronting a difficult
July 20, in commemoration situation.” He also points
of 212 years of Indepen- out that Colombians in
dence Day of the Republic Aruba lack an institutional
of Colombia, our reporter organization “which will
spoke with Moises Fernan- gather them, defend them
dez, president of ASOCOL and guide them with tools
Aruba. so that their stay in Aruba is
easier.”
Fernandez told us that he
arrived in Aruba from Bar- He feels that he is a very
ranquilla around 32 years blessed and privileged
ago, when the armed con- person, because he inte-
flict in Colombia became grated into the island very
worse in the entire region fast. He says that he start-
related to drug traffick- ed speaking Papiamento
ing. He came to explore a within four months. “I un-
change in lifestyle together derstood that I had to be
with his wife and two sons. with the local community
“I had to think about the in order to grow. This made
safety of my two sons. My it easier for me to integrate
father also migrated with into the community – also
my family to the United much unity or a place to tion like there is today”, he more vulnerable position. because Aruba is a very
States because he was be- gather amongst people says. special place, when you
ing extorted for some prop- of the same nationality. As president of ASOCOL Regarding the most diffi- give respect, you receive
erties which we had in Sier- “There was a small store Aruba, Fernandez ex- cult moments for migrants respect.”
ra Nevada in Santa Marta”, owned by a countryman in pressed that he assumed in Aruba, both from Colom-
he says. Playa (city centre) where this task four years ago, bia and from other coun- As a professional, he says
we used the place on Sat- and they have been work- tries, it was in 2020 during that in Colombia he car-
His first anecdote in Aruba urdays and Sundays to ing for the community, to the Covid-19 pandemic ried himself with a certain
was something traumatic: meet each other, but there better some aspects and arrived in Aruba. “It was a work ethic, which in Aruba
the person who was sup- wasn’t much communica- help those who are in a very delicate situation for opened many doors for
posed to pick him up from him. That time it was also
the airport when he ar- the case that there weren’t
rived in Aruba for the first many people who were
time never showed up. It working in his area of ex-
turned out that he was hos- pertise, something with
pitalized. But for Fernandez, which he received an im-
starting a new life in Aruba portant place and accep-
didn’t turn out too difficult, tance within the Aruban
‘everything is a process of community. He also told us
work, discipline and con- that two local families pro-
stancy’. vided him with the support
he needed and treated
Regarding the process of him like their own family.
integration, he says that he
started working in a con- For Fernandez, “Colombia
struction company and is my homeland and will al-
then he went to work in ways be so, it is the place
another company to do where I was born, grew and
with air conditioning, which learned, the place where I
was Fernandez’s specialty. became what I am today.
From there the whole pan- And Aruba is my homeland
orama changed, and he who adopted me and al-
managed to bring his fam- lowed me to grow. It is also
ily to Aruba, where he grew the place that allowed me
professionally and socially, to represent it with great
adapting to the local cul- honor in international sport.
ture. For me, Aruba is my sec-
ond homeland, my second
He points out that Aruba home, where my children
is not the same island as grew up. Here I have every-
it was 30 years ago. Back thing, the fruits of my labor
then, there didn’t exist a and my effort together with
big group of Colombian my family. It is my second
nationals, there wasn’t nation.”q