3+2 is not 5

I am Mireia and I am twenty-one years old but my history starts from one member of my family, my father. My father is great. I mean yes, I am his daughter, what else can I say? But I have learnt many things from him and now he is a part of me. I have learnt from him the passion of recording and photographing everything and when I say everything I mean EVERYTHIING. When I was very little he bought me a small camera and since that day, I was sure I wanted to be a filmmaker in the future. He supported me a lot with this dream. He also showed me the importance of the little details in our too fast society. But if one day I become a filmmaker to be proud of he will never know it because he passed away some years ago. So I can classify my life and identity in two parts: my life with my father and my life without him and I can swear that the first years without him were not easy and the pain I felt was simply indescribable but as the years went by and I became a new person.

The process of the assumption of my father’s death has made a big impact in my life: I started to travel a lot. My scarfs were closed then and I enjoyed my freedom and peace. I also started to read a lot but I was still missing him so much. It is a curious fact that being in contact with nature was my best medicine. Moreover, I also loved to focus on the little details of life, like he showed me. In fact, thanks to this, I became a very observant person. At that time I was ready to start a new period in my life: University.

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‘’At random, I thank three gifts: being born a woman, lower class and oppressed nation.’’ Maria-Mercè Marçal

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University turned my life in a new direction. I have met many people of different ways of thinking and thanks to that I have become a more open-minded person. During that period, I realized women were still very oppressed by the patriarchy and the only way for solving this problem was taking part of the fight. Consequently, I was very interested in feminism so I joined some organizations and unions. I remember going to a demonstration in Madrid against women’s abuse: Experiencing this community feeling of people who were fighting for the same things was simply indescribable. As the time went by, I emancipated myself from all the society stereotypes and roles that I have learned unconsciously. I also learned to love my body, to be proud of myself, and to be braver. Women like Frida Kalho, Maria Zambrano, Rigoberta Menchu, Angela Davis, Malala, Maria-Mercè Marçal or Dolores Ibárrui who were very strong women became very important for me. I am sure my father would have been proud of me because of the strong woman I became.

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All these experiences helped me to decide that I wanted to teach children through a feminist perspective. Preparing the woman’s day activities during my teaching training period was a fantastic experience that I will never forget. The teacher gave me plenty of freedom to do what I wanted and we became very close friends. I also taught them the value of nature and we visited Benimaclet’s orchard once a week. Here there is a conversation that I had with one of my students:

-Mireia, the orchards are beautiful! I love being here!

-Yes, I Know, me too.

-Why did the government try to destroy them? If they weren’t here we wouldn’t have anything to eat!

-Yes, you are right. They tried to destroy them because they didn’t know they were so important and that’s why I am here, to teach you all its value.

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All that I have learned during these years make me think about how lucky I am. The loss of a family member is always a bad thing but sometimes, when you recover from that you start to see life in another perspective. My father forms part of my personality and I would not be the person I am now if he hadn’t taught me all the things that he loved to do. In fact, the Education Faculty of my university has given me the base to teach but what I really am going to teach are all these inquisitiveness and curiosities that have accompanied me during my life.

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Thanks dad.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmMZts_1b5g