J-Term Practica, 2016

March 1, 2016

Going to Chile was a hard decision for me at first. I have never traveled to outside of the States and I was worried about language difficulty and culture shock, but I believed this opportunity would allow me to have a greater understanding of South America. The reason why I chose this program was because I was interested in the indigenous people, Mapuche. I researched about young Mapuche migrants in Santiago in Professor Black’s human rights class in fall semester 2015. Before I conducted this research, my focus had been always about Japan or the United States because those countries are related to myself. However, I felt it was time to learn the other countries. During my research, I found it was difficult to access enough information about Mapuche. Most of the articles are written in Spanish, and I cannot read Spanish. Therefore, I decided to go to Chile and meet Mapuche people, so my understanding of the community would be better.

The first five days in Chile trip, we stayed in San Tiago and learned the history of the Pinochet dictatorship and the victims. Meeting with Judge Guzman was a significant experience for me. I realized that Chile has a wide inequality between rich and poor, and I had an impression that rich people do not really concern about poor. However, Mr. Cuzman has done great work with those vulnerable citizens. Even though he is obviously from high-class society, he cares about people in Chile. His main work was meeting with the victims of Pinochet’s injustice. He talked us about his interrogation process. He also explained how the Pinochet’s military killed and tortured innocent Chileans. His talk and our visit to memorial park allowed me to have a deep understanding what was going on during the Pinochet’s dictatorship. The reality was cruel and tragic.

After our stay in Santiago, we headed to Temuco. We visited several Mapuche communities in Temuco. I was really excited to meet Mapuche people because it was my first time ever that I meet indigenous people. Mapuche people were welcoming and respectful to us. We also had a chance to meet the Governor in Temuco. After listening the Mapuche people’s stories and the governors’ story, I realized there are many improvements should be done in Chile. One story that was stuck in my head was that Mapuche people are not able to create a bank account so they cannot open a business. That fact was shocking to me.

We moved to Valparaiso after our stay in Temuco and we visited an urban Mapuche community. They treated us with a delicious dinner, and they showed us traditional praying.

The last day in Valparaiso, we went to the beach and I enjoyed the Pacific Ocean view. I used to see the Pacific Ocean from Japan and California, and this time, I was able to see the Pacific Ocean from Chile. What a great feeling! I love Pacific.

After enjoying the city of Valparaiso, we came back to Santiago, and we celebrated our completion of the program. Overall, this trip was an eye-opening experience for me.  I really appreciate Pr. Black, Nancy, Leila and all classmates for helping Spanish translation and taking good care of everything. Gracias!

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