Tell us about your family’s roots.

My family is originally from the Basque Country in Spain/Canary Islands/Venezuela.

What is your family’s migration story?

My family’s migration throughout the years was mostly instigated by totalitarian regimes and political persecution. My grandfather Iker was born in Bayonne (Basque region in France) after his parents had to flee Spain due to the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. He was born in 1944 while the Nazis occupied France. My grandmother’s parents were from the Canary Islands, La Palma, Spain. My grandmother Mari was born there in 1946. Her family fled Spain because her father was a Republican supporter. She was just a baby when she moved to Caracas, Venezuela. My grandmother Mari and grandfather Iker met in Venezuela at party when she was just fifteen and he was seventeen. My grandmother was set on becoming a nun but changed her mind after she fell in love with my grandfather. They got married in 1969 and had five children. My mother Katxalin is the oldest. She was born in Paris in 1970, while Iker was completing a master’s degree as a chemical engineer. They returned to Venezuela when my mom was a baby. My father is Venezuelan, but I never met him. My mother had to flee the marriage while pregnant, so my sister and I were born in San Sebastian, Spain, were my grandparents had a summer house. Once the divorce was finalized less than a year later, we returned to Caracas. When I was four years old, (2002/2003) my whole family moved back to the Basque country after Chavez was elected president. One night my grandfather met with all of his adult children and explained that things were only going to get worse in Venezuela, and he was right. They made a scape plan and we all moved into their summer home in Spain. From ages four to seventeen I grew up in San Sebastian (Basque Country) with my twin sister Ane, my mom, my mother’s sisters, and my grandparents. Eventually, my mother met her husband John. John is from Lincoln, Nebraska. John and my mom got married in 2016 and my mom, sister and I moved to Lincoln. It has now been 10 years since I moved to Nebraska, where I met my husband Will in 2023.

What’s one memory, story, recipe, or item you and your family have carried with you?

I grew up hearing many stories about the Spanish Civil war. I heard about how Jose Maria worked as a spy for the American government while in exile, and how he would carry a radio in my grandfather’s stroller to intercept Nazi communications. He was a commander for a battalion against Franco and was one of the few war photographers that documented the Nazi bombings of Durango and Gernika. The Nazis also occupied their home in France while his wife Ines was pregnant. One Nazi soldier took pity on her and would secretly give her potatoes. Jose Maria was the first to move to Venezuela, followed by his wife and children a few years later. Venezuela became their home until they passed away about thirty years ago. Venezuela welcomed them with open arms, and my family is deeply grateful for it.