Jenobeva Silverio

Each time that I visited Guananico, my mother Teresa (nicknamed Pupa) would cautions me not to visit certain dark-skinned aunt named Jenobeva Silverio.  Pupa claimed that Jenobeva could make me disappear and I'll be lost forever.  I used to imagine the world to witch I could disappear if Jenobeva decided to make it happen.  I often though that a new world would be better than the one that I was living in, since my mother Pupa kicked my butt every day for just about anything.  Once I grew older, the disappearing theory stopped making sense to me. One day, while visting my dark-skinned aunt she told me that she was my biological mother.  I was 17 years old at the time of this emotional revelation. Jenobeva Silverio told me that she was not allowed by my biological father to talk to me about who she really was.  She was also prohibited to visit me in Santiago city where I lived.  That day I met 6 of my many half brothers and sisters.  What was my reaction to that shocking revelation? I will write about it tomorrow.

Guananico, Puerto Plata

June 23, 2011

Each year, during summer, my mother sent me to Guananico on vacation.  I visited with my uncles and aunts of the Santos’ family only.  The summer was a time to have fun hanging around with my cousin Pulin, and others, eating mangoes and other fruits right from the trees.  One day we climbed very high on a large mango tree to collect the best-ripped mangoes.  We were so high that we could see the ocean on the horizon.  While eating a mango, Pulin touched a wasp nest.  We began descending the tree in a hurry, dropping mangoes from our pockets and crying from the sting of the wasps and the peeling of our chests against the tree.  We were punished by these wasps for having the audacity to get near their nest.  I still remember the medicine applied to us by Pulin’s mother, Gracita.  She made us urinate on soft dirt and applied the wet dirt to the areas of our skin stung by the wasps.  

I am back!

I stopped writing about my life for personal reasons.  These reasons are not relevant now.  Just allow me to continue my journey through my family history.

I want to begin by posting the first writing that I posted at the birth of this blog.

1st posted April 24, 2010

My Humble Beginning

I was born in Guananico, Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic.  My mother was single with one child and allegedly fell in love with my father.  My father was married to another woman but he was some kind of ladies’ man.  When I was born, my father denied that I was his child.  But I looked just like him.  My father arranged with my mother to send me to live in Santiago city with my aunt Teresa Santos.  I was not more than one year old when I arrived at Santiago city.  My life with my aunt was very interesting.  My aunt was a disciplinarian.  Therefore, corporal punishment was distributed freely and frequently.
I did very well in school.  My sister Martinita (she is really my cousin) made sure that I did my homework each day.  My aunt's husband was Francisco Minier.  He was a hard working individual who would disappear for long periods of time working far away from home.  Some of the best moments of my family life were when Francisco (who I though to be my biological father) arrived from working far away.  My life did not change much until I discovered who my real parents were.