Written by Liliana Henriquez, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Colombia.
I am Venezuelan by birth, but I have been living in Bogotá, Colombia for 4 years. Many said, as I also said before emigrating, "Venezuela and Colombia are neighboring countries, so they should not have big differences, right?" Well, I must say that there are many differences! Like the ones below:
• In Colombia they fill the empanadas with rice. In Venezuela we never use rice for empanadas.
• In Bogotá, specifically, they are very formal when speaking. They generally address each other with "Yes, ma'am," "Yes, your mercy," "Would you please?" and so on. In Venezuela we are more informal, and we treat everyone as if they were our friends. We say "my love" (mi amor) to everyone without any romantic implications.
• In Colombia, the words used for pen and pencil are reversed. There are two very different words for a pencil sharpener. And the word for a black coffee in Colombia is the word for black ink in Venezuela. There are many different words that need to be learned to make ourselves be understood and speak the same “language.”
• In Venezuela, I would dare say that everyone has been to the beach at least once. In Colombia, I know people who have never seen the sea once in their life. Amazing!
• In Colombia, it is normal to see a fruit salad accompanied with grated cheese or the candied guava dessert with chopped cheese. In Venezuela, this type of sweet-savory combination is not common.
• In Colombia, the vast majority of holidays are on Mondays. In Venezuela, the day doesn’t matter. The important thing is the date.
• In Colombia, the day of love and friendship is in September instead of February 14, when we celebrate it in Venezuela.
Those are some of the differences that I have seen between the two cultures. My first year in Bogotá was very shocking. I went from living in a very small city in Venezuela (Punto Fijo, Falcón State) of about 300,000 people, to one of the largest cities in Latin America, Bogotá, which has around 9,000,000 people. Seeing so many people on the streets and on public transportation, it was truly overwhelming.
However, some advice I received when I first arrived was, “You have to adjust to the city. Become great, but without losing your essence." I did that. I dedicated myself to getting to know the people, their culture, their way of speaking, and their customs, and after seeing the differences, I began to see the similarities.
In the church environment, I realized that they sang the same hymns that I knew, the order of the service was very similar, and we had the same doctrine and the same desire to praise God. In the end, we weren't as different as I thought.
Immersing myself in the Colombian culture obviously made me redefine myself because I had to put aside my Venezuelan culture a bit to achieve my adaptation to this new country. Now I am the Venezuelan who understands the Colombian and who understands that one can be the same and different at the same time, that one can share same vision with the brethren of the church, and who does not use culture as an impediment to serve God on this earth.
No matter where we are from, we can adjust culturally to the country where we are living WITHOUT losing our Christian essence. If Jesus is the one who unites us, there are no cultural differences that can separate us. We must focus on having the same purpose: to glorify the name of Christ and preach the gospel. Jesus is the only and the most important thing that we must have in common. As Paul said,
“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought” (1 Cor. 1:10)
If you are immersed in a culture different from that of your origin, I ask you: Are you focusing more on the cultural differences of your new country, or are you adjusting, and at the same time, are you conserving your essence?