THE winner of the “Latin America in 100 words” short story competition is Peruvian-born engineer Cesar Ore, it was announced at the packed Latin American night staged at the ANU on May 16 by the Australian National Centre for Latin American Studies (ANCLAS) and the ANU Latin American Students’ Association (LASA).
Ore migrated to Australia in 2003 to be reunited with his high school sweetheart from Peru who has lived in Canberra since the 70s and, like many distinguished expatriate writers before him, had to learn English at the age of 50+. He now holds an MSc in Engineering from the ANU.
He took his story, “Elena” from real life story, telling those present at the ceremony, “This is a true life story that has marked me immensely.”
According to LASA president, Sandra Velarde, Ore’s story almost did not make it to the competition as it had gone straight to the spam folder. Once discovered, though, the vote was unanimous.
An exhibition of photos related to the stories accompanied the announcement and the entertainment. The winning story appears below, in Spanish and in English:
Elena
Era domingo y compartíamos tallarines con los familiares llegados de Lima. No ví la escena pero pude escucharlo todo desde la cocina, escuchar como las risitas se convertían en risas cuando presentaron a Elena, la niña aimara que llevaba los platos.
Y pude escuchar a la tía Elena alzando la voz:
– ¡Aquí la única Elena soy yo!… ella será Elenacha.
Desde aquel momento Elena perdió su identidad por algún tiempo y nosotros perdimos algo de nuestra humanidad por mucho tiempo.
Elena
It was a Sunday and we were sharing spaghetti with the relatives who arrived from Lima. I did not see the scene but I could listen it all from the kitchen, how the giggles turned into laughs when they introduced Elena, the Aymara girl who was taking away the dishes.
And I could listen to aunt Elena raising her voice:
– I am the only Elena here! … she will be Elenacha*.
Since that moment Elena lost her identity for some time and we lost some of our humanity for a long time.
*Elena with a contemptuous added meaning.
-César Oré
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