English-Irish Pamela Humes duels tongue to tongue with any habla hispano (Spanish speaker) in fluent Spanish. Why? Well born in Sao Paolo Brazil, of US parents working in the shoe machinery industry, Pamela Humes moved to Mexico at the age of nine. Spanish culture and language influenced her younger years to adolescent and remains the bilingual way she desires to communicate. Ms. Humes leads the only Barnes & Noble Spanish Book Club in Hampton Roads. She determines to be a liason between non-Hispanics and Hispanics. ¡Aplauda Hampton Roads! highlights this woman who maintains a heart for making a difference in the community.
Professional or Occupational experience:
Since returning to work, after raising two children, I worked in areas where I could use my Spanish. Five years in Coastal Training Technologies, a start-up company right in VB, I sold industrial safety training videos to companies in Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, Puerto Rico, and Central & South America. The experience fortified my business Spanish and gave me a once in a lifetime experience to speak with hispanohablantes from many countries. It was a great opportunity. I developed Spanish speaking co-workers and friends to share social events. I lost my job when the company outsource its sales department. Now, I offer my Spanish translation services to Protocol for medical work and I help some legal firms too. I’m also available for private tutoring.
Favorite Hispanic personality:
Gustavo Santaolalla for his compositions for the film 'Motorcycle Diaries'.
A song, word, or phrase that describes your life:
The term ‘Global Nomad’ would describe me. It was a term given to a group of kids who had grown up overseas and their parents were from elsewhere. I heard the term in a group I found in Washington DC for people like me having Caucasian skin and being culturally mixed in their upbringing and their heart. This term relates to embassy kids, military kids, and kids of parents that travel for industry. We kids suffer from identity crisis in returning to states of our ancestry. Many are confused and asking, who am I? and not fitting in with long lost grandparents and extended family. It’s a confusing identity thing. In my heart I wish my name was Maria so I could share this part of my life naturally. Nobody is going to ask me about my mexican upbringing, because of what I look like, unless I talk first. The question, who am I? where do I fit? is still present.
Do your children speak Spanish or continue your involvement in the Hispanic community?
My two children have not lived in other countries like I did but they both enjoy basic Spanish language. They’ve studied Spanish formally in school. My daughter traveled to Costa Rica this summer to the West coast for tourism. But she also went on a service mission to Guatemala this summer with the group, Partners in Service. She traveled to the highlands up at the lago Atitlan to build stoves for the indigenous woman. The group Partners in Service takes students on their college semester breaks to Xela, Guatemala to help better the conditions for the widows & children of Mayan decent. The belief is not to give money but to give a helping hand.
Was there a moment in growing up that defined a cultural difference or similarity between you and your peers?
I always knew I was North American but I loved Mexico very much and felt a deep sadness to leave the capital and return to Boston. My parents could relate to Boston saying, “I’m home.” But not me. I felt I had left my heart in Mexico. My first boyfriend (love) was mexican from the town of Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood where I grew up. The Mariachi's playing at the airport upon departure was an experience that imprinted on my soul the day we flew away from Mexico. I couldn’t relate to my peers in Boston for a long time even though I looked like them.
Compare a difference from how you were raised and how you raised your children or grandchildren in Hampton Roads?
Well in Mexico we usually had walls or gates around the house and sidewalks everywhere. Here in Hampton Roads we had more freedom while the kids were growing up but fewer places to go really.
What is your favorite Spanish culture dish?
I have to say chicken with mole poblano accompanied by some fresh tortillas.
How well do you think the United States in general, but Hampton Roads in particular, has done in creating opportunities and accommodating Spanish-speaking people?
I have been in this Virginia Beach area since 1989 and seen a growing Hispanic population arrive slowly and quietly. I do not believe the area understood or was prepared for a time there, but has now begun to make accommodations. As we are a military area we have always had people of varying cultures due to military marriages. We have not had any real community of peoples from other cultures aside of the Filipino population which has been very large here for a long time.
What influence do you think the Hispanic population has had on the Hampton Roads community?
Well there are professors, doctors, nurses, laboring workers and all kinds of Hispanic families here. The major influx of workers came here from other parts of the US after two large storms. Then there were thousands of construction workers needed to reconstruct the many destroyed homes and roofs on local houses. This began to change the face of this area. I believe we are at the cusp of this change for the region.
Of what life achievements are you most proud?
I would say earning my degree in Spanish at ODU at age 50 was very hard, very expensive and of which I am most proud. But I did it to continue my employment marketablity and to keep improving in the language.
How do you see yourself giving back to the Hispanic population of Hampton Roads?
I believe the monthly Spanish book club that I run at the Virginia Beach Barnes & Noble is an opportunity to give back to the community. I don’t receive pay for running the book club. I just didn’t want to see it die when the founder, Dr. Patricia, left the area for another job. Everyone, including me, want to socialize in Spanish because the opportunities are few. It’s not only for Hispanics but for anyone interested in Spanish learning. Anyone can come to share and blend their perspectives and ideas but they have to do it in Spanish. Broken Spanish attempts are appreciated. It’s a real opportunity to read and discuss books from writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pablo Neruda, and Esmeralda Santiago . The core group democratically pick the books. I’ve had Spanish speakers say they hadn’t read a book in Spanish in fifteen years. Then they found us by chance in the store and enjoy the club. We all learn a lot by the critique from natives and non-Hispanics. People give ideas from their own experiences and there are worlds of differences in the input. It requires focus and I have to prepare questions to keep people on the book for the alotted time. Come by September to June and drop-ins are welcomed.
Another way I see myself giving back is as liason between non-Hispanics and Hispanics in Hampton Roads. It hurts to hear the locals refer to Spanish speakers only as ‘they’ and ‘them’. I then speak about myself and insight into Spanish speakers. I hope to continue as liason in this understanding of another culture. I return to Mexico keeping touch with my experience and want to share it. I can’t forget my early upbringing and experience in my most impressionable years because I’m Caucasian. I am in love with the Spanish lanugage and the people. When I hear the Mariachi’s and eat the food there is an experienced memory assoicated with it. I want to help others remember that there are different levels of people and education in all countries and cultures.
¡Aplauda! ended this bilingual interview giving thanks to Pamela Humes for keeping Spanish alive and public in Hampton Roads. ¡Adiós! IRM
¡Aplauda Hampton Roads! 
