220. I Moved to the Third World for a Better Life

<p>In the 1600s, Penelope Kent boarded a ship from Holland to the New World with her new husband. Their ship wrecked off the coast, but still, Penelope and her husband made it to shore.</p> <p>There, they were attacked and tortured by the natives who lived on the land. By the time the natives were done with them, Penelope’s husband was dead. Penelope was still alive, but partially scalped, with her stomach sliced open. She took shelter in a hollowed out tree.</p> <p>Days later, some other natives found Penelope. These natives were fortunately friendly, or at least enterprising.</p> <p>They sewed shut Penelope’s wounds with fishbone needles and vegetable fibers. What happened next depends upon <a href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penelope_Stout">the source you read</a>. By some accounts the native tribe released her to New Amsterdam -- now New York. By other accounts, they sold her into indentured servitude.</p> <p>Somewhere way up my family tree, Penelope was my first ancestor to come to America. Given all she went through to make it to what would become the United States -- a hundred years later -- it’s astonishing that I would ever leave the U.S., in search of a better life. In fact, I moved to the so-called “third world.” Sorry, Penelope.</p> <p>In 2016 I sold my possessions and moved from the United States to Colombia, looking for a better life. Four years later, it’s safe to say that I’ve found that better life.</p> <p>The irony isn’t lost on me: Centuries ago, my ancestors moved to America for a better life. And in the twenty-first century, I moved to the “third world” for a better life.</p> <p>I use air quotes for “third world,” because I recognize that the designation of some countries as “third world” is passé and even offensive. I also recognize that many parts of Colombia -- even parts not far from my doorstep -- are very much “third world” by most people’s standards.</p> <p>Finally, as many Colombians have pointed out to me, if I were Colombian, I’d probably want to do the opposite: I would want to