Argentinian teen follows N.L. roots to St. John’s

Teen with ancestors from Fogo Island plans to attend MUN, build his future in the province

The events that brought 18-year-old Manuel Velázquez Walker from the Santa Cruz province of Argentina all the way to Newfoundland span many decades.

It all started with a shipwreck in 1886 that left a Newfoundlander from Fogo Island — about the same age then as Walker is today — looking to build a new life in a strange land. Now, 136 years later, Walker intends to do the same thing as his shipwrecked ancestor.

Walker spent the last three years attending Holy Heart of Mary High School in St. John's and was a member of the graduating class of 2021. In the fall, he plans to start business studies at Memorial University.

"It's not like I want to go to university here and then go to wherever else," he said. "I do want to go to university, but my biggest dream is to stay here in the province and to live here. I've been three years here now. This is like my home now."

THE DOWNER SAGA

The reason he ever considered coming to Newfoundland ties into the family history on his mother's side. Walker's great-great-grandmother, Margaret Anne Downer, was a widow with three children in 1914 when she met and married Bill Downer. Bill had been away for 28 years, thought to be dead by most people on Fogo Island who may have remembered him.

In 1886, Bill was shipwrecked on Isla de los Estados (Staten Island), 29 kilometres east of mainland Argentina. After panning for gold in Tierra del Fuego province, he went to the Patagonia region and eventually did quite well for himself, becoming a skilled gaucho with horses, sheep and farmland. By 1910, he moved closer to the coast in Las Horquetas, north of Santa Cruz.

Bill travelled to Scotland and England for business in the fall of 1914 and returned to Newfoundland on the way back. It was there he connected with his future wife, then known as Margaret Anne Elliott. Her maiden name was Downer and she was in fact a cousin of Bill (they did not subsequently have any children together).

Margaret and her three children left Fogo Island with Bill later that year to start a new life in Argentina. Among Margaret's children was Will Elliott, the grandfather of Walker's mom, Susy.

"My mother has always been really passionate about this province ever since she came here," Walker said, referring to Susy's first visit to Newfoundland with her uncle, Leonard Lewis, in 2000.

On that trip, Susy walked through the abandoned Fogo Island community of Eastern Tickle — the birthplace of Margaret Anne Downer.

FAMILY STORIES

Walker grew up hearing stories about Newfoundland and Labrador, and visited the province alongside 10 Argentinians in 2017. He met some of his Newfoundland relatives for the first time and finally experienced the place he'd heard so much about.

People may broadly think of South America as a warm and sunny place, but Walker said his home province of Santa Cruz has a lot in common with Newfoundland and Labrador.

"Actually, my summer is not as warm as Newfoundland summers," said Walker, who is from the coastal community of Puerto San Julián. It's in a southern part of the country, quite close to Antarctica. Penguins can be seen on beaches in the Patagonian region.

"We're actually really cold, and we get snow as well."

The trip to Newfoundland sparked an immediate interest in coming to attend school. What started as a planned one-year stay for Grade 10 morphed into Walker completing high school at Holy Heart of Mary.

"The place is beautiful in general," he said of Newfoundland, adding the fact there were relatives locally eased his adjustment to living in a new city and country.

Walker's English was limited at first, but his language skills improved with time and some help from school friends. At Holy Heart, he was involved in choirs, student groups and the Christmas talent shows.

POST-SECONDARY HELP

Attending Memorial University will be financially difficult. International students currently pay $1,146 per three-credit-hour course, which would amount to $5,730 for a five-course semester. While the big increase recently announced for students beginning in the fall of 2022 won't apply to Walker because he will start his studies this year, he will be affected by the annual four per cent increase to tuition from 2022 to 2026.

People are rallying around Walker to help ensure he can afford to attend university. A Gofundme campaign — "Help Manuel Velazquez Attend Memorial University" — was launched last week. As of Thursday, it had raised more than $3,350, with a target goal set at $20,000.

"Me and my parents have some savings for the first year — not all of it, but we have some savings," said Walker, who has a five-year program ahead of him. "I've got to figure that out, because one year is not enough."

He's been pleasantly surprised by the support shown so far. Donors have included a number of relatives in Argentina and Newfoundland, as well as people from the Holy Heart school community.

MAKING IT IN N.L.

Don Downer of St. John's, whose great-grandfather was Margaret's brother, first met Walker's mom on a trip to Argentina in 2000. He also met Margaret's 100-year-old daughter, Eliza, on that trip. This resulted in the release of David Quinton's documentary short "Letters from Eliza" and the publication of a book by Downer in 2012, "Lands of Fire."

"I'd like to see the young fella make it in this province, and I feel assured he will, but there's a lot of hurdles in the next five years," Downer said.

When Susy arrived in Newfoundland 21 years ago, she was pregnant with her first child, Manuel's sister.

"Now here we are with Susy's offspring among us, and we'd like to keep him," Downer said.

Walker's host parents, Cindy and John Purtill, own and operate The Georgestown Inn across the street from Holy Heart. They will continue to offer him a home while he attends university and pay him to work at their business. He has made quite an impression with the Purtills.

"Manuel has a connection here, and that's what sets him apart from other international students. Manuel is family. He's a returning son of Newfoundland," said Cindy.