Chinese | Caribbean
My Mother comes from North-East China, and she is a mix of the local Inner-Mongolian and Han ethnicities. My Dad is from Curacao, an Island in the Dutch Caribbean. My Dad also has a mixed ethnicity. My grandfather is from Suriname, and my grandmother is from Curacao, but she’s Creole. Growing up I lived in the Netherlands, China & Curacao. Living in the 3 countries that I am connected to, I felt like there is no home for me. I would receive a lot of special attention and be put on the spot quite often. Always seen as special, but never belonging. The first time I ever felt home in a place was during my 10-month internship in London. The diversity just shook me to the core, and strangely enough, I found myself enjoying and identifying with some local subculture. Everyone was diverse in some way or were around people from different backgrounds. And I liked that. Sadly, my parents didn’t combine their cultures with each other, but they combined their cultures into my upbringing. My Mother is a very disciplined person, who firmly believes education is the only priority of a minor. She really pushed me academically, to get high grades and read books. I’m glad she did in the end, she showed me how to ‘get it together’. My Dad’s culture showed me that it’s ok to be loud and funny, that I don’t have to sit in the corner of a room with my legs perfectly crossed. Its ok to get up and dance and shake things off. I’m quite content being mixed-race. I feel like we get to observe the cultures we come from and pick the best from each. Also, I love that my involvement and awareness of my own cultures have made me more observant and understanding of other cultures. I definitely don’t think I would be as open-minded as I am today without my ethnic diversity. They say everything happens for a reason. My childhood in general has been rough to say the least, and I have not been able to keep many friends with all the moving around. However, it is exactly these difficulties which made me a stronger, better person today.
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