Dutch | Zambian
It has always been very normal for me to have a White Father & a Black Mother. It's not that I tried to ignore it, it was just completely normal for me and therefore never thought about it. It wasn't until I got older that I actually considered this as something unique and valuable.
My brother and I were born & raised in the Netherlands, but the Zambian culture has always been present in our house. Both my parents made an effort to familiarize us with our Zambian side, so they took us several times for holidays as kids. Being a part of Zambia's everyday life, and understanding it, is very important to me. I find myself wanting to learn as much as possible about my Mother's culture, and I just love to absorb everything that's going on around me when we're in Zambia. As a child, and even as a teenager, I was too young to really grasp or understand the different way of life. In my young adulthood, however, I have become much more aware of how cultures work, and how beautifully different they can be.
Some mixed-race people might feel they don't fully belong in either culture. And in a way, I can relate, as society considers me ‘Black’ in Europe, and ‘White’ in Africa. But for me personally, I feel home in both. It's like having the best of both worlds; I love telling my friends in the Netherlands about life in Zambia, and I equally love telling my Zambian family all about the Netherlands.
This is probably a bit cliché, but I would have to say my Mother is my role model. She is what I consider a strong woman. I admire the way she left her home country, and built a whole new life in a whole different culture. Her confidence and the ability to speak up for herself is something I'm trying to learn from her.
My parents are two of the most naturally open-minded people I know, with an aspiration for traveling and exploring. They both have the experience of living in a foreign country, and they infected me with their flexibility, wanderlust and acceptance for different cultures. I think that growing up in a multicultural environment, will automatically increase the range of your knowledge and understanding of the world.
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