English | Thai
My Dad works in oil and gas and was stationed out in Pattaya, where my Mum was living at the time, however my Dad was already married... with two children... my Mum didn't know… And then they had me...
Twenty-six years on and my Mum and Dad are still married and live in Reading and me, my little brother and my two sisters are one big happy family. Not to say the relationships we shared were easy along the way, I know my eldest sister (who remembers everything) had a difficult relationship with my Dad for years and she hates when I tell new people how we meet the story of how she dragged me through a thorn bush the first time she met me but it's all love now!
Now that I’m older I don’t hide my identity as I am incredibly proud to be mixed, however I remember at school age I would always reduce my Thai-ness in certain situations. I had very little problems growing up in Reading as it's very multicultural, I moved to Essex for university and met my boyfriend who was living in London at the time but by chance he was from the city I was now living in. When he would come back to visit and we would go out, so many people from his past would throw racial slurs, try and start fights etc. It was unreal. I hadn't ever thought how difficult it must've been for my parents to be together almost thirty years ago and that made me appreciate how much they must've gone through and how they never let on to me and my brother and never made us afraid of the world. The world and it's cultures are so amazing, how lucky I am to have grown up amongst two of them!
I do believe we need to increase education on racism and have tougher sentences for hate crimes. Asian hate crimes increased during the pandemic and it made me so fearful for my Mum going back to work post-lockdown. People are rooted in what they learn from their parents and peers growing up, if at school we could start to open children's minds they'll already be questioning the bad and hopefully deciding on things for themselves.
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