German | South African
My parents met in Germany whilst my Father spent a year there studying. Their relationship was forbidden in South Africa and so they married in Germany only able to live as a couple in South Africa 17 years later. My Dad has written an entire book to tell the story of the obstacles that he and my Mother had to overcome to be together.
Before moving to South Africa when I was 9, I spent my childhood in the Netherlands and fully embraced the Dutch culture I was surrounded with. My parents also made sure though that my siblings and I were exposed to their cultural roots. My Mother spoke German to us and we frequently travelled to Germany to spend time there with our cousins. Due to my Dad’s connections, we often had visitors from a variety of backgrounds staying with us and through this we learned about other cultures. My Mum got to add new recipes to her expanding international culinary repertoire. My Dad took me to South Africa when I was 6 years old to meet my Grandparents and to see where he grew up. This trip left a lasting impression on me.
Although I have never felt the need to hide who I am, growing up in the Netherlands where a lot of people still felt very angry about the war, I did sometimes feel embarrassed about my German roots. I identified myself as being Dutch and even to this day if the Netherlands play football against Germany I will be cheering for the Dutch team!
It wasn’t until my late teens that I truly started to celebrate my mixed heritage. Until that point, I struggled with never really feeling a sense of belonging to one specific people group. Although I didn’t let it get to me, when I was younger I didn’t necessarily like being the odd one out amongst my friends. However as a teenager I started to enjoy it and growing up into adulthood I have come to absolutely love it. If there was a ‘proudly mixed-race badge’ I’d probably wear it!
If I were to be reborn I would love it to be in a world where racism didn't exist and everyone would feel 100% comfortable in the skin they are in.
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