Croatian | Ghanaian

Photo credit: provided by subject

As I grew up with my Mom, who was born in Austria but is Croatian, I always said: I’m an Austrian citizen, my skin is Black but in my heart I’m Croatian. Not that she ever forced me to think like that. 

I’m super proud to be Croatian-Ghanaian. It’s a great mix! My Mom is a Vienna born journalist with Croatian roots. My Father was a doctor from Ghana. Before my Mom started her career on television, she had a cafe in Vienna with a friend of hers. The cafe was near the main hospital, where my Father used to work. One day he came in to have a drink and that’s where it began. My Father was in Europe for a long time already, so he got used to their food, music and everything else. 

There never was a problem in my Mother’s family that my Father had another skin color. They managed everything perfectly. Unfortunately my Mother never visited Ghana, she can’t stand the humidity. My Father did go to Croatia where my family has a house. He really liked the Croatian fish. Neither of my parents ever forced me to either choose a Croatian or Ghanaian man. But I do have to admit that I’m more into Balkan men. As I also speak Croatian, it is nice to have someone who speaks the same language besides German and has the same traditions.

I’ve never faced challenges based on my identity, it’s great to be mixed. Thankfully, today it is totally normal to have interracial relationships. Of course in Croatia parents mostly want their children to have someone who has the same nationality and religion. But in Vienna, where I grew up and live, they don’t see it like this anymore. In my Grandparents' generation it was different. I’m happy that time and the view on interracial relationships has changed.

I get a lot of compliments that I speak my Mother’s language so perfectly. People don’t expect me to speak Croatian when they see me. I always say, ‘I’m an undercover Croatian’. Of course I also experienced challenges because of my dark skin color. In kindergarten for the first time when a 5-year-old called me a racial slur. But as I’m very tall (190cm) I think people are afraid to be mean to me anymore.

I visit Croatia every year and have visited Ghana once when I was 13-years-old with my Father. It was such a great experience. Next year I want to go again, by myself so I can get to know my roots, meet my family that I never met before and learn about the African culture

My connection to my identity has changed as I’ve grown older, the older I get the more proud I am of my mixed identity. Where I live you don’t see much Balkan’s side in the media, mixed African’s a bit more. You can see some mixed tv presenters in the Austrian news, but not really a lot. This definitely has to change.

If I had the opportunity to be reborn I would probably not change a thing. 

I hope the BLM protests have made people more open minded. People should educate more and learn more about other cultures and races. Read more, travel more, meet people with other races and traditions and you will see that there is nothing bad about people who don’t look like you.