Greek | Eritrean

Photo credit: provided by subject

I identify myself as human first. Concerning my racial and ethnic background, I identify myself as a half Greek half Eritrean woman in Germany. I am not one but many, and I am love, always. 

My Mom is Greek but was also born in Germany, and my Dad is Eritrean and came to Germany during his late teens. They met in a small town in Black Forest, Germany. I was raised in a multicultural household; I grew up listening to Greek, Tigrinya, German, and English. I learned how Bun (Eritrean traditional coffee) is made and how to cook Spanakopita (a Greek filo pastry with Spinach and Feta). 

Both cultures were equally represented in our household; my parents were always very interested in each other’s culture; my Mum started picking up words and phrases in Tigrinya and even learned the Eritrean cuisine, which isn’t the easiest I might add! My Dad learned some Greek words and phrases as well. However, we mostly spoke German in the household, since it was the language that everybody understood equally well. 

I was raised to be an open-minded and curious person and learned to define so called differences and exceptions as my standard. I was shown both cultural sides as well as taught the German cultural standards but neither of my parents required me to be a full Greek or a full Eritrean, I was always just Wintai. 

I feel like subconsciously, the values and morals that I have been presented with during my upbringing have an influence on the traits that I look for in a partner. I have never fit into a single box and consequently don’t like being put into a box and adhere to so-called standards and norms. Therefore, it is very important for me to have a partner who is equally open-minded and doesn’t think in Black or White. I’d also say that my cultures affect my choice of partner insofar as I am looking for one who loves a loud and messy family just like mine and has a love for good food 

I don’t think you can really hide your identity and even though I have been unfairly treated in several situations due to my identity being different from the standard that is represented here in Germany, I take pride in who I am and would never want to hide the pain and the joy that is connected to it. So what you see is what you get with me.

I believe that my parents’ view and my don’t really diverge when it comes to accepting interracial relationships, because they, more so than me, have experienced first handedly what it means to not be treated like a ‘traitor’ of your own culture. I want to say that my Grandparents’ perspective has also changed over time and due to their love for their grandchildren, has become much more accepting. However, I believe that interracial relationships, to this day, are a challenge and I’m not even thinking about how the world might perceive my relationship or even my future children but just within the relationship itself. Depending on how different the cultures are that come together in an interracial relationship, there is a lot of communication and empathy needed. Of course, this is also true for monoracial relationships but I think that certain cultural aspects just go unsaid when both partners are already aware of their cultural norms.

For me, one of the biggest assets of being biracial is the open mindset and the broadened horizon that come with it. Being raised with various languages, within different cultures prepares you for the world in ways that cannot be expressed. It provides me with an inherent calmness and flexibility in all aspects of my life. I was born into an environment where there was never just one way of doing it or one way of saying it. But you don’t have to understand how different people are doing or speaking to feel love.

I visit Greece regularly and I love it there; the culture, the food, the weather, and the people. 

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to visit Eritrea yet but I’d love to go one day and experience the country and the culture first hand and hopefully be able to learn some Tigrinya because my language skills resemble that of a 12-month-old so far. 

As a child, there were times where I thought life would be so much easier if I weren’t so different. If I knew exactly where I belonged and had a single football team I could root for during the World Championship. To this day, I still feel lost sometimes and am not sure if my emotions are justified or if I can address certain topics within one group of my cultural heritage or not. But I would never, ever want to change the way it is right now. I wouldn’t be the person that I am today if I hadn’t experienced the traits and challenges of being mixed. As far as anticipating my future outlook on this topic, I’d say that I am only going to get more comfortable in who I am and find more advantages from being mixed.

During my whole time as a student, I have had only one Black professor, who left after my second semester. At the moment, I am the only female POC, or even Greek female as a matter of fact, working at the university within our department. I do see improvement in the media representation of parts of my ethnic background, but not as much as I wish. I also think that the bi-or multiracial narrative hasn’t been addressed enough in the media. 

We, as humans, have to remind ourselves that there are more aspects that connect us than aspects that separate us. We need to have honest conversations with each other in order to educate ourselves and be able to empathize with one another. If people are able to listen to one another and see every single person as an individual, people won’t be as scared anymore and without fear, racial inequality has no grounds to grow anymore. 

If I had the opportunity to be reborn I would want to be reborn as water; endless, flexible, existential, and powerful.

I was very scared at the start of the pandemic. I didn’t know how to manoeuvre my way through the day with my daily routine being disrupted so intensively. I am a very active and social person whose love language is quality time, so it’s needless to say that I felt lost. Over the time, I have learned to appreciate the slowing down of the outer life and am actually very grateful for it because it provided me with the much-needed time and space to turn inwards and reflect upon myself. I have picked up writing poems again, I started cooking for myself, which is usually something I haven’t done much before, I developed a passion for plants and gardening. So overall, how I manage my well being during the pandemic is by taking pleasure and energy out of the little ‘ordinary’ things and seeing them as the true gifts that they are.