Dutch | Curacaoan
I am a married woman who has mixed blood. I live in Amsterdam, have been raised Catholic but now live not under a religion, but in the power of the universe. My Father is from the Netherlands and was born and raised in Amsterdam, the Jordaan the heart of Amsterdam. My Mother is from Curacao and was born in Willemstad. When she was 27, she came to the Netherlands and met my Father at a birthday party of her sister. They fell in love and after 3 years I was their first-born child.
I think I was about 4 or 5 years old that I noticed that I grew up in 2 different cultures. For example, at my Father's family party’s it was always necessary for the children to go to bed in the evening, at my Mother's family party’s it did not matter, and we were allowed to dance and play until we were tired. Also around that age, I was always asked if my Father was my real Father, because he was White.
I lived until my 5th year in Amsterdam and then moved with my Mother, Father and sister to Almere, close to Amsterdam. I have never felt different because my girlfriends at school almost everyone had a different skin colour. I know that when I was younger, my parents sometimes had some arguments. My Father had some strict rules and my Mother was always a bit lax. Things like the time to go to bed, cleaning up our room. My Mother never minded when we walked all day in our pyjamas, my Dad always wanted us to be dressed and showered in the morning. But for me as a child I never saw those arguments as something big, because they can also laugh about it. I have never experienced any challenges based around my mixed heritage.
I met my friends and also my husband through sport. My sport is a big part of my life. Almost everyone besides my family that I have known is through sport.
I really love my Caribbean food from my Mother’s family, also my cake addiction is from my Mother’s family. I love both salsa and dancing on Caribbean music as well as Dutch music such as André Hazes and Jonnie Jordaan, I was raised with this. I understand everything in my Mother's language Papiamento, but I cannot speak it. I learned to understand it from my Mother who would talk in Papiamento with her family, but my Mother never raised us in Papiamento. I do speak my Dutch, my Father's language. I have curly hair, if I want I can also style it straight. I find my hair quite easy because I can do actually anything with it.
I see myself as a rich woman as I grew up in 2 different cultures. I have never felt different in both families because I am mixed and enjoyed all the memories until now. Both cultures have beautiful loving habits that I am very happy to be part of and to belong to. As I am mixed, I do not place anyone in a box because of his or her origin and I see everyone as an individual, based on their heart. I really love Latin American music, because I grew up with that. As soon as salsa is played somewhere I cannot stand still, and I always have to dance. I work in sport, I have never felt differently because of my skin colour.
If I was born again, I would like to be born exactly the same as now. I have had a beautiful childhood with loving parents, who are now back together and are happier than ever. All the strokes I have experienced have made me the woman I am now. and I would never want to change the woman I am now to someone else.