A couple days ago, I was acquainting with someone new. As usual in the opening niceties, people ask where you’re from. Depending on what part of the world you happen to be in, the answer is rarely the same. You have the proud “born and raised” crowd, a handful of international students and second generation offspring yet there are even fewer folks who leave you feeling like you know less about them than before you answered that question. Faces and body language rarely lie, and you always know when people are puzzled on just how to react to what you’ve laid upon them.
“Kenya?”
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“Yes.”
“You mean, like, Africa?”
“That is the continent, correct.”
Their brows turn into a furrow as they take a moment to consider what they’ve just confirmed. I can usually get a sense of the theme that’s flashing across their thoughts, as if a grand marquee just illuminated and revealed one word. ‘Different.’ Right, now that they’ve cleared that up, they move on to more familiar territory; “I mean, like, originally.”
Firstly, my parents are Pakistani. I look every bit of it. But I have never lived there, nor been educated there. I have made the occasional visit but it feels more like a glimpse into a different world I happen to be connected to. Hardly originating.
Briefly, I was born in Houston and moved to Tanzania (yes, Africa) when I was 6. I spent the next 11 years there and completed my last two years of high school in Kenya before returning to Houston for university. Muddled within, the fact that my parents are divorced and my mother relocated to England. Naturally, I spent a lot of time there and experienced more culture than in the fleeting visits to Pakistan. Now it’s hard to just spill all that out to a total stranger who’s clearly still trying to comprehend if they’ve heard of Tanzania before. I found that I just resorted to saying Kenya more, simply because people have heard of it more and it evokes some sort of familiarity. But now the question feels so much more introspective. How do I define my origin? Memories as a toddler are faint so it’s hardly fair to say I’m Houstonian. I understand that my ethnicity projects a particular answer but the best I can do is lay it all out for you and administer a pop quiz with one multiple choice question with no wrong answer.
After much consideration, it came to my attention that I have the fortune of appreciating several cultures around the world. We all have the liberty to pick and choose which cultures we love and want to immerse ourselves in, but how often do we consider it? Growing up, the environment that you were raised in is evident in who we develop into approaching adulthood. Culture means how you celebrate the holidays, how religious you are, how you treat other people, where your value come from and basically what kind of life you live.
Most people have come across the phrase ‘Hakuna Matata.’ It means no worries. But back in East Africa, the phrase extends itself from a catchy phrase in a children’s film, into the day-to-day lifestyle. Days move slow, people relax on the job a lot. Although, it’s through socializing, tea and simply kicking back for a few moments. Sure it may not get a lot of work done but it creates a real sense of community as everyone becomes more and more attached by the day. And at the end of the day, they never fail to reassure you your problems will be solved. My point is, I eventually adapted to the world I lived in. It’s made a calmer man out of me. I form attachments to people that are beyond superficial. It’s an adage that has shaped my worldview.
I realized it’s not the growing up part that defines who I am. Rather, I ended up deciding which elements of what culture to adopt. I am not from anywhere in particular, just a blend of a few places. A medley, I like to call it. I am unable to commit myself to one place or swear loyalty on a patriotic scale and there’s nothing wrong with that. With globalization and technology making the world a smaller place by the day, we owe it to ourselves to see how the rest of the world sees us. Maybe there are cultures and values out there that we can relate to. A nation shouldn’t have to come with a label. There’s nothing wrong about being proud of where you come from, but at the same time, there’s a lot of the world you can still be a part of.
