Finding Mercy or Sinterklaas?

Yesterday my brother phoned and asked me to accompany him to the film Finding Mercy at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Idfa 2012). It's a film made by Robyn Paterson who grew up in Zimbabwe, it must have been about the time I grew up there too. Robyn moved to New Zealand and she starts to wonder what has happened to her friend Mercy. So she goes back to look for her. The history of Zimbabwe unfolds through Paterson's discoveries and encounters, and she is confronted with the decline of her homeland, the country she once loved so much. Robyn says: ""What I really wanted to do with this film was to engage viewers with the reality of what has happened in Zimbabwe. To provide a human face to the situation there."

Wow when my brother told me about the film I really wanted to see it. The only problem was that I had promised to take my daughter to the "intocht van Sinterklaas" (the arrival of Saint Nicolas in our town) today. So I had to choose, sometimes when you have promised a child something as a parent you have to just keep your promise. So in the cold we went to see Sinterklaas. Toady I will have to be satisfied with the trailer of the film Finding Mercy. I will share the trailer with you too.

Sinterklaas arrived by boat and them continued his way by horse and carriage. 

Related Posts:
To or not to do: celebrate Sinterklaas Abroad
Rachel Abroad: The Arrival of Sinterklaas in Utrecht
Cultural Identity Confusion and Third Culture Kids
Marit's tip: The book "Blood Brothers" all about their friendship in Liberia

I am from..........and where are you from?

Recently I read a lovely post on a Dutch blog Opgroeien in het Buitenland. The post inspired me to write about where I'm from. Here is the result.

I am from....

I am from Acacia trees, Tanganda tea and tasty Royco soup.
I am from lovely gardens with hoopoe birds, cold stone houses and the fresh smell after the first rains.
I am from avocado trees, red flame lilies, roasted peanuts and watching the sunrise on a Matopos kopje.
I am from singing grace, climbing mount Mulanje and finding mountain cristals, from growing up bilingual and letters from grandparents far away.
I am from making music and cycling, from climbing trees and camping holidays with open fires.
I am from public speaking contests, toastmasters club and swimming galas.
I am from praise songs and love meals. Potluck diners and youth group fun.
I am from Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and the Netherlands. Moving is the name of the game.
I am from homemade lemon curd, muesli, chutney and oliebollen (oil dumplings). From hagelslag (chocolate sprinklers) and drop (liquorish). From milk and cheese.
I am from the warm heart of Africa, but not officially. I am from the land of the multiculti. The tribe of third culture kids.
A global nomad. A global citizen.
I am from neither here nor there.
I am from all the people and places that I love.

                                                            *********************************************************************

I wonder where you are from. I used the "Where I'm from template". You can use the template too. I hope you try it, because it is actually great fun. I'm really interested in hearing where you are from. Let me know if you would like to share your story here. I could publish it as a guest post.Just to let you know that Lucia Bodeman has accepted the challenge. Here's her "poem" telling us where she's from. Thanks Lucia! Who's next?

Related posts:

• Third culture kids speaking: I'm not from anywhere
• Third culture kids going to university 
• Are you raising messed up kids?

My heritage of growing up overseas: Close encouters of a tropical kind

I actually have a very funny memory of a watermelon. I must have been about 13 years old. We had travelled all day from Beitbridge in the South of Matabeleland, Zimbabwe to our home at that time in Bulawayo. These were bumpy roads and we had bought a juicy, big, ripe watermelon along the way. We had probably bought it for a good price. It was a warm day and the idea of a succulent, juicy watermelon must have been very appealing at the time. Why we did not dig into it straight away remains an unanswered question in my mind.

Image by Fedegrafo Morgue File

When I talk about we, I mean my parents, my brothers and my little sister of 5 years old. We had travelled that day in a land cruiser owned by the NGO (non-governmental organisation) that my father worked for at the time. This land cruiser had taken us along nice, well maintained, tarmac roads but also along bumpy, unpredictable bush roads. Now the watermelon had made this journey along with us too.

On arrival at home all the kids had to join in carrying the luggage into the house, making sure the land cruiser was emptied of all our belongings and returned into its original state. Not sure if that was possible, but anyway. Seeing as we had been away for more than a week there was always a pile of letters awaiting our homecoming. These were put on the kitchen table together with our precious watermelon. Tired from the journey we left our friend the watermelon and the mail on the table for the night.

We were rudely awakened that night. There was the sound of a serious explosion. The stillness of the African night was abruptly interrupted by an enormous amount of noise. The noise was from an unknown source, it was unexpected, unpredicted, and maybe unwelcome. It ended in some kind of “splat!”

Arriving at the scene of the crime, we saw the devastation, we saw the mess. From the ceiling to the floor the ruins were visible. The mail was ruined, sploshed, sticky and gooey. The chairs, the walls, everything was marked by this extreme explosion: the UFO, unidentified flying object. After wiping the sleep out of our eyes, we recognized the remains of our juicy watermelon, glued all over the kitchen. Seeds and juice were everywhere. That what should have brought us pure joy, life, juice, excitement, ecstasy and refreshment, had now become another task, chore, a dirty sticky mess, a disappointment, a disgust and lots of sweat.

So that was the end of our fermented and well-travelled watermelon.

Have you had funny experiences abroad? I would love to hear them.

Related posts: 

• My heritage of growing up overseas: Respect for Malaria 
• My heritage of growing up overseas: a heart for the children of the world 
• The downside of growing up overseas as a third culture kid
• Third culture kids: learning their mother tongue

Wat missen Nederlanders in het Buitenland?

Er is pas De Grote Mis Verkiezing gehouden. Wat mis je het meest in het buitenland. Nederlanders en Vlamingen over de hele wereld konden stemmen. De televisie zender BVN hield deze Mis verkiezing. BNV staat voor het Beste van Vlaanderen en Nederland en is de publieke televisiezender voor Nederlandstaligen in het buitenland. Er waren meer dan 10 duizend reacties. Sommige missen een huis vol bloemen of gewoon naar de markt gaan om tulpen te kopen.

Foto genomen in Keukenhof Lisse

Op de website De Grote Mis Verkiezing konden mensen aangeven wat zij het meeste missen in het buitenland.  

Hier is de top 10:

1. Haring 9,1%
2. Kroket 8,6%
3. Kaas 8,1% Zijn wij dan toch echte "Kaas Koppen"?
4. Hema 8% dan zing ik meteen "Echte Hema!"
5. Familie/vrienden 6,7%
6. Fietsen 6,5% Nederkand is ook een echt fietsland. 13,5 miljoen Nederlanders (84%) heeft één of meerdere fietsen. Lees hier Fietsen in cijfers van de Fietsersbond.
7. Bakker producten 3,7%
8. Gezelligheid 2,2% (dit is een Nederlands woord dat niet goed in het Engels te vertalen is)
9. Sinterklaas 2,1% ik heb laatst ook geschreven over Sinterklaas in het buitenland vieren?
10. Beleg/slaatjes 2,1%

Hier is een kort filmpje van het jeugdjournaal er over dat heet Kroket meer gemist dan oma.
De Belgen in het buitenland missen friet het meest (16,9%)! Er zijn een aantal overeenkomsten met de Nederlanders. Wat Belgen ook missen zijn garnalen, bier, chocola, humor en de markten. Familie en vrienden komen pas op de 8ste plaats.

Tijdens mijn kinderjaren heb ik in Afrika gewoond. Ik kan vooral herinneren dat hagelslag en drop voor ons heel speciaal waren en dat bezoekers uit Nederland dit voor ons meenamen. Er was een periode dat er geen rozijnen of krenten te koop waren in Zimbabwe en ik weet nog dat mensen dit voor ons in hun koffers bij zich hadden. Het kan ook zijn dat wij zelf krenten en rozijnen uit Nederland meebrachten. Ze werden beward voor oudjaarsavond en moesten natuurlijk in de oliebollen mix. Ik weet ook nog dat mijn oma een keer bij ons op bezoek kwam in Malawi en dat zij samen met mijn moeder witte kool omtoverde tot "zuurkool"! Ja stamppotten zijn volgens mij ook typisch Hollands.

Ik heb eerder geschreven over Herinnering aan Holland.
Waar kom je vandaan?
Vliegende Hollanders
Kinderboek "Ik Heb het Niet Bedacht"
Ontdekken dat je een Third Culture Kid bent

Wat mis jij in het buitenland? Waar heb je alles voor over om het het te eten of te kunnen doen? Herken je deze top 10?

To do or not to do: Celebrate Sinterklaas abroad?

Sinterklaas coming to town 2011, Nederland

It's the time of year in the Netherlands that all the children are excited. They are full of anticipation, they are expecting a bag full of presents. It's the time of year that "Sinterklaas" is celebrated. He arrived in the Netherlands on the 12th of November this year and since then there has been a daily Sinterklaas news show on television for the children. This is the Dutch website of het Sinterklaas journaal (the news). Here the Radio Netherlands Worldwide reports that Sinterklaas arrived safely in the Netherlands. This is an interesting fact: The arrival of Saint Nicholas #sinterklaasintocht even became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter for a while on Saturday.

I was talking to my brother-in-law last week and he told me that he enjoys hearing our stories and seeing the photos of our Sinterklaas celebrations in Malawi and Zimbabwe. He said "that is probably the most Dutch thing that you did when you lived there". For the Dutch community in Harare, Zimbabwe my dad was the Sinterklaas and as teenagers we dressed up as zwarte Piet (black Peter). I remember being stared at driving through the streets of Harare dressed up as zwarte Piet. I must admit I have fond memories of our Sinterklaas celebrations abroad.

On the InCulture website there is a blog post about St. Nicholas day. There a several countries in Europe where they celebrate a variation of Sinterklaas.

I met an expat here in the Netherlands and she has written several blog posts about Sinterklaas. I will add the links because sometimes it's good to have an objective description from an "outsider". To get into the feel of it. Here is Fourier Analyst her English Pepernoten recipe and her English recipe for Kruidnoten. Both pepernoten and kruidnoten are biscuits that are typical for Sinterklaas celebrations. Many schools and even daycare centres have the kids make these small biscuits as a fun activity. Here Fourier Analyst writes about the history of Sinterklaas. In the following posts she explains the traditions of adding poems to the presents and there is a lot more interesting information.
Who is coming to you house? part II
Who is coming to your house? part III
Who is coming to your house? part IV
Who is coming to you house? part V
Who is coming to your house? part VI

Did you know that half a billion chocolate coated pepernoten cookies are expected to be sold this holiday season?

There is a Dutch website for children abroad called Wereldkids. On their website you can see Sinterklaas in Madrid, Spain and in Singapore. There is even a photo competition for the best photo of a Sinterklaas celebration abroad. The winning photo's were made in Austria, Entebbe (Uganda) and Accra (Ghana), have a look.

This year for the first time in many years Sinterklaas did not officially arrive in Vancouver, Canada. The reason was that Zwarte Piet (black Peter) was not allowed to be part of the celebrations. There were accusations of racism. They decided that if Zwarte Piet was not allowed then the celebrations would be cancelled. So the question is to celebrate or not to celebrate Sinterklaas abroad? Do we teach our third culture kids abroad our home traditions or not? What do you think? What are your memories of celebrations abroad?

Libby Stephens explains what third culture kids are!

Libby Stephens explains in this short video what third culture kids are. Libby is a cross-cultural transition consultant. In short she knows lots about third culture kids and has been working with them for more than 25 years. Let's just say she's an expert on this topic.

In my last post A confession to make about the term third culture kids I already wrote about the definition.

Putting it simply. She explains what the 3 different cultures are.

1. The first has to do with legality. What is your nationality? In my case that would be Dutch.
2. The 2nd culture has to do with geography. In which countries have you lived in? I have lived in Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and the Netherlands.
3. The 3rd culture has to do with community. It is all about a group of people that have lived some of their growing up years internationally. So this is all about relationships. It's true I really feel at home in an international environment.

Have you seen the short trailer "Les Passagers" all about third culture kids by Aga Magdolen. It's really worth watching!

Do you have any questions about what third culture kids are? Have you heard of the term before?

Third Culture Kids Going to University

Graduation

Have you heard of Denizen Magazine? It is an online magazine dedicated to third culture kids also known as TCKs. There are more than 14 people contributing to this magazine. See the list of contributors here. It is a very multicultural group of people that have lived in many countries of the world. I am enthusiastic about one of their latest articles: A Third Culture kids guide to college. The article is full of links and worth reading if you or someone you know is going off to university or college. Please share it with your friends and family.

I remember the question I came to dread when I started university here in the Netherlands. It was the question: "well where are you from?" Now there someone just asked me one of the most difficult questions there is to answer. In my mind I would think shall I give a short answer or shall I give the whole story? The short answer was "I am from Friesland" (that is up in the north of the Netherlands, where my dad comes from). By the way in Friesland many people speak Frisian. I can actually speak some Frisian too. It has happened that when I gave the short answer and said that I came from Friesland, the reply was "so that explains your accent". Little did they know that the accent in my Dutch was actually an English accent. Now for the long answer I sometimes gave: I was born in Zambia, lived in Malawi, my parents now live in Zimbabwe. My parents are Dutch but I have never really lived here. Usually after the long answer our conversation would end. We had no similarities, my background was so totally different to their story. Occasionally there was the odd question: in what kind of house did you live in? What did you eat there?

Denizen Magazine has another article on 8 do's and don'ts for introducing your TCK background. How can you celebrate your experience abroad without boasting? It's worth reading if you are about to start at a new school or college.
The first tip is interesting:

"Don't give everyone you meet your life story"

So maybe I should have answered with the short answer instead of giving people and overload of information within a few minutes of meeting me?

A book worth reading if you have just started university is "The Global Nomad's Guide to University Transition" written by Tina Quick. She is an adult Third Culture Kid (ATCK) who, having made 18 moves (9 of them before her 10th birthday) understands well the cycle of loss and grief involved in a cross-cultural lifestyle. Tina has raised her own TCKs across four cultures and continents including Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. On the website International Family Transitions Tina gives a list of 10 things every global nomad should know before leaving for university.Check it out.

Recently I wrote 2 blog posts in Dutch. One is about one of my first days at university and the other has 5 tips for students coming from overseas.
Waar kom je vandaan?
5 tips voor jongeren die vanuit het buitenland komen en in hun "thuisland" gaan studeren

Do you have advice for third culture kids going to university or college? Please share it with us. What were your experiences?

Image thanks to hmm360 Morgue file

Rina Mushonga een voorbeeld van een cross cultural kid (CCK)

Heb je de naam Rina Mushonga al gehoord? Zij is een Nederlandse/Zimbabwaanse zangeres die in India geboren is. Lees hier meer over Rina Mushonga: het beste van twee continenten. Rina is een third culture kid (TCK) maar ook een cross cultural kid (CCK). Een cross cultural kid heeft ouders afkomstig van verschillende landen of culturen.

Rina zegt "ik kom niet van één plek en mijn muziek ook niet".
"Ik verwerk zowel mijn Europese als mijn Zimbabwaanse achtergrond in mijn muziek"

Luister naar Rina:

Wil je meer muziek van Rina horen? Dan kan dat op http://www.youtube.com/rinamushonga.

Er zijn veel meer mensen die een deel van hun jeugd in het buitenland hebben doorgebracht. Hier zijn meer voorbeelden van Nederlandse adult third culture kids (ATCK). Ik heb ook eerder geschreven over Ank Oosting en Jutta König. Haikaa is ook een artiest net als Rina Mushonga. Haikaa is geboren in Brazilië en heeft in Amerika en Japan gestudeerd. Vaak zie je dat mensen die een deel van hun jeugd in een andere cultuur doorbrengen ruim denkend zijn, creatief, inventief, and they "think outside of the box"! Er zijn meer voordelen wat betreft het opgroeien in het buitenland, maar er zitten natuurlijk ook nadelen aan.

Het lijkt er op dat het Rina goed gelukt is om de verschillende culturele componenten van haar jeugd te mengen in haar muziek. Is het jou gelukt in je leven? Zou je er misschien iets over willen delen? Voeg dan een opmerking toe. Ik wardeer het. Wil je meer over mijn verhaal lezen?

My heritage of growing up overseas. Part 1: Respect for malaria

Sometimes things happen in your life that leave a lasting impression on you. When I was a teenager in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe I attended a funeral of a mother of friends of mine. I was probably about 15 years old at the time. The mother of this Swedish family of four children died of malaria in Zimbabwe. It was such a sad occasion. There were tears everywhere. Maybe it remains imprinted in my memory because I come from a family of four kids too. Maybe I thought it could have happened to me too. The children did not only lose their mother, they returned back to Sweden and had to say goodbye to all their friends. They left their home, their school, their playmates and their memories in Africa. So tragic. The worst part of it all is that malaria is and was at that time a curable disease. Since then I have a deep respect for malaria. I did some research on malaria and my respect only increased. Recently Wordgeyser wrote a post preparing for the worst: the death of a spouse overseas. You know these things do happen. This is a real world we live in. So here comes more about my heritage: the deep respect for malaria.

Malaria is caused by a parasite of the genius plasmodium. It is spread from person to person by the bites of infected mosquitoes.

Here are 10 facts about malaria:

1. About 3.3 billion people - half of the world's population - are at risk of malaria.
2. It leads to approximately 1 million deaths every year.
3. 1 in every 5 childhood deaths in Africa is due to malaria.
4. Every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria in Africa. So while you were reading this list another child just died in Africa due to malaria.
5. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment are two basic elements of malaria control.
6. If not treated with effective medicines malaria can often be fatal.
7. Pregnant women are at high risk not only of dying from the complications of severe malaria, but also spontaneous abortion, premature delivery or stillbirth. 
8. Malaria is also a cause of severe maternal anaemia and is responsible for about one third of preventable low birth weight babies.  
9. Long-lasting insecticidal nets can be used to provide protection to risk groups, especially young children and pregnant women in high transmission areas.
10. Malaria is preventable and curable.

This is information from the World Health Organisation (WHO). There is a list available famous people who died of malaria. At the expat Info desk I discovered that they recently warned expats that malaria is on the rise. The advice is the same for all travelers - you must take anti-mosquito precautions and medication to keep safe. We in the west have everything so well organized and I think we forget the force of nature, and the suddenness of disease and death. Here are the malaria symptoms and more information about diagnosis. Recently two Dutch tourists died of malaria which they caught in Gambia. They did not take anti-malaria medication. Here is an article by the BBC Malaria: a major global killer.

Please join the "have respect for malaria club". What is your experience with malaria? Do you have advice for others on this subject. Please share your experience or your advice with us.

Waar kom je vandaan?

Daar loop ik dan tussen al die jongeren. Ik loop mee door de onbekende straten en door de onbekende stad. Ik zie allemaal onbekende gezichten. Om mij heen lijken de andere allemaal bekende tegen te komen, maar ik ken niemand, en niemand kent mij.

Ik lijk op de jongeren om mij heen, wij hebben voor een groot deel dezelfde huiskleur, wij nemen deel aan dezelfde ELCID introductie week van de Leidse universiteit, wij zijn ongeveer even oud, en toch zijn er heel veel verschillen.

Ik ben geboren in Zambia. Mijn lagere school was een internationale school in Blantyre, Malawi. De middelbare school ben ik in Lilongwe, Malawi begonnen en heb ik in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe afgemaakt. Recent heb ik afscheid genomen van vrienden, familie en het bekende in Zimbabwe om te gaan studeren en een nieuw leven op te bouwen in het geboorte land van mijn ouders. Mijn ouders wonen nog in Bulawayo, maar ik ben de oudste van het gezin en ik moet als eerste het nest uit vliegen.

Alles is zo nieuw en onbekend. Ik heb blond haar en blauwe ogen en spreek Nederlands. Toch kom ik er achter dat ik mijzelf meer “African” voel dan Nederlander. Ik heb ook immers mijn hele leven in Afrika gewoond. Ja, om de paar jaar kwamen wij “even” op verlof naar Nederland, maar ken ik Nederland?

Alles kost mij energie. Ik moet voortdurend mijn ogen goed open houden en om mij heen kijken hoe mensen dingen doen. Hoe koop ik een treinkaartje? Hoe werkt de OV chipkaart? Hoe moet ik de groente wegen in de supermarkt? Wat zijn de mensen achter de kassa onvriendelijk. Ik voel mij net een nummer.

Wat is er ook een keus. In Zimbabwe hadden wij maar één of twee merken chips en daar waren een paar verschillende smaken. Hier is de keus overweldigend. Soms koop ik geen chips, gewoon omdat de keus zo groot is. Kleren kopen doe ik al helemaal niet. Mijn kleren hebben toch geen gaten en voldoen toch prima? Ja dat het niet de nieuwste mode is dat weet ik ook wel. Wat moet ik met die mode, is het niet allemaal wat overdreven? Op school was ik een schooluniform gewend, dat was wel makkelijk.

gezien in Frans Hals museum, Haarlem

Ik voel mij zoveel ouder dan mijn medestudenten. In leeftijd zijn wij even oud maar naar mijn gevoel heb ik armoede en rijkdom al gezien, honger en ellende, ziekte en dood. Door het reizen heb ik meer levenservaring maar soms voelt het als een ballast.

Dan de steeds terugkerende vraag van medestudenten: “waar kom je vandaan?” Ik ben geboren in Afrika maar ik ben Nederlander en ik heb hier nooit echt gewoond. Ja waar kom ik vandaan?

Lees ook over Mijn ontdekking dat ik een third culture kid ben.