Not One Of "Them"
Nine years ago, I landed in Schiphol Airport, the Netherlands half excited (to finally reunite with my father) and half scared to death about what life could be in this alien country. It was a rocky start but I tried doing everything "right." I mastered the G’s and the rolling R’s of the Dutch language. After 5 years, I handed over my Ghanaian passport for a Dutch one, thinking a piece of paper would be my golden ticket to belonging or acceptance. Yes I was legally Dutch but socially I remained that "African immigrant" not even Ghanaian! I spent years practicing the art of being invisible. I made myself small, kept my voice quiet, I apologised even when I wasn't wrong, accepted being treated like dirt and tried to fade into the background. I thought if I could at least mirrored the status quo perfectly, try to sound more Dutch, the "otherness" would eventually evaporate. The Bitter Realization But here is the truth we were never told about in integrat...