Cultural Photo Mosaic

Culture by Proxy

I was blessed enough to have travelled to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Macau with my boyfriend Eric who is a Hong Kong born Chinese-Canadian The two of us made quite the stir in certain places. We are already seen as a unique culturally blended couple in Montreal but in Beijing:(which is a lot less metropolitan than HK) we were ALIENS...lol!

Guess who's coming to dinner? :) 

At the Great Wall!

I worked for the Delegation of Ghana for over eight years which allotted me the opportunity to widen my knowledge of West African culture as well as African culture on a whole. I do not have many pictures because they are now confidential property of the Delegation. I do however, have invaluable knowledge and memories as well as a much deeper understanding of historical and modern Africa, as well as their culture and customs. They are very much concerned with public appearance and saving face much like many Asians. Overt signs of respect, such as paying for a fancy dinner, giving gifts and using titles like His Excellency, Honorable or Ambassador is very important to them. 

Through some research, I found out that a large amount of Trinidadians can trace their roots to Ghana, so it's probable that my ancestors came from Ghana . As part of the African diaspora ( and one of the most massive conquer and divide  separations of a people) tracing my roots is rather complex. 

In the picture below, I am standing above a very high ranking Ghanian Director-General- I was overjoyed because she was the first woman to hold this post (she's the lady in the middle front row: Her Excellency, the Honorable Gloria Akuffo).

Cultural Cravings

Six years ago, I shocked everyone when I decided to go spend some time in India. I was often asked why I would want to go all the way to India by myself and the answer was that my soul had been called to. 

I was fortunate enough to travel to: New Delhi, Sarnath, Bangalore, Mumbai, Agra, Goa and Varanasi. I learnt a lot about myself and the other half of my culture, the Indian side. I worked briefly in an NGO and also spent some time in a Buddhist Monastery...I unfortunately do not have any of those pictures or any of my pictures from gorgeous Goa but I will never forget one bit of my amazing India trip. It changed me, it brought about a spiritual awakening and huge sense of peace. I have continued many of the practices that I picked up in India such as mediation and chanting mantras as well as OM- the primordial sound whenever in need of calm. India lives deep in my soul and is part of my culture though I have been separate from it family wise, it's still an obvious part of who I am. 

We are different- we are the Same

Being in an inter-racial relationship with someone from such a different culture from my own, has also been very eye opening. I think that not having such a strong connection to only one culture has enabled me to feel that I have lots in common with almost everyone. It was not fun being a bit of an outcast as a kid but as an adult, I have grown to love having the best of all worlds. 

The most profound thing that I've learnt from my cultural mis-mash of family, friends, travelling and life is that though we may be different in our norms, traditions and beliefs, we are all fundamentally very much alike regardless of cultural context.  Kids play where every you go, people joke, cry, play music, work, worry, fall in love, raise families, pay homage to their dead regardless everywhere. We are ALL unique and that is what makes us beautiful and special,but none of us is so unique that we cannot find a common ground. 

We do not have to assimilate to blend in with other cultures in order to get along, no way! We can embrace ourselves, our cultures and any cultures that we wish to with love and respect  for the grander culture of being a person on this journey called life.

We are one.