Manuela’s Story: “They don’t see me”
I’m a daughter of AFRICA, born in the middle of a civil war. I survived it!
Forced to leave home my family decided to make a trip to a foreign land, in Europe, where there were promises of a new life, a new beginning…
Compelled to fit in on a new society we have done our best to rebuild our lives. We’ve made it!
I still live in this sunny country that has welcomed me and my family.
When growing up I had a home, a nice family, I could play with my brothers, sisters and friends, I felt loved and really… nothing seemed to be missing. All the important things were there.
I am a grown up now, I have an education, I have a job… I live a “normal” life, similar to many other people’s lives BUT…
There is and there have always been this thing about me… THE COLOR OF MY SKIN!
My life story is not shocking… I haven’t been bitten up, I haven’t been spit at… But there is always this thing about me… I AM MARKED BY THE COLOR OF MY SKIN!
THIS DARK MOHOGANY SKIN… Everybody seems to know me, even if I don’t say a thing.
In peoples heads I am a criminal, a victim, untrustworthy, a dummy, an excellent dancer, exotic, anything…
People see what they want to see: what they have been told by their friends, what they have learned from the tabloids or the images on the MTV…
They see want they want to see BUT THEY DO NOT SEE ME!
I’m a daughter of AFRICA, born in the middle of a civil war. I survived it!
Forced to leave home my family decided to make a trip to a foreign land, in Europe, where there were promises of a new life, a new beginning…
Compelled to fit in on a new society we have done our best to rebuild our lives. We’ve made it!
I still live in this sunny country that has welcomed me and my family.
When growing up I had a home, a nice family, I could play with my brothers, sisters and friends, I felt loved and really… nothing seemed to be missing. All the important things were there.
I am a grown up now, I have an education, I have a job… I live a “normal” life, similar to many other people’s lives BUT…
There is and there have always been this thing about me… THE COLOR OF MY SKIN!
My life story is not shocking… I haven’t been bitten up, I haven’t been spit at… But there is always this thing about me… I AM MARKED BY THE COLOR OF MY SKIN!
THIS DARK MOHOGANY SKIN… Everybody seems to know me, even if I don’t say a thing.
In peoples heads I am a criminal, a victim, untrustworthy, a dummy, an excellent dancer, exotic, anything…
People see what they want to see: what they have been told by their friends, what they have learned from the tabloids or the images on the MTV…
They see want they want to see BUT THEY DO NOT SEE ME!
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