In the summer of 2005, when I went to my mother's native Cameroon, my grandmother thought it was important to sit me down and talk to me. With my mother as the translator, my grandmother said to me, “You don’t look like me, you are lighter than me, you are taller than me, your face isn’t like mine and your father does not come from here; but you are mine.” She pointed to my mother and said, “She is mine, so you are mine”. She then presented me with the most beautiful tribal blouse I’d ever seen. It was entirely brown but contained different shades of brown that looked so perfectly blended using somewhat of a tie-dye technique. The front of the blouse contained laces and bits of silk that were masterfully dyed and crocheted. The sleeves were made entirely out of lace, as was the bottom front of the shirt, with intricate patterns that I do not believe can ever be replicated. Bits of cotton were expertly placed and aligned on the shirt in a stripe pattern across the front. The collar was a crew neck, not of the typically kind, but with its own unique pattern and minuet trims. The part of the blouse that contains the lightest shade of brown is adorned with intricate leaf patterns that weave in and out of each other. The back, although void of patterns is beautiful and unique in its own right, with the blending of browns really sticking out to the eye. 

– Sunhee Esther Nduwimana

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant