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Through My Eyes

Through My Eyes

Author: Kasia Yoko
Date: 2023-09-29

Ina world seriously confused about identity, identifying our heritage is animportant endeavour, however in a world of chaos and fake celebrity worship,instant gratification is trending on most of our social agendas.

I was always made to believe that heritage issomehow engraved in our DNA but as I mature into my roots I am beginning tochange my views. As time passes by my heritage has been shaped by my life'sjourney.

Heritageis the interpretation of our experiences. We all experience things in our pastthat we continue to carry around with us in the stories that we tell. In thisnarrative we tell a version of the story that we believe to be true and indoing so we reinforce the impact that event or circumstance has on us. In somecases we thrive on those stories because they have become so much a part of usthat we don't know ourselves without them.

Iheard it described recently as a pet that we carry around with us. We sit therestroking the pet ensuring its wellbeing and survival within us. Well I havedecided to start rewriting some of the stories that I treasured so much in thepast.

Ioften share my heritage stories here. They come from my birthplace, my "khaya".They certainly are what shaped me but they no longer are what define me.

Thestories I tell and retell are getting tedious, I don't even know if it happenedthe way I remember it anymore. I feel like what seemed to be my reality threeyears ago, no longer seem relevant.

The26th of September marks 42 years since my family arrived on African soil. Thatday will always be marked by my parents' resolute determination to flee thepoverty and the mundane in search of a better, empowered life for us. It hasbeen an unforgettable ride of hope, vision and passion. Their relentless pushenabled us to live a life we couldn't even dream of 42 years ago.

Thestories I tell today of my heritage seem so alien from my present reality, I amoften reminded that we need to always be editing the stories in order to evolvebecause if we continue to live in the past we are just made of those fragmentedstories.

Nothing exists today that happened backthen, it is just a fragment of our imagination engraved in our minds. Theseregurgitated tales are just thoughts, they can be changed and therefore ourpast can be changed. Both your memory of it and the impact it had on you.

Aswe celebrate our rich heritage, lets remember all the 'gees', the pride thatmakes us so absolutely, uniquely and individually glorious. Lets manifest thebest version of ourselves wherever we are on this fabulous rollercoaster ridewe call life. Here's to the future of our crumbling rainbow nation.