“So where do you call home?” I get asked that question numerous times. Sometimes the response just jumps out and other times I pause before answering.
I was born in the USA when my parents, who are Kenyan, were studying at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. They moved to Kenya when I was two years old. I grew up there and returned to the USA to attend college when I was 18 years old. It was at that time that I was faced with a major decision. To what country would I belong? During this time, Kenya did not recognize dual citizenship. I actually had to choose if I would remain a Kenyan citizen or solely as an American. I struggled with this decision at first. But my mother said that being an American on paper would make things a lot easier for me and that it did not change who I was as a person, and she was right. I embraced my American citizenship and remained true to my Kenyan roots.
It is now 2019 and I have lived in the United States longer than I did in Kenya. That is something I never imagined would happen because I always thought I would move back to Kenya or even somewhere else. Most people who I grew up with and left Kenya to study abroad usually returned home after their studies. I married my best friend soon after we graduated from college. My husband Robert, had also left his home country of Uganda to study in the United States. Robert was offered a job which landed us in Austin, Minnesota. Our family has moved many times due to his job, but the moves have always been within the USA. Wherever we moved, we made those new places home. I got involved in the local community through the church by joining small groups and women’s bible studies. I helped with my children’s school in the classrooms. Within our neighborhood, I helped organize pot-lucks and progressive dinners. Doing these things created a sense of community for me and my family with those with whom we interacted.
In 2010, I had lived in the USA the same amount of time that I had lived in Kenya. I call that year my bridge year. I am still living in the USA and I call it home. I also call Kenya my home but I don’t quite feel like I’m straddling between places. Over the years since I arrived in the USA, I have made efforts to assimilate and adjust. It has been easy for me for the most part.
As I raise my children, I continue to help them see Kenya, Uganda and the United States as part of their heritage. The culture I was raised in is still very much ingrained in me and a huge part of who I am. Home to me, in the end, will always be where the heart is.
