By: Ariyana M.
When thinking about women of colour role models who have inspired me, a number of amazing women come to mind, the first being my mother. A common conversation between my friends and I is our relationships with our mothers. When considering both, the good and bad, I think a general consensus is that our moms are one of the first people to impact us, especially on our journey as women.
My mom was born and raised in Durban, South Africa during apartheid. As such, she grew up in a racially segregated community. After talking to her about what her life was like for many school projects growing up, I can only understand a small fraction of what her lived experience was. Living in apartheid she has expressed that the feeling of being inferior to the white population was ingrained into her. Comparatively, living up in Toronto she surrounded me with people of all different backgrounds and ethnicities. For me personally, I think growing up in a multicultural and diverse city made me appreciate my own background more.
These feelings of inferiority are something she never wanted for my brother and I. Even though we were born after the apartheid had ended, there were still and probably still are residual racist behaviours present in South Africa that she did not want us raised in. As a result, she and my father picked up their lives and moved thousands of kilometres across the world to start a life in Canada. They moved away from all of their family and everything they had ever known, uprooting their lives for better opportunities for us. I think only as I have gotten older and moved away from home myself, have I realized how hard it must have been to do so. This courage and strength is only something I can only aspire to achieve.
My mom has helped me with many things growing up, among them how to read, write, bake, do my hair and finish my chemistry homework. However, one of the most important among them is how to love and appreciate myself. She is constantly assuring me of my self-worth, praising me for my accomplishments and teaching me how to pick myself up when I feel down. There have been countless times over the past few years I have called her crying after not doing well on an assessment and without fail every time she reminds me of my intelligence and worth. She has blessed me with the most amazing opportunities. As women of colour we share similar experiences and her wisdom has helped me become the person I am today. She has shown me through example, how to be a strong, smart and fearless woman, and I am so grateful to have her not only as my mother but also as my role model.
QWOCC 