Heritage means a lot to me, I want to learn my languages, learn to cook the different types of dishes that my family makes. Religion plays a big role in my heritage as my paternal family are Indian Muslims, so that influences how we behave and dress, what we eat etc because other Indians might not do so. There are different kinds of Indian cultures like Memons,Surthi, Gujarati and us Urdus.

We are not as dramatic and colourful as other Indians and are in fact more similar to Pakistanis when it comes to behavior. With my maternal family, it is very different. My mother is Muslim and so is my grandmother and uncle and three cousins. But the rest of the family are white Christians and Zulus that follow their traditions, so I cannot participate in any of that. But as for food I love making African food and wearing African beads. I do not know what culture my white family members have as they live far away. I really enjoy my multicultural family, everyone is so loving and caring.

I was born in South Africa and so were my parents but I know my paternal family are Indians and they still speak Urdu fluently. My maternal grandmother is a Zulu. And my maternal grandfather was a white Afrikaner, he must have descended from the Dutch. I grew up speaking English and have already learnt Urdu and Arabic. Now I need to finish learning Zulu and begin learning Afrikaans.

I like wearing Indian clothing such as long Anarkali suits, and big scarves. Indian jewellery is very bold and stunning and I own a few of them, but being heavy I often prefer the lighter beaded necklaces and earrings of Africans. African clothing just looked very thick to me hence I never bought any, but now I have seen some really cool African dresses and would like to purchase some in future. I wear scarves often and tie them like Africans do, it always turns out better.

I actually own more neutral clothing like dresses and skirts that don’t belong to any culture, so it doesn’t really reflect my heritage. Also since I am a Muslim I wear a cloak and hijab and niqab when I’m outside, so nobody really knows who I am, what my style is or what my heritage is either. Thus no judgement from others.

However when I was in school people would assume that I was just an Indian or that my mother was a cape coloured. As I learned that my mother was not a cape coloured but rather a mixed woman, this assumption annoyed me. Others didn’t like to listen my explanation of what race my mother is and didn’t like to hear about my African family members. This is due to their assumptions and believing stereotypes. I actually used to feel ashamed because of how they dismissed Africans, and didn’t talk about my heritage for a while.

Like all other people I go to the beach in summer, love going to our family farm and cooling off by a river and love eating fast food; however, home cooked meals with pap or roti, dates and samosas in Ramadan and sojee and burfee on Eid hits differently. It’s the feeling that I get with family that really makes my day.