Mixed Up Messed Up?

BBC World Service Broadcast Journalist

 

Well let’s start with a petit introduction. I was born in London, then moved to the green suburbs of Beckenham in Kent when I was two years old. My upbringing at home was pretty interesting, with a  Mediterranean looking Moroccan mother (who grew up in the French system and spoke more French than Arabic) and an Indian looking father from Mauritius. I was brought up speaking a melange of English, French, Arabic and Creole. Holidays were  fun as I had very mixed Mauritian cousins ranging from half Trinidadians to half Irish who came to visit bringing all sorts of gifts.  However outside the loud Beckenham household ie primary school, it was another thing. I realised I was a bit odd when a six year old child came up to me and said, 'Nora are u adopted?' 'Huh' I replied.  'Nora you are so much darker than your mum she could be David’s mum (David the only olive skinned Jew at school) and your father looks really Indian and dark he could be Priya’s father.' Oh gosh this child did have a point. Maybe I was adopted? Maybe I was from… humm dunno? That question 'Where are you from?' has been stuck with me till this day even though I always thought I was an ordinary girl from Beckenham. I met Iman in 2002 at university and for the first time I did not really need to give a long winded explanation about my British identity which has always been questioned.  Since then I have met many like Iman too- mixed identities or one identity. The one thing we all seem to have in common is that we have been boxed and judged by how society finds it easiest to define us. In 2011 I became the BBC's correspondent in Morocco which was a dream come true and I was finally discovering the motherland with an insider outsider journalistic perspective. But there too I was being questioned about my identity by some of my fellow Moroccans and some of my fellow European expats. Two worlds which never seemed to really mix and I was once again the messenger between the two. This was another instigator that lead to this project 'Mixed Up Messed Up?' Hope you will enjoy the different journeys displayed through out the website.