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Behind every SEDA piece there is a story, behind each model and crew there is a story.....here is one from Natasha Gonam. (@tanasha_gonam)
My name is Natasha, which means “Thank You” or more directly, “I am thankful” in my mum’s mother tongue, Bemba, and ironically, I do have a lot to be thankful for.
I’m the baby of my immediate family and was born in a Southern African country called Zambia, but unlike the rest of my family, I only got to live in Zambia for 9 months before we all moved to South Africa.
We “settled” in South Africa, moving to a new province within the country every 2 years, because of my dad’s work (he’s a mining engineer). Living a perpetually “nomadic” life, I learned to assimilate to new people and places very quickly, while simultaneously learning to not get too attached, because in 2 years time I’d be on my way again. The displacement didn’t end there however, because my family and I made it our unspoken tradition to not only explore South Africa but the entire world as often and as much as we could.
My first trip out of South Africa was when I was maybe 4 or 5 years old and, full disclosure, I honestly don’t remember the trip at all. What I do remember, however, is how much I enjoyed experiencing different people, places, cultures, sights, sounds and foods. Every trip (and there were a lot) was removing me more and more from being able to form a definitive definition of home, I was becoming a global citizen.
In being born a “mixed” African (I’m 1/4 Malawian and 3/4 Zambian), being raised outside of my birth place, speaking 90% fluent Afrikaans, travelling the world at a very young age and living my adult life in Australia now, I can say that I fully resonate with the saying, “home is where the heart is”, I’ve concluded that I’m not where I’m from, I’m where I’ve been and maybe, just maybe I’ll become where I’m going, but who knows where that could be, either way, I’m thankful.
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