Apart from all the positives, it was a difficult evening as well. People at the event (stakeholders from mostly the charity sector) seemed to be very concerned with defining my otherness and confused about the combination of my accent and brown skin. It's been a while since I've had so many questions "where are you from?", "No, where are you really from?" "What is your accent?" One woman was surprised that my accent was Dutch, because she thought Columbian... Although the prize goes to "So are you native British now or will you go back to wherever you came from?" I met loads of people, but only 1 person did not ask me where I was from                        

Ughh… These quotidian acts of violence/othering can resonate and effect in unsuspecting ways. A hug of solidarity/care from across the pond