"Téra lonji" by Cape Verdean singer Mayra Andrade.
Ola gente! My name is Izilda. I am 27 and I live in London, UK.
You may wonder what a criola like me is doing in a city where it rains all the time. Well, I ask myself that question too! I left my sunny Cabo Verde only for a few years and look at me, it has been 18 years already since I moved to Europe!
But I have to say, London is a beautiful city. I just moved here and I love it.
Am I going too fast? Okay, let me go back to the beginning of the story.
I was born in June 18th (I’m not sure though, but that’s another story I’ll get to later) in the beautiful and mountainous Santiago island. My parents, Teresa Borges Semedo de Brito and Domingos Mendes Robalo, loved each other so much that they had 7 children. I am the youngest one.
I grew up in the archipelago until my 9th birthday. I then moved to Paris, France, to live with my sisters and pursue my education.
I studied literature and graduated in comms and marketing.
During my school years, I got to travel to many places around the world and spend a whole year in the US. After graduation, I worked in beauty, then e-commerce and now music industry.
Why am I writing this blog? Well, it's simple. I would like to start a conversation.
I would like to start a conversation with the Cape Verdean community. Who we are; what’s the Cape Verdean culture like and how it evolves within the diaspora; what’s our story; who are the women, the criolas, and men, the criolos, who paved the way for the new generation; what issues we are facing today and how to overcome them… These are some of the questions I’ve been asking myself lately.
This conversation I would like to have with the community is undeniably linked to a conversation I am already having with myself. Who I am? What’s the identity of a so called imigrante? How can a double identity shape oneself? How to reconnect with my roots and the land of my ancestors in order to find my way in today’s world?
I want this blog to be a journey of learning, for me, and I hope for you too. Thanks for joining the ride. Nu bai, let’s go!
