• last year
"The more I wonder, the more I love". Wendy, Nancy and Alvin ponders on the meaning of home, the beauty in our shared differences and what it truly means to be Singaporean.

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Transcript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:02 But other than that, I really like Thai topo.
00:05 Huh?
00:05 I've never heard of that.
00:06 What do you mean?
00:07 OK.
00:08 Now I feel like I'm hitting a random thing as well.
00:10 Thai topo is carrot cake, right?
00:11 Yeah.
00:12 I always say I crave carrot cake.
00:13 Can I have it white?
00:15 Can I have it black?
00:15 Must be mixed.
00:16 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:19 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
00:26 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
00:29 Wendy Mary.
00:31 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
00:33 Nancy Eva.
00:34 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
00:36 Azi Sillamon.
00:37 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
00:39 I'm Nancy.
00:40 I'm 27.
00:41 I'm a middle child.
00:43 Country of origin, from Tanzania.
00:45 Yeah, I'm Wendy.
00:46 Turning 30 this year.
00:48 I'm Alvin.
00:49 I am 25.
00:51 I came to Singapore when I was two years old.
00:54 So I've been here about plus minus 27 years.
00:57 I came to Singapore when I was two months old.
00:59 I came to Singapore at birth.
01:01 Born here.
01:02 Our whole immediate family is in Singapore.
01:06 My dad was working in the government in Tanzania.
01:08 My dad's friend was working in Singapore.
01:10 The friend said, oh, Singapore is great.
01:13 I think it was in the '90s.
01:14 Sounds great.
01:14 Then he was like, come and work here.
01:16 And then he was like, I don't know about that.
01:18 And he was like, I'm going to buy you a plane ticket to come.
01:20 So he came over.
01:21 He worked for about a year or two, I think.
01:23 He was like, you know what?
01:24 I'm going to move the whole family over.
01:25 And that's how we are all in Singapore.
01:27 Our parents still-- they've been here for like 20,
01:30 almost 30 years.
01:31 They still speak in thick African accents,
01:34 like the thickest ever.
01:36 I remember when I was younger, like coming back home
01:38 from primary school, my mom would always
01:40 like scold me to speak proper English.
01:43 Because she's like, you have to speak proper English.
01:46 And I'm just like, OK, OK.
01:48 That constant change is sometimes confusing
01:50 when you're around both parties, when you're with my mom,
01:54 with other Singaporeans.
01:55 It's like a--
01:56 How do I talk?
01:57 Yeah.
01:58 Because of the code switching.
01:59 So there's even things like how we pronounce our names.
02:02 If my mom was here, it's not what you said.
02:04 Yeah, if my mom was outside, I would be like, An-An-C.
02:06 Yeah.
02:07 The A has to be an R, with Alvin.
02:09 This is Alvin.
02:11 This is Nancy.
02:13 Yeah, Wendy is fine.
02:14 Yeah, Wendy is the A.
02:18 I think my most interesting encounters
02:23 were in secondary school.
02:25 Yeah, because people are like--
02:27 I think people are more curious.
02:28 They would say my hair is like Maggie Mee.
02:30 Can never know where we are from.
02:32 I don't know.
02:33 Like, everyone was just like, you're from everywhere
02:35 except for Tanzania.
02:36 I find NS was quite chill, because I
02:44 think the part that helped me at the start
02:46 is because everyone's like, botak, right?
02:48 So normally, it's like the telltale sign is the hair,
02:50 but the hair is gone.
02:51 So it's like, you kind of blend in better.
02:54 Yeah.
02:54 I mean, in my NS, we had a lot of people
02:56 from different countries.
02:57 Like, my platoon had someone.
02:58 An American, we had a German, we had a Japanese.
03:02 Only after a while, they knew that I was African,
03:05 because my 11B, you know.
03:06 It also kind of helped, because I can speak Mandarin.
03:08 So it helped with conversing in the bunk.
03:12 Once you can kind of speak Chinese, it kind of
03:14 helps with stuff.
03:16 And then you can kind of connect with everyone in a weird way.
03:19 Our favourite place to eat, or like the most memorable place
03:25 to eat was when we were living in MacPherson for a season.
03:28 And then we used to go to this place called Julai Ha.
03:30 OK, so this is where we used to eat growing up.
03:35 I think because there was this very big community
03:38 spirit about that store.
03:40 Like, everyone knew each other.
03:42 They remember us as kids, even up to a point
03:44 where we went back as teenagers.
03:48 Going into adulthood, they'll still remember who we are.
03:53 It was very accepting growing up.
03:56 I mean, in the house that we lived before, this house,
04:02 on the left side, we had Chinese neighbours.
04:04 On the right side, we had Indian neighbours.
04:07 And honestly, that's like the best time growing up for me.
04:11 It was like, they were the best neighbours ever.
04:15 Our Chinese neighbours would always give us food,
04:18 invite us over for meals, and I'll have the best meals.
04:22 And then our Indian neighbours, they had the best parties, bro.
04:25 Like, honestly, they had the best parties.
04:28 I remember they even had a party when after we moved out,
04:30 they invited us back.
04:33 Spending so much time in Singapore
04:36 has caused us to realise we need to strengthen
04:40 our roots in Tanzania.
04:41 All of us here will low-key agree that
04:43 we're pretty much going to have interracial marriages.
04:49 We all intend to make roots in Singapore, right?
04:51 So I think the need, at least for me,
04:53 the thought to pass down something came to mind.
04:56 Half of this heritage, you're half African.
04:59 How do you not know anything about Africa?
05:01 So I think that's where it's like, "Oh my gosh, it's time."
05:05 It's time to learn at least the language.
05:08 I always think of what I can pass down to my kids.
05:11 And I think when I'm sharing stories to them,
05:15 I don't want it to just be my parents' stories.
05:18 I want it to at least be my stories as well.
05:21 I think it's just, in general, not just want to be
05:24 Tanzanians by name, but to have that substance in it
05:30 that can be passed down.
05:31 So that's why I feel,
05:34 if in my last, before I have kids, if I can go back
05:39 and spend a little bit more time and at least have
05:42 more memories or just experience the culture a little bit more,
05:48 yeah, that would be good.
05:50 I feel like, ironically, we've become like a bridge
05:54 between locals to a different culture,
05:58 like an unknown culture to them,
06:00 and foreigners to the Singapore culture.
06:03 I guess we've given a lot of people insight into our lives
06:06 and our culture, especially through putting our parents online
06:10 in our videos, showing people that, "Oh yeah, there are Africans
06:13 that live in Singapore and they can sound like us."
06:15 And then also for a lot of the foreigners coming to Singapore,
06:18 we were kind of like that go-to person in terms of like,
06:22 "What should I expect from Singapore?
06:24 Like, are Singaporeans nice?
06:26 What should I eat?
06:27 Can I get this here? Can I get that there?"
06:29 What, like, you know, those kind of things,
06:30 which I didn't expect to become like a one-stop shop kind of thing
06:36 in terms of like a hub for questions,
06:38 but that was a lot of the questions and DMs that I would get
06:43 from foreigners.
06:43 And also, interestingly, a lot of locals that were living overseas,
06:48 when they saw our content, it was like, it reminded them of home.
06:52 So I think it was nice that we could be that reminder of home to them,
06:56 that, you know, Singapore is not just, doesn't have just one look, or,
07:00 I mean, it doesn't have one look, but it has a very distinct sound.
07:04 So I feel like things like that kind of like allowed us to
07:08 maybe normalise the accent a little bit more, I don't know,
07:11 or like normalise a lot of the things that Singaporeans do
07:15 and not make it seem like it's a bad thing.
07:18 If I have one thing to add,
07:20 it's the fact that we are different, yet not so different.
07:23 It's like same, same, but different.
07:25 And that's how I feel we add to like the Singapore tapestry,
07:29 which is...
07:30 There's no look to being Singaporean.
07:31 Yeah, there's no look to being Singaporean.
07:32 So I think Singapore is Singapore because of
07:35 every unique and different person that's in it.
07:37 Yeah.
07:38 Yeah.
07:38 That's why there's no look to being Singaporean.
07:41 Yeah.
07:41 More like it, there's a sound.
07:43 Yeah, I feel like it's more of a sound.
07:45 I would say don't worry too much about looking different.
07:51 Or don't think too much about that.
07:54 Even though people keep pointing it out.
07:56 Your difference is your strength.
07:58 I only came to like really fully know and understand
08:01 how it's a strength like only in recent years.
08:03 Home is not where, but home is who.
08:06 It was always the people that we met
08:08 and the communities that we built
08:10 that made it home for us.
08:12 Thank you Singapore for being a safe space
08:16 for cultural diversity and where we could grow up
08:19 and feel a sense of belonging.
08:20 Thank you for the memories you have brought me
08:22 and for bringing a sense of comfort
08:23 that I wouldn't find anywhere else.
08:25 I just want to say thank you to the friends
08:26 who we have made growing up.
08:28 You have made living in Singapore
08:31 and growing up in Singapore
08:32 a very diverse experience.
08:34 Because I've always wanted to low-key get out of Singapore
08:37 when I was growing up.
08:38 But I feel like the people are one of the reasons why
08:42 I am so connected to this place.
08:44 And I just want to thank all the friends
08:46 that we have grown up with
08:47 and we have made memories with.
08:49 I just want to thank them for making growing up here great.
08:53 I think I was here to wonder myself.
08:55 To wonder.
08:56 To ask.
08:57 And that in wondering about the big things
08:59 and asking about the big things
09:01 you learn about the little ones
09:02 almost by accident.
09:04 But you never know nothing more about the big things
09:06 than you start out with.
09:08 The more I wonder, the more I love.
09:10 So, thank you Singapore.
09:12 You probably didn't expect to turn out this way.
09:15 Being a hub for different cultures and heritages to exist.
09:18 Yet you take on that challenge
09:19 and through that, three little kids from Africa
09:21 could call this place home.
09:23 Thank you Singapore for letting me live my best life,
09:25 for giving me my best friends and my best memories.
09:28 Thank you for letting me grow,
09:29 wander,
09:30 wander,
09:31 and expand my knowledge.
09:32 Thank you for giving meaning to the phrase
09:34 "The more I wonder, the more I love."
09:37 (Music)
09:40 (Music)
09:43 (Music)
09:46 (Music)
09:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]