YR Media’s Sydney Wambui Wanguhu is incredibly proud to be African. But that wasn’t always the case.
Growing up, my last name was always the butt of a joke. Its “complex” pronunciation was never brought to my attention until every first day of school when my teachers would conduct roll calls struggling with each syllable.
For years, I almost felt a little ashamed when everyone around me hesitated or avoided saying my last name. So I settled on letting people off the hook by abbreviating it — hoping that’d be the end of my embarrassment.
Whenever I would share these experiences at school, my parents would encourage me to own my last name. And thinking back on it, I thank my parents for constantly reminding me how beautiful and important our culture is — even though I didn’t believe it at the time. They always speak highly of where we come from and of our family members who are still there.