My name is Ailin and I have multiple nationality syndrome.
What is that?
I was born in Argentina.
I have a Spanish surname, my mom is Bolivian and my dad is...
Asian.
I say it that way because it's easier for me
to say he is Asian, Chinese or Korean,
rather than explaining that I don't know where is he from, where is him,
or who did I get my Asian eyes from.
He left me and my mom when I was eight months old.
When I was a little girl I found it difficult to understand.
I missed him, without even knowing him.
And I had a huge desire to know what he was like,
ask him a thousand questions,
while I was dreaming that one day he would come back
and my family would finally be complete.
As I grew older, it made me uncomfortable to be singled out for being different.
I was "the Chinese".
As if it was something you could be sure of just by my looks,
even when I myself didn't know really well about my roots,
my ancestry, my identity.
Everyone seemed to be sure that I was Chinese, except me.
It felt like a void, a mystery.
And, within that mystery, now I understand, I saw options.
I saw an opportunity.
If everyone thought I was Chinese,
why not learning about being Chinese?
When I was eight years old, I asked to be enrolled in a Chinese school
that I attended on weekends.
At the same time, my classmates were forced by their parents to go
to perfect their Chinese.
And many of them already spoke Chinese at home.
I was there being the exception.
I loved going there.
I was able to share my existential doubts with my classmates,
like the identity clash of not knowing if you're more Argentinean or Chinese.
They said they felt Chinese in Argentina
and Argentineans when they were in China.
In one place in the world or in the other they were seen differently.
I also took on Korean lessons.
And over time I started to care less where my dad was from.
And I became more interested
in learning about the culture of the countries I was so linked to,
where I found different senses of identity.
I would discover myself in the exploration of the different tones
that this mystery could take, this void to be filled.
Yet other concerns popped up.
I wondered, "And what does all this mean?"
"Do I study Chinese in order to be Chinese?"
"Do I seek to be Korean by studying Korean?"
"Am I trying to fit into the expectation others have of me when they see me?"
No, it's not just that.
I discovered that my identity it's not fixed,
something concrete and with clear boundaries.
And that I am actually in a constant transition.
The decisions I made which led me to so many experiences
helped me understand how to connect worlds,
discover a thousand options and possibilities.
Opportunities.
And discover that it is the differences between us that enrich us.
My multiple nationality syndrome made me to understand life
as a constant transition.
And I suspect each of you are also a constant transition.
Each with your many multicolored personalities
discovering a thousand options and possibilities,
building ideas and dreams;
discovering the multiple tones
that this mystery can take.
Thank you.