A Big Family

I AM THE CHILD of a freedom fighter and an accountant. My idealistic father left South Africa when he was 19 due to his anti-apartheid actions. My pragmatic mother was the top student in her newly independent country of Swaziland, now named Eswatini. I was born there, grew up in Lusaka, Nairobi, and Ottawa, and as an adult have spent most of my time living in major cities, including New York and Johannesburg. I see myself as a blend of my parents: a pragmatic idealist. I travel for practical reasons—and also because I love the bustle of chaotic streets, the rhythms of markets, and the feeling of limitless possibility.

And yet, for the last eight years, I have found myself living in Western Australia, in Perth, where there is little bustle, there are few markets, and daily life is very, well, predictable. Here, the idealist in me often feels defeated by the pragmatist.