Living in the Hyphen

Hi APC! My name is Léa Diwo. I am half french and half Cambodian and grew up in Asia my whole life. I have recently moved to France and the question “how come you speak French so well” always comes up and I hate it. Why the need to think that if you grew up in a different country you have to have an accent? I’ve never felt like I belonged in either country. It’s gotten better now as I am used to France but before when I would come here, I wouldn’t feel comfortable because I was not used to be surrounded by French culture and I felt like people didn’t seem to think I belonged there either. Same goes for Cambodia; even though I spent pretty much my whole life there, I was still the “white” kid to them, the stranger. I didn’t grow up the way they did. I thought differently, therefore I wasn’t really Cambodian. I started taking an interest in photography after my father’s death. He was a photographer as well. I like taking pictures of people as I think it is a way to represent different cultures and different ways of living. As photography is new to me, I do not have a lot of pictures yet but I look forward to taking more! Back to the identity confusion, I feel like a lot of mixed kids deal with the same thing, therefore, I hope that my writing brings you solace and that one day, you will find a place that makes you feel like you belong.