You are a refugee, then?

"So you're not kidding"?

A long time back, a more established White English man posed me this inquiry.

Pause, what? Did this White person simply inquire as to whether I was an evacuee?

Allow me to lay the right foundation. I was in Amsterdam for seven days in length preparing for my UK based worldwide non-administrative association (INGO). The preparation was on checking and assessment of U.K. supported Unfamiliar Province and Advancement Office (FCDO) projects for people working in the worldwide improvement area.

It was during the morning break meeting and this White man moved toward me — the main Dark female member at the preparation — and asked me where I was from.

I let him know I was brought into the world in Montserrat in the Caribbean and came to the U.K. because of a volcanic emergency and have lived here for more than twenty years.

I was in absolute shock when his reaction was:

"So that is no joke"?

How could that naturally be his most memorable reaction? Why the moment name? How could you feel sufficiently brave to ask somebody you recently met that inquiry?

Thus consider the possibility that I was an exile. How might that transform anything? Might it be said that i was not able to be at this FCDO preparing? Could he give me a compassion gesture of congratulations and let me know I'm so versatile for defeating such a great amount in my life?

I immediately pulled it together and considerately educated him that no, I was not a displaced person. As a matter of fact, I was a Montserratian conceived, English resident who was qualified for move to the U.K. as one of the final English Abroad Regions (BOT).