Chinese, Jamaican, Canadian. These three words, whether strung together or uttered separately, embody the things that define me as a person enjoying the best of three worlds.
I am Jamaican born of Chinese parentage and a naturalized Canadian citizen. I had no control over where I was born or who my parents would be but in my adult years circumstances caused me to migrate to Canada.
In the 1970s this move was not unusual for people of similar backgrounds.
As a Chinese by ethnicity, I followed the rules, ethics and values of my parents whose native country is China. However, since I was born in the Caribbean, the cultures of that region became ingrained in me as I grew older and, in time, the Jamaican culture became the pre-dominant way of life, after all, most of my schoolmates and playmates were Jamaican.
I enjoyed the Jamaican way of life which was influenced and enriched by the British under whose flag we were governed until 1962 when Jamaica gained her independence. That was a proud and momentous time for Jamaicans of all races.
Being a Canadian makes me no less a Chinese-Jamaican and that one extra hyphen completes my hybrid persona.