NEKESSA - SEPTEMBER 24TH, 2019
Nekessa: I think one of the first conversations we ever had, I don’t know if you remember, was around the American definition of Queerness and the ways people present. Because there are parts of it I actually don’t understand in terms of like defining what Queerness is. How much of nonconforming is Queerness or is it like being suppressive or all that sort of thing? But yeah, I remember this conversation we had. Nancy: Well, thank you for sitting with me and sharing your story. So, my first question is just establishing who am I sitting across from? Tell me your name, where you’re from, and what brought you to the West? Nekessa: I’m Nekessa Opti. I moved to Minnesota to the U.S., early 2000 and I came here for college. I had family that had also moved here in the 80s for college, but I basically came to the U.S. for higher ED, and then have stayed since.
Nancy: And, did you just say what caused or what drove your family away? Nekessa: No, nothing drove my family away. So, I grew up in Kenya in a city by Lake Victoria called Kisumu. I was born in Nairobi, which is the capital of Kenya. And grew up in a very educated, elite family that always wanted my siblings, I and cousins to have. You know, formal education. And so I applied to a lot of colleges in the U.S. and in the U.K. and I got admitted to a couple of colleges in the U.S. and that’s how I ended up here. So, I came alone and my siblings are also all over the world. One of them [who] is here also came here for college, and then the others went to college in other parts of the world. Nancy: And have you returned? Nekessa: Back home? No, I have not actually. The last time I was home was twice: one for my mother’s funeral, and then one time after that, and of course it became really difficult for me to go back after my mom had passed on. She was an only parent to my siblings and I. And at the time when she passed away, all of us were college-aged and moving around to go to college. So, home really changed for me and what home was because she wasn’t there anymore. And so I fell into depression around that time and lost my student status and have been undocumented since. And I have thought about going back home, but I don’t know. Yeah. Nancy: Well, I just want to hold that, what you just shared, acknowledging that loss drove you away from home. And that’s like really heavy and I’m just taking a pause for that. Nekessa: Thank you.
"MY FAMILY HAS REALLY MY HOME, LIKE VERY CENTERED AROUND NOT EVEN NECESSARILY THE GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF WHERE I GREW UP, BUT THE MEMORIES."
Nancy: So prior to your mom pas