Dora "The Explorer"

Dora “the explorer”

I was born in Africa in a country called Guinea- Bissau in 1996, I had the unfortunate event of witnessing the 1998 civil war that occurred. My father was slick enough to be able to take me out of this situation and save me from the disaster that was war.

Now, it’s easy to think that this is a survival story, or a lucky refugee story, but that’s not the case, at all this ladies and gents is my very first diary and I decided to make it public so, maybe we can find answers together.

My name is Dora… I always make a small pause after I introduce myself, so that whoever it is can make their jokes, or Share their opinion about my name, I’ll do the same, please take your time…

I am now 23, I was 2 years old when I was adopted, but I always had contact with my biological parents, which you might think, oh my god that’s great, well… kind of

I have a very vivid memory of my childhood, during kindergarten years and on, every mother and Father’s Day, while all the other kids made their presents, I always had to double it, yes, two presents for each mother and father. If you asked me if it was weird, no, it was my reality, matter of fact it is my reality.

My friends and I play this game that I created, is called: Guess which mother I’m talking about. Every time I tell someone my story, I always get the same reaction, of wow and wonder, like I just told them about the last Steven Spielberg film, followed by, “Man, you’re so lucky having two sets of parents, having double the love”, and my reply, “ yeah…”.

Well, now is the time I tell you why I called this vocal, Dora the explorer. I want to apology before hand, if for now on will be hard to read, I want to take on this journey that is my brain, and like Dora, I need your help to find myself…

Growing up, I remember two specific objects, a couch and a tv. I heard a lot, that I had a tv addiction. I was true, I had the habit of getting home and turning on the tv, getting something to eat and seat on the couch that was the closest to the tv, put on my favourite channel, and stay there till I heard my mother’s car, I remember feeling rage, I hated the fact that she was home. As soon as she parks the car, I was outside, to help her with her bags, and I would prepare myself mentally for whatever would come out of her mouth.

Now this a good chance to play the game with you, try and guess which mother I’m referring to… I’ll let you know next chapter.

This is all for today…