For me, Barbados serves as a well-spring of vibrant inspiration, mental renewal, soulful purification and familial connection. Having maternal and paternal ties to this small island in the Lesser Antilles gives me amazing superpowers that I am immediately able to tap into as soon as the aircraft touches the tarmac. It’s as though a switch of humility and immense gratitude activates and all is right again.
Each return to my motherland refreshes my vision and clarifies all doubt. The stories my aunts and grandmother share of my great-grand parents and extended family reminds me that my ancestors were risk taking, no-nonsense folk who loved, persisted and prevailed in new and foreign lands. My ancestors watered and grew community and family from a mustard seed of faith and chance.
Oftentimes, I find traces of myself reflected in their storytelling; hints of Anika in the vivid tales told about my emigrant Lucian and Panamanian bloodlines. I, too, am adventurous both out of necessity and curiosity. My longing to see the world and ability bridge cultures through exploration and conversation aligns with my ancestors’ path of emigration, kinship and resilience.
•••••
I’ve been reading a book by Malidoma Patrice Somé, PhD. for some years now (yes, you’ve read that right & I’ll admit it). The book is as much profound and informative as it is chilling and enlivening. In his writing, Somé analyzes his tribal customs through various intersections and angles. He mentions that in his culture the belief is that a child is given a name as a way to affirm to his calling. Somé continues to explain that it is the community to which the child belongs that is responsible for reminding and encouraging the youth of their purpose that is upheld by the meaning of their name.
The knowledge dropped in that book reverberates through my mind.
It’s that awareness along with the conversations I’ve witnessed while sitting at the dinner table wrapped up in my own introspections that I’ve come to a thrilling conclusion. Anika means sweet faced in Hausa traditions and graceful in other customs, and I believe that I was born to not only travel and delve into other customary conventions, but also to gracefully straddle and inevitably merge my American status with my Bajan privilege (heritage). My entire purpose is to build connections to things that otherwise wouldn’t be so through fashion and health-focused mediums.
Seeing the bigger picture, I colourfully envision my life through a lens of prosperity, community and ownership – a homage to what my deceased loved ones accomplished while alive. Owning businesses and properties (intellectual too) as well as being accountable for my narrative and the relationships I participate in is the frequency I’m tapping into.
•••••
Barbados, you give me chills every time. What some may take for granted, I appreciate with a burning passion.
My need to repatriate and build here is supported by the whispers of my ancestors’. I hear them in the rush of the sea when it crashes against the shore; I taste them in the salty air and the fresh tropical delights; I see them in the striking rays of the sun interrupted by raindrops as loud as thunder clunking on the roof. They call me to return home. They invite me with open arms to finish what they’ve started here. Georgina and Cecil Vanderpool remind me that the sky is the limit and my time in America is finite but I’d live eternally here in Barbados through my work and legacy. With grace, dignity and discernment, I’m ready to begin. I have an eerie feeling that this next chapter of my life will present healing and lucrative opportunities that I didn’t even know were possible.
Thank you. Thankful.
the.SHE.experience 