La Blanche

I never know what to write in bios like this. To write “I am a 34 year old contractor from Iceland” and so on and so on sounds so strange to me. Not only because it is not true, but also because I don’t really identify myself by my age or my home. I don’t really know what I identify myself with- I guess. Which to me is perfect. I know I have a long way to go in order to really know what life is about- maybe I will never know- but I love the idea that I do what I do because I love it, no matter what that may be. I love to think of myself in the moment and in the situation that I am in right there. The decisions I made so far lead me there and I have never regretted thinking this way. This is why “home” is such a hard word for me. Of course I was born and raised somewhere, but that doesn’t necessarily mean home to me. I live in a different place, which showed be to be my home also. I have family on a different continent. And the most important thing is- I have people I absolutely love and admire all over the world. Knowing that most of them I haven’t even met. So home I find home in deep thoughts, good talks, long walks, sweet moments. And mostly just in people.

One of the decisions I made that lead me here were to go to medical school. I am happy to have found something I am so passionate about, but I quickly realized there is more to see than in Germany, especially in my field. I travelled to India to work at hospitals in Mumbai and Pune. And recently I decided it was time for a new change of pace in a new place. I chose Yaoundé, Cameroon.

I am here for 3 months to work at the Hôpital de la Caisse. And I would like to share my 6am thoughts, my midnight worries and my 3 am bursts of loving life with you. To think that my life is interesting enough for other people to read about is a strange thought. So I think of it as a souvenir for me. Maybe someone will enjoy it, though. So this is also for you, friend.

What is absolutely important for me to add is that the name of this blog is not supposed to focus on what I look like or what people think of me when they see me. I chose “The redhead” because to me it symbolizes being strange, sometimes not like others. Especially in Cameroon it is unusual, but also in other places I have visited, my looks have drawn attention. Sometimes it is the only thing people here see in me. Either way- people talking down to me because I am a ginger or a witch or people loving my hair- it seems like something people are obsessed about looks. I chose it because I want to talk about how looks play a role and how being treated differently because of this feels. It is also a way of expressing my feeling of sometimes not belonging to a place because of the color of my hair or my skin for that matter. What I most importantly want to express, however, is that we can belong anywhere- despite of any looks and how we should not look to closely on the skin but rather in the heart of people.