So life got interesting being a mom at age 18 was very, very interesting. My own mom was 45 when she had me. I think that showed me how age isn't a factor. My husband and I have the same age difference as my daughter and I and most days he is such a kid!
South Africa was a new democracy when I had my baby, a world of opportunity, a world of possibility! Words like Ubuntu and post-apartheid being flung around, Rainbow nation came later. My daughters father was dutch, yes, and so, White, (yes, I'm South African it is my right to talk about colour lol) Me being a brown person, people still looked at you...like that. My baby was fair and blond-ish, I clearly was not. I remember one day I had taken a train to Claremont to do some shopping, diapers and the like, and I stopped in a lil chemist (drugstore) to pick up some chest rub. the lady at the cash register a colourful character kept peering at my baby, she was strapped in the front carrier, papoose thingy, she says: "Is die jou kind?' (is this your child?) I nod my head and smile..."mmm, maar dis mos 'n wit kind." ( mm, but thats a white child) To which I smile wider, pay her and walk out. I think that was my first encounter with people having issues with race. I was never made aware of others skin colour, people were people, victims of circumstances, warriors for causes, classed by wisdom and belief not colour! Colour classing was what young kids did with there smarties or m&m's or rascals. 
So my mind was opened to so many things that happened around me, things that changed peoples lives and destroyed opportunities. In South Africa if you were previously disadvantaged because of your colour you enjoyed certain perks, first to get a job, first to get a scholarship, first to get a grant etc.. This is what we were told, this is what we saw. Being brown, I should have been at least second in line to get a bursary but as my sister found out, the universities seemed to think that because your father worked his backside off getting you through Catholic private education, private school students were dropped to the bottom of the pile when applying. I learned the same when I enrolled as an Education student at Cape College of Education.
My saint of a mother, watched my daughter all through me working for a year and then suggested I go study. Her advice was, become a teacher. The lazy student in me was reluctant. The kid who always found a way to cut corners figured, hey, average pay, decent hours and the best holidays in any job there is! I never thought I would find that teaching would become a passion for me, a devotion almost a calling. And so began my Education course to get a diploma (as was thought at the time). After a year at Cape College of education, it was clear this institution was going no where slowly, it was taken over by the Cape Technikon, an institution that was run by the New South Africa, and all its bitter previously disadvantaged pieces. The only great part was that our diploma that should have been 3year was extended to a 4year Internationally acredited and recognised degree. Can you hear that reluctant learner whining?LOL
Here is a poem I wrote and entered into a Poetry contest explaining life at the technikon during the transition:
Everything I want the tech to be; So many things you want to do,
But you never can get through
to the internet or even get a book.
Computerlabs are completely out of reach;
If u can get in you're scolded by some beach!
Who has a class of twenty-four,
So she kicks you out the door,
And your assignments go flying to the floor!
The library is a completely other thing,
For assistance you're told the bell to ring.
When they eventually move their ass
You find you're late for your next class,
And you wonder if you're ever going to pass!
One photocopier at Cape Technikon!
One tuckshop (cafeteria) line that seems to carry on!
As much as we beg and plead and scream!
For them to give us more machines,
All we get from them is go and talk to him!
He's at the top of the chain
Students might as well be in Spain!
For it looks like he doesn't know a thing!
About Anxiety and fear!
About Assignments due this year!
And we wonder if he's EVER gonna hear!
You live in a very diverse area now. My daughter had a close friend from every background you can think of! I am so proud of that! I didn't realize your father was Dutch! I think my older sis would love the area you are from b/c she loooves her Dutch men (aww, but she's married). You live in a great State, here people are very open-minded. My daughter is as dark as they come, she barely looks half white and it just makes our family that much cooler (like yours!). Lots of fun stories/backgrounds to talk about. : )
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