born
b e t w e e n
borders

Some of them packed what little they had, and strode across an endless desert.

Some of them abandoned established careers and respected titles
to sit at the bottom rungs
of a foreign society

Some climbed fences
Many boarded planes.
But all of them
came from far away
to live in a place where they would be mocked
if they weren't ignored.

Of course,
they did it all for us.

We are that tomorrow that was claimed
by brave women and men who had little, but risked it all because they believed.

We are those children that were born
between borders.
Influenced by a new world,
and inspired by the old one they left behind.

We carry our parents dreams with us;
like ghosts
that no one can look past.
There are no tables we will not overturn
and there are no locked doors
we will not dislodge. 

We are the children of engineers that drove your taxis. 
We are the sons of surgeons that served your tables, 
and we are the daughters of diplomats that held open your elevator doors
In spite of their genius

our parents were bedeviled by the black magic of bureaucracy
and backward immigration policies. 
But not us.

We are the future that their hard-work and discarded dreams foresaw. 

FW17 "Born Between Borders"
Credits

Photography by Rog Walker
Make-Up by Patrice Worthy

Models:
Kamau Hosten
James Jean
Jeremiah Nvamah
Patricia Kissi-Nvamah
Stephen Obisanya
Evan Rossi
Patrice Worthy