Meeting the Laseges
In 2013 Africa Web TV had a very ambitious project to make a documentary film about the racial divide or lack of it in modern Europe. We were going to look at this delicate issue from within the eyes of the Africans living in various parts of Europe. One of the people Africa Web TV spoke with then were the Laseges; a multiracial family living in Zielona Gora, Poland. Unfortunately, the final documentary did not see the light of the day. This is because all our recordings (including those made in Holland, Germany, Belgium and France) got caught up in the great computer crash of 2013. We lost every raw recordings we ever made before October 2013. All 3 terabytes of materials.
Fast forward August 2014, Africa Web TV meets the Laseges again. Just like during the first meeting, the Laseges were very welcoming and accommodating. There has been an addition to the family in March 2013. Since our last visit, Femi had been born and is now a vibrant 14 month old beautiful young boy. Kemi and Ife were looking just as radiant and friendly as ever.
The story of the Laseges is not your average “an African man comes to Europe and needs a European woman to get his permanent status here and after securing his papers divorces his wife so that he can bring his African wife here” story. (See more pictures here) This is a story that is based on love, mutual admiration and respect for each other. Lanre Lasege is a Nigerian university graduate who came to London, England to continue his studies. It was at one of the church services that he met Monika, a Polish English teacher who was working at the time in Croydon, England. It was love at first sight. At least as far as he was concerned. Within a few months and against the wishes of her parents and some friends in Poland, they were married.
Once they got married, they decided to leave the seeming affluence of England to go back to her hometown of Zielona Gora at a time when the economic future of Poland was far from certain. While Polish people were emigrating in hundreds of thousands in search of greener pastures elsewhere, a African man (without any Polish language skills) and his newly-wedded wife were moving into town! What’s more, they were moving into a city of 120,000 where only 1 or 2 black people had lived temporarily. 11 years later, they are just another Polish family living in Zielona Gora. Such is the extent of their blending into the society that nobody notices his skin colour nor do people look around when they see Monika trudging along with her 3 light brown kids.
As one would suspect, it has not been an easy sailing for both. Lanre has had to be at his creative best to work and survive without initially speaking a word of Polish. Monika has lost a couple of friends who were opposed to her marrying an Africa. Being a working mother of 3 kids sometimes takes its toll. Of course, once in a while there have been some odd, even if hilarious racist incidents. Some of Monika’s colleagues even took bets about them getting separated or divorced within a few years of their marriage.
The way they tell it does not come across as if they are too concerned. They just take it in their stride. As Monika puts it, they don’t have problems. It is the other people who have problems. While other black people find it difficult to build a life in Zielona Gora, Lanre has become the longest black permanent resident of this most beautiful of Polish cities.
These are people who see a silver lining in even the darkest cloud. They believe in themselves and refuse to get bogged down by adversity. Their 3 children are being brought up to believe in themselves and to take the positives out of life. Even Monika’s parents who were initially opposed to their liaison are now their biggest supporters!
Meeting the Laseges certainly brought a smile to our faces. Many other interracial couples can draw inspirations from their story.
