“I am surprised that hardly anyone in the Netherlands knows Guyana. In Guyana, we have as many as 20 places with Dutch names,” says Tyron. Consequently, most people think he is Surinamese. But Guyana (the former British colony, not French Guiana) is Suriname’s neighbour. He ended up in Rotterdam through his search for his mother. “I saw her only twice in my life when I was three or four years old. When I got older, I heard she would live in the Netherlands.” He got an address of a nursing home from someone and decided to look for her in 2001. “But when I got there, the staff said they knew birth certificates of my brothers, but not mine. So I showed my birth certificate and was then finally allowed to see my mother. But she also said she didn’t know me, until I showed her my birth certificate too. Then she started crying.”
Back
On the street, next to the nursing home, he met a Surinamese man. “I know a bit of Surinamese so I talked to him and asked if he knew a hotel. He asked if I had money and I didn’t, so he offered to sleep at his place.” No sooner said than done. Tyron is a boxer so also went to a boxing school in Rotterdam. There he made some friends. Still, he wanted to go back. “I was homesick. I found it cold in the Netherlands, even though it was April.” He wanted to catch the plane to Guyana, but missed his flight. “Then I had to stay because I had no money for a return flight.”
Cutting hair for a plane ticket
To earn some money, he and his friend looked for opportunities. “I had worked in Guyana though in TV and as a businessman I only spoke English and French, so I couldn’t do that in the Netherlands. I told my friend that I cut hair as a hobby. Then he introduced me to a hairdresser where I was going to cut hair.” That went pretty well. “Fortunately, there are a lot of black people in Rotterdam. Because they also prefer to be cut by a black hairdresser.”
Feeling at home in Rotterdam
While saving for a plane ticket, he did want to feel at home in Rotterdam already. “So I started dancing salsa. I had never danced or seen salsa in Guyana, although all Dutch people think that everyone from Latin America dances salsa. At salsa classes, I met a lot of people and built my network. I advise others to do the same. Or, if you don’t want to dance salsa, join a gym, club or go to a community centre. But a dance place is really one of the best because there you have direct contact and a chance to talk.”
Staying for love
That’s how he met his Dutch girlfriend. “Then I did want to stay. I asked for a temporary stay visa. For that I had to learn Dutch and then after three years I was allowed to ask for a Dutch passport. I did that and that’s how I became a Dutch citizen within four years.” He found a job with COA and can now appreciate the country. “Everyone here does their own thing independently and takes care of themselves. In our culture, people ask for help very easily, for example for money. In the Netherlands that happens less; here people wait until they have money and then buy it.”
Tasty food
Rotterdam is the best city, according to him, though. “I like seeing different people and cultures. And I find it convenient that I can get Surinamese and African food here like this. Because I can’t get used to Dutch food. You grow up with a certain kind of food anyway. I grew up with food from Guyana, which is almost the same as Surinamese food.”
Back to Guyana
Yet Tyron still wants to go back to Guyana. “It is not always pleasant to suddenly live in another country. In my opinion, no one who migrates over the age of 30 really gets used to a new country.” So he includes himself among them. Still, he is staying for now. “I now have two young children here. They need daddy. That’s the only reason I’m staying. Otherwise, I would have been long gone. When they are bigger, I can go back.”