Half-S’porean Shares The Struggles He Faced In Getting His Family To Accept His African Wife

Half-Singaporean, Half-Hong Konger Said Family Initially Did Not Accept African Girlfriend

Taking your significant other home to meet the parents is for some a nerve-racking affair.

For half-Singaporean, half-Hong Konger Clarence Tan, taking his African girlfriend Edna (now his wife) back to meet his parents was precisely that.

Just as he had expected, his parents, both Chinese, were not very welcoming towards Edna at first. Clarence shared the entire experience, right from when his parents first met Edna to when he and Edna finally tied the knot.

He posted his story onto Facebook group Subtle Asian Traits, where it has received thousands of likes, praises and congratulatory comments.

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Parents were against the relationship

The most difficult part for Clarence was enduring his parents’ disapproval. He respected his father a great deal, but at the same time loved Edna a lot, which left him in quite a dilemma.

His father had told him that because of the differences in culture, the marriage may run into many unforeseen difficulties. Clarence may also face “challenges” if he goes back to do business in Asia.

What really hurt Clarence was when his father told him not to expect his blessing and presence at the wedding.

Clarence never gave up

It wasn’t that Clarence’s parents absolutely hated Edna. They just disapproved of her, but tried as much as possible to be polite and greet her whenever she came over.

Clarence knew that the only way to resolve the matter was to bring Edna over more frequently — perhaps in the hope that his parents would start to see the qualities in her which he admired and loved.

In doing this, Clarence admits that Edna had more than once gotten angry and the both started arguing.

His parents finally saw the good in Edna

Eventually, Clarence’s parents warmed up to Edna. They learned about her spending lots of her free time helping Clarence build his company, Boddle — an educational game that teaches children Math in a fun way.

They also discovered that Edna had been supporting their son financially at times. So really, it was Clarence who was the lucky one in the relationship.

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Tied the knot with traditional ‘yum cha’

When the big day came, Clarence’s father had on his face the “widest smile” he had ever seen as Edna served him tea as part of the tradition.

In fact, his father was so happy that he offered to play the saxophone for the mother and son dance.

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If Clarence’s experience goes to show anything, it is that if you truly love someone, never give up on the person. Instead, do your best to let everyone see as you do the commendable qualities in your partner.

More than that, Clarence and Edna show us that love transcends all boundaries. It doesn’t matter if you come from different cultures, have different skin colours or speak different languages — what matters is that you love the other person for who they are.

MS News wishes Clarence and Edna a fulfilling marriage and a happy life together.

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Featured image adapted from Facebook.