[Momce Makedonce]

Originally Posted by nushevski77

These are my stories although being born in the diaspora I for some reason have such an affinity to my ethnic roots/homeland as on the other hand my cousins couldn't care less maybe I'm just different or their just happy to be Canadians and leave all this stuff behind them but I feel its doing a disservice to not remember the people who fought for and suffered for the macedonian cause and although I make no impact on whats hapening right now with the political situation in the country I guess I try to do my part and educate those who are unaware of the macedonian struggle.

I can definitely relate to this, I have always had a much stronger affinity and connection to the Macedonian identity than my first cousins have. I remember growing up and always viewing them as being more mainstream Australian in the way they were raised and acted, whereas my siblings and I were more of a Macedonian upbringing. My cousins spoke really broken Macedonian, they even spoke to their other set of Grandparents in English which I always found really strange and never really had an interest in anything Macedonian. However it seems as they are getting older they are now getting more interested in knowing the language better, visiting Macedonia and practicing Macedonian culture which is a good thing.

It was probably due to the fact that my siblings and I live with my Baba and Dedo in the same house that the influence of Macedonian culture was always there, but in saying that nobody in my family ever really tried to make me a patriotic Macedonian, it's just been something I have always been interested and passionate about.

Your cousins could always gain an interest in being Macedonian in the future.