Interview: Paul Hofman
Activism is in Tieneke Sumter (57)'s blood from a young age. She was born in Suriname in the early 1960s to a lesbian mother. She moved with her mother to the Netherlands when she was six years old. She likes the new country. Here, she develops her militancy against injustice. "I am more than 100 per cent committed to LGBTI+ people," she says.
That she would become ambassador of Pride Amsterdam did not surprise anyone around her. Her daughters are wildly enthusiastic; it is a token of appreciation for her commitment to minorities. She herself responds soberly. "Although, when asked to become an ambassador, I had to gasp for air." What drives her? "When I see something I disagree with, I open my mouth." She is then stubborn and determined. "I think it's important for us as LGBTI+ people to be visible." That she herself is a role model fills her with pride. "If I can only save one life, I will," she says. She never loses sight of the human dimension.
Socially committed
Her curriculum vitae reads like a train. She spends her toddler years in Paramaribo. She was six when her mother decided to leave for the Netherlands. "My parents did not live together," she says. For much of her childhood, Tieneke was raised by her mother.
They end up in the Staatsliedenbuurt neighbourhood where she spent a happy childhood. She falls silent for a moment as she tells how many black children at that time were advised to go to the household school when choosing their secondary school. "My uncle was furious. Through him, I got into a comprehensive school in Osdorp." It turned out to be a golden opportunity and Tieneke was given every opportunity to develop her talents. These are the swinging sixties. She enjoys life to the full. Her girlhood dream is to become a school teacher. But will it come true?
Paplepel
After secondary school, Tieneke went on to study cultural social education at the Amsterdam Social Academy. "That's what I wanted. To advise people and make that my profession." she laughs. Social engagement was instilled in her at a young age. "It's in my genes. If you can do something for another, you should do it is the credo in our family."
She was only seventeen when she came out of the closet. The moment she became aware of her feelings for girls is clearly etched on her mind.
No big deal
"I was on holiday in Portugal with some friends. Back in the Netherlands, a girl from the group gave me a kiss on the cheek." Embarrassed, she looks at me. "Then I knew for sure. So this was it." The girl and she got into a relationship. For her mother, it doesn't come as a complete surprise. Like mother, like daughter it seems.
Tieneke says she has never been completely in the closet. "I think my mother always knew, especially when my girlfriend and I were together so often," she says. At the beginning of her adolescence, she had been in love with her teacher. "But I didn't pay much attention to that at the time." In hindsight, it was no big deal .
Mati women
When she told 'it' her mother, with whom she has a strong bond, in confidence, she was shocked. "Because I might experience the same thing she had gone through. Also because she thought I would suffer a lot of discrimination." Her mother becomes her biggest supporter. She glows with pride: "She and I were very close." As a lesbian, she is later more or less accepted by her family. "My mother had a busy social life in which she stood up for mati women," she says. Tieneke explains: " Matihood is seen as normal in Surinamese society. Matis are women who (also) have sexual relationships with women. They don't identify so much with homosexuality. Here in the Netherlands, identity is linked to sexuality." In every Creole family, you have a mati, a kind of aunt. "In the Surinamese community it is largely accepted. For men, it is less so."
Activism
She looks silently ahead. Then she says: "Around the age of eighteen, I started working for the interests of Surinamese gays." As a student at the Academy, social engagement comes naturally. Within a year, she becomes the foundation's figurehead." After her studies, she returns to Suriname. The blood crawls where it can't go, she laughs. "I already had a bit of activism behind me by then." With her energy and enthusiasm, she impresses. That she went back was not despite but because of her internship year in Suriname.
Explanation
The December killings had a huge impact on the newly independent country in the early 1980s. "I always wanted to go back. My mother was like: I live in the Netherlands but I live in Suriname. That also applied to me. Suriname is my country, it is the place where my umbilical cord is buried." The military coup made a deep impression on her.
She will continue to live there until 2016: "You can be whatever you want in Suriname, as long as you don't name it." Fortunately, this did change over the years. Tieneke successively becomes a policy official and director of a foundation working to combat violence against women and is active in an organisation against child sexual abuse. She becomes a welcome guest in the social debate.
Master's degree
Meanwhile, she returned to the Netherlands in the mid-1990s to do advanced training in organisation, policy and management. Back in Suriname, the enterprising Tieneke set up her own training and consultancy company doing large projects at the intersection of healthcare and welfare. In 2008, she completes her master's degree in Public Health. "It was a fantastic time," she says.
Positive
Together with her ex-boyfriend, she is raising her two children. "I was never condemned for this, we were fully accepted. Since 2012, a lot has happened for the better in Suriname regarding homosexuality." However, she remains critical. "In terms of legislation and regulations, we are still lagging behind. There is still a world to be won there. But the support from the business community and civil society is great." She looks at these developments with satisfaction. "There is a growing awareness in society that gays are, first and foremost, fellow human beings who are entitled to a valuable life in which they do not have to hide their orientation."
Matie
Zo also stood at the cradle of the LGBTI platform Suriname. It is a network of cooperating LGBTI organisations in Suriname, she explains. For her contribution to the emancipation of LGBTI people in Suriname, she will receive the MATIE in 2017. That is the Milestone Achieved Towards Internalising Equality. She also does a lot of other volunteer work: for instance, Tieneke is a board member of the Caribbean and Latin American LGBTI organisations lobbying Organisation of American States (OAS).
Adventurous
In 2016, she will return to Amsterdam. Her youngest daughter wants to become a pastry chef. That education does not exist in Suriname. "For her, I went back. Besides, I thought to myself that if I wanted to do something else, I should do it now." Quite a big step, I note. "I am very adventurous, for me it was not a big step. " She herself joined COC Netherlands for a year. "I became project leader for the Caribbean." However, her contract will not be renewed.
Tieneke bats her eyes. She looks vulnerable. It is clear she misses her friend. Then: "It is my big dream that she is at the Pride. " Her friend is super proud of Tieneke. "We all take Pride in Tieneke."
The message she will convey at the upcoming Pride: "Equality is a verb. We have to do it together, inclusiveness comes from two sides. We have to start conversations with each other." She is eager to spread that message as an ambassador. A strong woman who will stand her 'ground' during Pride.
Pride ambassador since 2021
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