Interview: Paul Hofman
Activism has been in Tieneke Sumter’s (57) blood from a young age. She was born in Suriname in the early 1960s as the child of a lesbian mother. At six she moves with her mother to the Netherlands. She grows to love the new country and develops a strong drive to fight injustice. “I commit myself more than a hundred percent to LGBTI+ people.”
No one in her circle is surprised she became an ambassador for Pride Amsterdam. Her daughters are overjoyed. It’s a recognition of her work for minorities. She responds calmly. “When they asked me to be an ambassador I had to catch my breath for a moment.” What motivates her? “If I see something I disagree with, I speak up.” She can be stubborn and determined. “I think it’s important that we as LGBTI+ people are visible.” She’s proud to have been a role model. “If I can save even one life, I will.” She never loses sight of the human dimension.
Socially committed
Her résumé reads impressively. She spends her early childhood in Paramaribo and is six when her mother decides to move to the Netherlands. “My parents did not live together.” Much of Tieneke’s childhood is raised by her mother.
They end up in the Staatsliedenbuurt where she has a happy childhood. She pauses when she recalls that many Black children back then were advised to attend housekeeping school after secondary school. “My uncle was furious. Through him I ended up at a comprehensive school in Osdorp.” It proves to be a lucky break and Tieneke has room to develop her talents. It’s the swinging sixties and she enjoys life to the full. Her childhood dream is to become a primary school teacher. But will it come true?
Paplepel
After secondary school Tieneke studies cultural community work at the Amsterdam Social Academy. “That’s what I wanted: to help people with advice and practical support and make that my profession,” she laughs. Social engagement was instilled in her from an early age. “It’s in my genes. If you can do something for someone else, you should—that’s our family’s creed.”
She comes out at seventeen. The moment she became aware of her feelings for girls is imprinted clearly on her mind.
No big deal
“I was on holiday in Portugal with some friends. Back in the Netherlands a girl in the group kissed me on the cheek.” She looks at me with affection. “Then I knew for sure. This was it.” The girl and she started a relationship. For her mother it wasn’t a complete surprise. Like mother, like daughter, it seemed.
Tieneke says she was never fully in the closet. “I think my mother always knew, especially when my girlfriend and I spent so much time together.” Early in puberty she had been infatuated with her teacher. “But I didn’t pay much attention to that at the time.” In hindsight it wasn’t abig dealat all.
Mati-vrouwen
When she confided ‘it’ to her mother, with whom she had a strong bond, her mother was shocked. “Because she feared I might go through what she had experienced. Also because she thought I would face a lot of discrimination.” Her mother became her greatest pillar of support. She beams with pride: “She and I were very close.” As a lesbian she was later more or less accepted by her family. “My mother had a busy social life in which she stood up formati-vrouwen.” Tieneke explains: “Themati-shipis seen as normal in Surinamese society.Mati’sare women who also have sexual relationships with women. They do not necessarily identify with homosexuality. Here in the Netherlands identity is linked to sexuality.” In every Creole family you’ll find amati, a kind of aunt. “In the Surinamese community it’s largely accepted. For men this is less the case.”
Activisme
She stares quietly ahead, then says: “Around my eighteenth year I began to advocate for the interests of Surinamese gay people.” As a student at the Academy social involvement came naturally. Within a year she became the face of the foundation.” After completing her studies she returns to Suriname. The blood is thicker than water, she laughs. “I already had some activism experience.” Her energy and dedication make an impression. Her return was prompted not in spite of but because of her internship year in Suriname.
Uitleg
The December murders of the early 1980s had a massive impact on the newly independent country. “I always wanted to return. My mother used to say: I live in the Netherlands but my heart is in Suriname. The same was true for me. Suriname is my country; it’s where my umbilical cord is buried.” The military coup left a deep impression on her.
She lives there until 2016: “You can be whatever you want in Suriname, as long as you don’t name it.” Fortunately that has changed over the years. Tieneke becomes successively a policy officer and director of a foundation working to combat violence against women and is active in an organisation against sexual abuse of children. She becomes a valued voice in public debate.
Masterstudie
In the mid-1990s she returns to the Netherlands to take further studies in organisation, policy and management. Back in Suriname the entrepreneurial Tieneke sets up her own training and consultancy business running large projects at the intersection of care and welfare. In 2008 she completes her master’s inPublic Health. “It was a fantastic time.”
Positief
Together with her former partner she raises her two children. “We were never judged for that; we were fully accepted. Since 2012 a lot has improved in Suriname regarding homosexuality.” She remains critical. “On laws and regulations we are still lagging behind. There’s still a long way to go. But business and civil society support is strong.” She looks at those developments with satisfaction. “Society increasingly recognises that gay people are first and foremost fellow human beings who have the right to a meaningful life without hiding their orientation.”
Matie
This was also the beginning of the LGBTI-platform Suriname. It’s a network of collaborating LGBTI organisations in Suriname, she explains. For her contributions to LGBTI emancipation in Suriname she received the MATIE in 2017 — Milestone Achieved Towards Internalizing Equality. She also does much other volunteer work: Tieneke is a board member of Caribbean and Latin American LGBTI organisations that lobby the Organization of American States (OAS).
Avontuurlijk
In 2016 she returns to Amsterdam. Her youngest daughter wants to train as a pastry chef, a course not available in Suriname. “I came back for her. Also I thought if I still had things I wanted to do, now was the time.” Quite a big step, I note. “I’m adventurous by nature, so for me it wasn’t a huge leap.” She then works for a year at COC Nederland. “I became project manager for the Caribbean.” Her contract was not renewed.
Tieneke lowers her eyes. She looks vulnerable; it’s clear she misses her partner. Then: “My greatest dream is that she will be at Pride.” Her partner is extremely proud of Tieneke. “We all take Pride in Tieneke.”
The message she will share during the upcoming Pride: “Equality is a verb. We have to do it together; inclusivity goes both ways. We need to have conversations with each other.” She’s eager to spread that message as ambassador — a strong woman who will hold her own at Pride.
Pride ambassador since 2021
