I always felt lucky. In my private life, in my businesses.
But at the end of 2016, I ran out of luck. I lost my love, I lost my freedom, I lost my citizenship, I even lost my name and identity, within the period of a few months. I never committed a crime, I never harmed anybody, but life had knocked me down with a tremendous force.
It all started with falling in love with the wrong person. The relationship with this person, a Vietnamese also got me involved with his bizarre family members. It ended when sadistic family behavior almost destroyed all my businesses, brought me into a very remote and primitive Cambodian prison for 8 months, and caused me to lose my Dutch nationality as well as my name and identity.
Up to this day, not only me but also others, like a young boy who got tortured by my ex-boyfriend and his family, are still struggling with the impact of these connections. But mostly it made me realise how fragile the protection for a citizen is by his home country, and how easily a country can declare a former citizen an outcast. Still, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. I am building up a new life now, in the meantime writing about my experiences. I will launch a book about this insane dark period at the end of 2020.
Life is dark and bright at the same time. Life gives us a chance to set a course and discover new dimensions. I love this chance on exploration so I can change and improve life; for myself but also for as many other people as possible.
Stefan Struik 