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 built up my life again, thanks also to many friends in Europe, Malaysia and Cambodia. I wrote a book about my experiences (which is only still available in Dutch and not in English anymore, due to political and social pressure in Cambodia). My businesses are flourishing in the after-Covid era. And at the end of 2022 I finally hope to get back my original name again.
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 