I was born in Belarus, in the city of Vitebsk. My mom is Russian, and my dad is African from Tanzania. At the age of 17, I moved to Moscow and entered the Institute of Asian and African Countries at Moscow State University. I always wanted to study African studies, but in Belarus it was not taught anywhere. It was only possible to study Arabic, Chinese, maximum - Turkish.

I was very lucky with my department, with teachers, with the institute itself. We had a very small, friendly group - four people. There is always a shortage of African languages, because, as you might guess, not everyone wants to study Africa. The teachers were wonderful - they treated us like a parent. I lived in a student residence. Before I had been to Moscow, and as a child I often went to Tanzania. I rode around Europe. Moscow was not a big discovery for me. But the longer I live in Russia - a total of 14 years - the more I understand how the Russians are kinder and more generous, how much more willing they are to come to the rescue. I had and still have wonderful friends in Belarus, but nevertheless Russians are more responsive and open than my fellow countrymen - Belarusians.

Yes, I studied for six years - bachelor's and master's degrees, went to graduate school, graduated from it, but did not obtained a diploma in it. I worked for some time at the embassy of one of the African states. It was not very interesting, paperwork and secretarial work. Then I worked as a translator at the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. And then it turned out that I met Sergei Yastrzhembsky and asked "can I work in your studio, I'm an Africanist, I love Africa so much." He filmed a series of programs dedicated to Asia and Africa. And he said: "Yes, great, just finish your studies so that you have a schedule, like all adults, and come." Several months passed, I finished my studies, and he remembered me himself, invited me to the studio. There I already worked in my specialty: less often with Swahili, more often with English, very rarely with French. My knowledge of ethnography and anthropology came in handy.

Then I went to Africa for a year to work for a mining company in Guinea as a translator from French. It was probably the worst work experience of my life: in Africa, among sixty-year-old men whose wives remained in Russia. It was harassment, mixed with meanness, betrayal, setups, just horror. And, by the way, the Belarusian distinguished himself. Directly led a gang of sixty-year-old nasty men (laughs).

Although the Republic of Guinea itself is very poor, the people there are decent, no one has ever deceived me a single cent. I really liked the country - it was the first country in West Africa where I visited.

After that, I returned to Yastrzhembsky, worked on the new projects, a very interesting film was made about elephants and the fight against poaching. Soon I was offered to go to Finland to work as a Swahili teacher at the University of Helsinki. It was, of course, an interesting experience. I was very flattered that the students needed me so much. In my group there were girls of different ages - from 18 to 27 years old. Again a girl's company, as during my studies, because girls always speak languages.

o, my husband and I were supposed to move to the USA on April 1st. But, you yourself know everything. Due to quarantine, coronavirus, pandemic, our plans have changed *.

* At the time of the publication of the interview, Teresa and her husband Mikhail had left and had already settled in Columbus.

On Tinder.

Misha sincerely believed that Tinder was a platform for starting a family. It was written in his profile, and the photos were like that ... Well, I think you can change your glasses, create a haircut and create a family (laughs). From the first date it was clear that he was my man. Although we are different in appearance, on conceptual issues, as he himself says, we are very similar.

You see, I live practically in my homeland and sincerely consider the Russian people to be very tolerant. Maybe not very politically correct, and Russians are very proud of that. All these jokes are about homophobia, either over northern peoples or over Africans. But I never felt anger or aggression from the Russians, never anybody pointed a finger at me. It happens, of course, they look, especially when I go with someone "white", for example, with Misha, or I speak pure Russian with my girlfriends. This is the only moment when I feel attention on the street. If I walk alone, no one looks at me, well, no one at all. Well look at me, I'm so big, bright, with red lipstick. Why aren't you looking! (laughs)

In Tanzania, I got even more attention. Because of what?

Due to the fact that the skin is not as dark as theirs. I was three years old, and adults pointed fingers at me and said "nzungu, nzungu" in front of my two parents. I came home and cried. But I never cried in Belarus, in Russia. Nzungu is white, and the root of this word is "eccentric." "White eccentric". Well, as the Russians called the Finno-Ugrians "white-eyed chud." Foreigners always seem wonderful.

And now it's very difficult for me to understand how people can feel difficulties due to the fact that they have a different skin color or eye shape. Sitting in Russia, it is difficult for me to soberly assess the situation.

All African American or mixed girls tell me: "You are going to be black in the USA, keep in mind." And it surprised me once, surprised twice, and now what is going on there ... I would be very scared to be in the USA as an African American. Not African-Russian, which I am, but African-American. I would be very hurt for my people.

I do not associate myself with African Americans in any way. Well similar and alike. Just like you, for example, do not associate yourself with Argentines. They are also blondes, for example. But if I was of American origin, if my ancestors were slaves, and my brother Joj Floyd was killed, I would be much, much more painful and unpleasant. And while I am in Russia, it is difficult to understand and believe that this still exists in the modern world in such a developed civilized country.

When I returned in tears, my dad would say: “They envy you, they want to be with your African features, but with fair skin. You see, they don't bother your mom, because they don't envy her, but they envy you. You are, as it were, ours and not ours, that's why such attention is increased."

Yes, for example, the parents of one guy said to my mulatto friend “we don't want monkey grandchildren”. Another mulatto girl wanted to get a job as a teacher of the Russian language, she was not taken anywhere. Another mulatto friend, a native Muscovite, left Moscow at the age of 19 due to the fact that she was bullied.

I think yes. In general, it seems to me that this whole racial issue depends more on the perception of oneself. People who go out to protest ... I am very sad [to say this], but they seem to take the position of the victim. That is, they come out [on the streets] from the outset of a weak person. Here with my spouse we has big disagreements: he believes that we need to take to the streets everywhere, both in Russia and in America, but I think that it is probably not worth it.

You see, I don't think Floyd was killed because of his racial background.

Yes, we crossed the line. He was terribly treated like a man, but if there were a white man or a Chinese in his place, probably the same thing would have happened. The question here is how much the police have exceeded their powers.

In this world, I am more concerned not with the difference in skin color, but with property stratification. I would like all people to have the same educational opportunities. This is the first thing. The second, probably, would have canceled all slaughterhouses - I am very worried about the issue of industrial animal breeding. And the third ... Something related to ecology... Introduce more environmentally friendly production of cars, heavy equipment.

On the issue of education. Many African Americans really don't get it, no matter how talented they are. what do you think about it?

If we are talking specifically about the United States, then yes, many African Americans do not have access to education. I see it as a social and economic issue, not a racial one. Historically, blacks are now the most vulnerable in the United States. But they cannot learn, not because they are black, but because they are poor. Likewise, most white Americans live without insurance. If blacks couldn't learn, because, for example, their brains would be smaller, it would sound like a racial issue.

We started with African Americans. If we talk about the world, then in different ways, probably. Here is Albania - there are white and poor, Portugal - white and poor, but, for example, in Namibia - black and rich. The proportion of rich countries in Europe is much larger than in Africa, this is understandable. But Africa has its own way.

Philosophically speaking, we found ourselves in a world where all the money is concentrated in the West. Now Asia is taking over this role - Singapore and Malaysia. But, for example, before the Europeans discovered America and Africa, we have no evidence that there were epidemics in Africa. There were wars, their own civilizations with their own values, their own musical culture, and the oral tradition is very rich. If the Africans had to sail out of Africa, and they would open up Europe, maybe everything would have been completely different. Maybe today it would not be necessary to have an education and pay in dollars. We would pay, for example, with cowrie shells and zebra skins. And Africans would feel sorry for the Europeans: "Oh, poor, we brought them epidemics." And together with the Indians they would rub their hands: "So few Europeans have become, so few white ones have become, everything is now inhabited by Indians, Africans and Asians." The world could be completely different. And if today we rode buffaloes and paid with shells, it is not a fact that it would be worse. Maybe there would be no Ebola, coronavirus, there would not be such a massive stratification, there would be no Australia without a bunch of animals and South America with virtually obliterated indigenous population. It just happened that in the modern world, whites are in power.

Yes, you can. I said at the very beginning that Russians are not very politically correct, but very tolerant. Well, yes, some child passed by, poked at my mulatto friend and said "some kind of gray aunt." This is only because he had never seen a mixed girl until his five or seven years old. Some mothers buy colored dolls for their daughters, babies, even, so that from childhood they get used to the fact that there is not only a white doll, but also a black one, and an Asian, and maybe a Latin American. Some people want a child to find a black-skinned tutor, not only because it seems to them that dark-skinned people speak English better, but so that a person gets used from childhood [to a different type of appearance].

I work among such people. For example, director, cameraman Kirill Sakharnov. He really wanted his son to hire a tutor darker than me, because he thought that I would not seem too exotic to the child. When I go to Africa, acquaintances of acquaintances often ask me to bring some black doll.

Poking a finger is sacred. Say "to Terezka folder Negro arrived" in the camp - a story I told in the video on the "rain" - this is normal, I personally from this is not bad.

No, not at all. When I lived in Finland, it was insulting. I rented a room in a very good area, probably like in Moscow Ostozhenka, where mostly rich Finns live. And here I am walking down the street, it is clear that I have African hair. A woman overtakes me and with such aggression makes a face at me and still hoots, can you imagine?

Then I was sent a video "Negroes, dump - then the word is obscene - from Finland." In Russia, this has never happened in 14 years, while in Finland there have been so many things in seven months.

They spoke very badly of me as a Russian. In Finland there is a normal word "Russian", but there is one whose meaning is even worse than "niger" for an African American. They told me. I was mocked with anger when I spoke Russian on the phone. And when I say "folder Negro arrived," how can I take offense at this? This is just a statement of fact: a black father came to Teresa. Nobody made a "monkey" for me.

Be kinder, trust each other, love each other, try to think more about positive things, about close people. More than hate, accumulation. Try to get rid of selfishness - everything does not revolve around you. Spend more time with your family and friends

First of all, be honest with yourself, with your neighbors, not deceive. For me, being honest is equal to merit. Trust yourself more and make sure people can trust you too.

Happiness for me is to be surrounded by people with whom we have mutual understanding. With friends, with family, with a partner - the main thing is to have mutual understanding.

Yes. Happiness is a good relationship with loved ones.

When I see a positive response from my friends and family, when I see the approval of society. It is very important for me. Yes, I’m probably dependent on other people's opinions (laughs).