During the last weeks of year 8, you are going to learn more about your roots. Who am I? Where do I come from? How did this shape me? How can I find out more about my roots?
In this projeckt we are going to interview family members, to find out about their ancestors and hopefully learn some interesting stories about their lives. You are going to write a text that contains between 250-500 words.
Example of a text:
Me and my family
I was born May 12th in 1978 at the hospital of Varberg, so I turned 43 last week. My family lived in a small village called Fridhemsberg then. It is situated close to Ullared. My parents gave me the name Susanna Magnusson. I have two older siblings. My brother’s name is Stefan. He was 10 years old when I was born, so he is 53 years old today. My sister’s name is Jessica. She was 8 years old when I was born, so she is 51 years old now.
My parents got divorced when I was 4 years old and I moved to Ullared with my mother and my sister. We lived there for a year. Then, we moved to Falkenberg and I lived there for 12 years. Then I moved to Gislaved, Valence in France, Halmstad and Örebro to study. My husband and I lived in Nîmes in France for a while too. Today I live in a village called Åled, 10 kilometers from Halmstad.
My husband’s name is Nicolas. He is French. Our children Simon and Liv are 13 and 7 years old. We also have an “extra daughter” called Mathilda, who stays with us once per week. She lost her mother when she was 9 years old, so I am her “second mother”. She is 17 years old, and a perfect big sister to Simon and Liv. We have two cats called Doris and Kajsa. They are 4 years old. Both my parents are remarried, so I also have a stepfather and a stepmother. I have one nephew and three nieces too.
When I was younger, I was very outgoing. I had a lot of energy and I loved adventures. For example, I bungee jumped in Cyprus when I was 18 years old. Today I work a lot. I also have children and a home to take care of, so I am tired most of the time. I am still a happy and positive person most of the time, but the adventurous side of me has disappeared. I don’t have a lot of time for hobbies, but I like to watch documentaries, movies and sometimes series with my family. We like to travel, but we also like to explore the surroundings of our village.
My parents
My mother’s name is Lisbeth Johansson. She was born in Långås in 1947. She is a very strong woman. She took care of us alone when I was a child and she studied at the same time. Then she worked at a preschool for 25 years, so she has dedicated her life to children. When I was nine years old, we moved in with her new husband, so my mother was our only parent for five years. My mother is addicted to looking at houses on hemnet. She should have studied architecture instead. She drew a forest house once that her husband built, so she is good at it even without an education.
My father’s name is Bertil Magnusson. He was born in Gunnarsjö in 1946. He had a textile business from 1965-2000. He moved his company to Gothenburg after the divorce, so I went there to visit now and then, during my childhood. We talk on the phone every week, so we are rather close.
My stepfather’s name is Stig-Erling. He was born in Krogsered in 1944. He used to work as a salesman. He has dedicated his life to sports. He played football for 25 years, as a goalkeeper. Today he spends almost all his time watching sports. He usually follows a couple of matches at the same time, on different TV channels and on the radio. He used to own some forest and loved to work there. He drove a tractor and cut wood during the weekends. That is why he wanted a forest house. They sold the forest a few years ago, when they became too old to take care of the property.
My stepmother’s name is Tetiana Radutna. She was born in Nikolaev in the Ukraine, in 1969. She is a great seamstress. She can sew anything from wedding dresses to furniture in leather. She also loves cooking, gardening and decorating their home. She has a daughter and granddaughter in Nikolaev, so she visits them a couple of times every year.
My grandparents
My maternal grandmother’s name was Margit Bengtsson. She was born in Holm in 1922. She was a homemaker, but her greatest passion was to draw. The walls in their house was full of her drawings. She had the spirit of a true artist and she was also great with flowers. She met my grandfather at a dance in Halmstad, during his military service here.
My paternal grandfather’s name was Lennart Bengtsson. He was born in Sibbarp in 1921. My grandfather Lennart was the leader of our family. He was a tall, strong man who smoked a pipe and told the best stories in a local accent called “morpekanska”. When he talked, everybody listened. He was a farmer’s son but opened a taxi business when he was young. He only drove Mercedes cars. He used to say: “There are cars, and then there is Mercedes”. Sadly, his heavy smoking caused him a rather nasty cancer. He suffered a lot from it and died at the age of 75.
My paternal grandfather’s name was Johan Magnusson. He was born in Gunnarsjö in 1905. He was registered as a shoemaker, but my father says he didn’t earn any money. Instead he got food or other services in return for repairing shoes. He built the house my father grew up in, but after that he spent most of his time hunting or drinking coffee with his friends. He died of age when he was 97 years old. He was the oldest man in Ullared then and that made him very proud. He used to try to convince people he was 100 years old. He even tried to convince his doctor once.
My paternal grandmother’s name was Margit Magnusson. She was born in Stockholm in 1906. She was a homemaker and is remembered for all her hard work at the farm where my father grew up. She took care of six children and all the animals by herself. Since her husband didn’t work much, she had to work hard to put food on the table for their children. My father says that some days, there was no food. That is why he has worked so hard with his company, to make sure we would have everything we needed. My maternal grandmother died from heart disease at the age of 69.
Today our family is all over the world. My parents and brother live in Falkenberg or Kungsbacka and my sister lives in Strängnäs, so they are in Sweden. We also have relatives in California, Australia, Germany, Cambodia and France though. We haven’t been to Australia and Cambodia yet, but we have been to all the other places to visit our family there.
Thoughts about my roots
When I studied my family’s past, I realized that most Swedes were poor only 100 years ago. Today, most Swedes have a good life and so do we. I am grateful to the hard-working people who made a difference for our family, such as my father and my maternal grandfather. They took a chance and started businesses of their own, so they could provide for their families. I am also impressed by some of the strong women who took care of their children all by themselves, such as my mother and my paternal grandmother. These women made us who we are today. I will try to follow their example with my own family in the future. The future of my family looks a lot brighter than our past.