What makes us who we are? The country we are born in or the country where we are raised? Does the nationality of our parents define us, or does our genetic make-up become over-shadowed by the country which we call home? Josanne Cassar speaks to Celeste R.Bataille, a media strategist who lives in Port Elizabeth, South Africa

“Each of the flags above represents some part of my history, connection and heritage,” says Celeste.

Her identity is a chequered history which started when her Maltese mother Rosemary Buhagiar (born in 1934 of Maltese parents) married her Maltese father born in 1928 of an Italian mother and a Maltese-French father.  The intriguing thing is that both were both in Suez, Egypt, at a time when there were many Maltese people who settled there.  Her father’s name is evidence of his mixed heritage: Enrico Noel Bataille. Celeste traces her family tree for me:

“Bataille is a French surname of Maltese and Italian descent with a little Austrian thrown in as well.  Despite her British surname my maternal grandmother Alice Wilcox was born and raised in Malta and married Carmelo Buhagiar. My paternal grandmother was Maria Concina born in Udine, Northern Italy. My paternal grandfather was  Jean Bataille  born in Ismailia, Egypt of Maltese descent.”

The story of how her parents met is conventional for those times.  ” My parents met through their parents, I believe,” she says. My father used to take my mother to school as a young child, and theirs was, in fact, an arranged marriage. It was my maternal grandfather who asked my father to marry my mother, which he did. They have been married for 50 years”

Bataille Family at Mom and Dad's 50th Anniversary on 6 August 2011

The story becomes even more interesting with the birth of Celeste:

“I was born in the Republic of South Africa because my parents had by then both emigrated from Egypt – my father left in 1948 to go to Ontario, Canada, and my mother left in 1952 for South Africa.  My father moved to Canada to find work because his sister was there (she was the first Maltese war bride from Egypt). After living in Canada for 16 years he then moved down to South Africa to join my mother.

My mother settled in East London, South Africa, as that was their first port of call. Being British subjects they had a choice of any country that was in the British Commonwealth and South Africa was their choice.”

It was a time when immigration to Canada was commonplace among the Maltese and Enrico Bataille was accepted in his new country “with wide open arms”.

Celeste explains that, “Malta was a never an option for him as it was still recuperating from the effects of World War II.”

Asked about whether her mother considers herself ‘Maltese’, Celeste replies:

“She is most certainly Maltese by nature and temperament, I would say. She loves Malta. She says, and I quote, ‘I wish it had a few more trees and greenery though’… she clearly loves her gardening. After the death of both her parents, my mother discovered some family members still residing in Malta. She eventually made contact with them …their surname is Costantino, and she is still in touch, particularly with Uncle Tony Costantino.”

Celeste with her mother

Celeste explains that while her mother is  100% Maltese, she speaks with a Canadian accent and is fluent in English, Maltese, Italian, Arabic and “a lot of other things in between.”

So where do you feel that you belong, I ask Celeste.  To one country in particular, or all of them?

“That is a very debatable question,” she admits.  “I speak five languages:  English, Italian, Afrikaans, Xhosa and French. I would still love to learn Maltese, that is certainly on my ‘To do list’. I would say to narrow it down, I am certainly a mix of South African, Maltese, Italian, American and French. Only my parents and I speak Italian to each other, my siblings do not speak the language. It is wonderful as we can secretly speak about them to each other, without them having a clue as to what we are saying.”

And now here comes the crunch: what does her nationality mean to Celeste?

“I think it is a mix of where I was born and the lifestyle I feel most comfortable with. I am very European by nature, but I love my country of birth South Africa very, very much.”

And, despite the huge opportunities Canada undoubtedly gives her, she is actually thinking of coming to live in Malta. For those who would give an arm and a leg to leave this tiny, often suffocating  island, the inevitable question is, but what on earth for?

“That is probably the easiest question to answer. I like Malta, I have family there and I would love to spend time with my family and experience life there as it is after all a big part of my heritage.”

With such a wide range of cultural heritages to choose from, did her parents ever try to influence her as to which culture is ‘best’?

The Bataille "Mafia"

“No, never. They just taught us what hard life was all about and imparted to us their experiences from each country they lived in. They obviously favoured some countries over others and that was, in my opinion, as a result of how that country treated them. For example, take Canada. They were both very welcomed into Canada and looked after. They both speak very highly of Canada and do not have anything bad to say about the country. In Egypt they received great schooling but then had to emigrate due to political instability around the time of the Second World War,  so as you can imagine they have never been in a rush to get back there.”

With their grandchildren..the next generation

Latest update from Celeste: “My story has changed once again – I am moving to London as soon as I find a job, I would like to move to Malta but I am not getting much feedback from them. New York though is my dream city as it is the hub capital of the ad industry…”