I was born in a place where the King of Beasts roams freely, a hot desert spans across 3.3 million square miles, and myriad savannas cover the land. It's the home of Timon and Pumbaa, the backdrop for Taylor Swift's new music video, and houses more countries than any other continent.

I was born in Africa, Kenya to be exact.

As unique and interesting as this is, I rarely wanted to admit where I was from. I just wanted to be like everyone else who was born and raised in hometown, USA.

I wanted to stop feeling strange because The Lion King was my favorite childhood movie. I would ignore my mom when she spoke Swahili because I didn't want to run the risk of learning a word in an African language. There were times when I would become defensive towards others simply because I didn't want to talk about Africa. It just made me so uncomfortable and ashamed.

I wish I could go back and tell my thirteen-year-old self that there is nothing wrong with being born in Africa. I wish I would have listened to my parents' stories and looked at pictures. I wish I had taken time to really learn about the place that I was born.

In my efforts to denounce my heritage, I missed out on a valuable lesson: it is so important to respect where you came from. Everyone should be able to take pride in their culture and know that it's these differences that make the world a better place.