When Mariam Trela, 26, first saw her now 53-year-old husband Grzegorz Trela, she described it as "love at first sight." He was a philosophy professor at the same university where she was studying education in Morogoro, Tanzania. In May 2017, the two went on their first date, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Student Who Married Her Teacher Doesn't Care About Their 27-year Age Gap
By
Haider Ali in
Relationships
On 15th April 2022
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While they are unconcerned with the comments regarding their age gap, Mariam claims that their son is frequently mistaken for Grzegorz's grandson.
"Quite often people say to my husband, about our son: ‘what a beautiful grandson’," she said.
“Probably because of my husband's grey hair, this kind of situation happens to my husband quite often.”
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"So probably when people see our whole family, they think it's a mother with a son and a grandfather."
Not only that, but other people believe Mariam, who lives with her husband and son in Bielsko-Biaa, Poland, is a gold-digger who is solely interested in her husband's riches.
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"When they find out that I am his wife, on the one hand - especially men - envy him his young, attractive wife, and suspect that I'm just going after his money," she laughed.
“It is funny, as my husband is not even rich!"
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They've also faced misconceptions about their interracial relationship.
“In Tanzania, there are some who believe the stereotype 'white is rich'," primary school teacher Mariam explained.
"In Poland, we can sometimes face prejudices because there are not many people of color who live here.”
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“There are quite a few differences between us, such as gender, age, religion, culture, politics, and life experiences.”
“But as the years go by, we learn from each other, and this perhaps is the most fascinating thing about our relationship - we keep discovering each other."
They've been documenting their lives on a YouTube channel for their son since disclosing their relationship with their family and friends, who have all been supportive.
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"Memory is unreliable, children grow up fast, so we wanted to save as much as possible of our everyday life for our son," Mariam added.
“Almost all comments we get are positive reactions from people to our channel.”
"I love him, he loves me and cares for me and we both care a lot about our son.”
"Our love encounters difficulties - mostly cultural differences - but we overcome them by patiently learning from each other."