I feel 50% foreign, sort of 50/50. I’m a Muslim, but I respect both cultures and embrace the best from both. It is important for me that my children become part of Danish culture, after all, this is where I gave birth to them. Denmark is my home now. When in Lebanon I’m a guest, and once I’ve been there for about a week I long to return back home! I think It’s nice that everybody is treated the same here in Denmark, at the doctors, at the bank, everyone must wait in the queue, and when you look for work, it is also equal for all.
I tend to get a little sad when I think of my friends who are just stay- at-home housewives. Life has got so much more to offer. They think I’m crazy because I go to work. Really, we should blame the society, because they are paid to stay at home and do nothing. As a social worker I am concerned about the well-being of children. I was just 11 when I lost my own mother. She died as a result of a blood clot in the brain just three days after we lost our house in the war. She couldn’t handle it.
She made the usual packed lunches for us, sent us off to school, and when we came back home she had passed away. In the aftermath of the tragedy, my father decided to marry me off, I was just 14 years old.
My husband to be was 27 and lived in Denmark, so we got family reunification, and I gave birth to four children, but after 19 years of marriage I wanted my freedom and filed for divorce. When I was 15 I lost my first child during the birth, so when I got my second child at 16 I became overprotective, because I was afraid of losing him.
42 / married / children / interpreter / family consultant and contact person / social worker student / Sønderborg / from Lebanon / came to Denmark in 1990 / residence permit in 1991