Jamileh Ghiasvand

Apart from the language, I don’t feel foreign here at all. The language is a barrier, but it can be conquered.

I became a mother at 17 and fled from Iran when my daughter was only 7 months old. I was confused, and I just followed everyone else. Things happened, and I had no influence at all. I was naïve and ignorant and knew nothing about the world. The first years in Denmark continued just like that. I looked after my child and just followed.

It wasn’t until I started at a VUC adult education course that I woke up. Until then I had been someone’s daughter, someone’s wife and someone’s mother, but I had never been me. As I started doing things myself, I developed an identity. For the first time in my life I began to relate to myself as an independent person. I found out what I was good at. I am patient and I keep cool when utter chaos prevails. I realised that I like working with people. I began to dream of becoming a nurse, but the system was lined with barriers, and they ruined the dream. Today I am a trained social and health care assistant. My work gives me a special outlook on life that helps define me. I am the mother of two girls. I tell them that they need to educate themselves so they can experience independence and get to know themselves and their limits, like I have.

44 years / female / in a relationship / children / health care assistant / Greve / from Iran / came to Denmark in 1989 / residence permit same year