Kau Root

I do not feel so foreign because I have been here for 15 years. I think that I keep up with the society and feel at home. But of course I am also foreign, because it is important to me where I hail from. I'd say I'm 50 percent of each.

I'm well acquainted with the humour. Danish humour is really hard to learn, but it is also important. If you do not understand the humour, it is difficult to join in at conversations, also at work. I came to Denmark as a quota refugee. It is a great gift from Denmark that I could come here. When I landed at Bornholm Airport, a furnished home was ready. Everything was ready for me.

After six months I got a job at Svaneke Bryghus. I started as a cleaner, but I'm a workhorse, so I never said no to a job. Bit by bit I also helped brewing beer, and now I have taken the diploma education as a brewer. Today I can complete all the tasks at the brewhouse.

My wife is from Bhutan. She had a daughter when I met her, so now we have two girls aged 13 and 5. We speak a lot of languages at home: the girls speak Danish with each other. I speak English with my wife and Danish with the eldest of the girls. With the little one I speak Mon, my Burmese dialect, and my wife speaks Nepalese with both girls.

Almost all of my family is still in Burma. I haven't seen them for 20 years. It was only recently that I saw my brother, who now lives in New York. I remembered him as a little boy of four, and it was weird. Although we are related, we didn't really have much to talk about.

35 / male / married / children / brewer / Svaneke / from Burma / came to Denmark in 2005 / residence permit the same year / became Danish citizen in 2017