Living in Denmark has always been a struggle. Form the instant I stepped on the Danish soil; I knew this was the beginning of new life. I knew that we were never going to return back to South Sudan and Denmark was now our new home. I also knew that living in this new country, was going to be a struggle. We all know the feeling we get, when we arrive at new places. It is exciting, but sometimes it can be mortifying. Most of us are afraid of the unknown, because we have noting to relate it to.
I never had difficulties fitting in among the other kids, but when I came to Denmark, I began to understand what it means to be an outcast. Not only everyone around me had different skin-color, which I haven’t seen before, but he or she also was speaking a different language. It was overwhelming, when your coming from the world I came from. Everything her was different.
I remember my parents telling me, that the only way I could learn the Danish language was to go out there and interact with other kids. My parents tried to get some ideas to what I could do and I remember our next-door neighbor has a girl and she was playing a sport called handball. I didn’t know what that was, but my parents thought this could be in way in. The next day I went to my first handball training. I remember my coach telling my new teammates where I am from and that I could only speak English. Some of them came and talked to me and if they couldn’t remember some of the worlds, they would run away and others would call the coach to translate. Sometimes they would say one word in English and translate that word to Danish. That’s how I integrated myself to the Danish society. Throwing your self out there, sometimes gives you a reward and this was one of mine. Later on handball became a big part of my life. I played handball for 12 years and I could have been a professional life within handball, if I didn’t injure my knee.
Playing handball made me start raising questions my identity. The interaction between the Danish kids and I opened my eyes for many things. One of them was the boyfriend topic. Unlike many of my Danish friends I cannot talk about boys to my parents, because having a boyfriend is an infringement according to my tradition. So it’s a vulnerable topic, when your parents are expecting you to get married with someone from back home. So I am “torn” between two different cultures and struggling to find my identity, but I honestly have to admit that as older I get, easier it gets. Being “torn” between to cultures has made me the person I am today.
DIGITAL IDENTITY 