When cultures meet

Zainab: Her and her sister was placed at a Danish orphanage. They did not speak Danish because they had been living abroad their whole life, and now they got a massive culture-chock.

Sumaya: She is a third generation immigrant, and she is also very religious. Her daily life is based on school, friends and religion.

Josefine: She's ethnically Danish and lives with her parents and sister in the rich neighbourhood Hellerup. She talked a lot about her teenage issues and how she felt about life.

Our thoughts:
First of all we think that it must be horrible for a girl like Zainab to be placed far away from home with the fact that you don't know the language and culture. If you look at Sumaya, she's very integrated in the society. She has friends, a family and an everyday life, which makes her a completely normal teenage girl. In the end Josefine is a Danish teenage girl with a wealthy family. But just because your life seems perfect on the outside, doesn't mean, that you can't be confused and having trouble finding yourself.

Visited by "Role Models"

Role models on visit

Nora's story:
Nora, 21, her family is ethnically Palestinian. This is her story. She went to a public school called "Munkevænget", where a large percentage of the students have other ethnisities than Danish. When she left the school to start in high school, she got a minor culture-chock. Suddently it became an unfamiliar thing that most people were drinking at parties. Second year of high school was a tough year. She got anxiety due to an experience in 8th grade. During a holiday in Lebanon several Israelis got kidnapped, causing war to break out. Third year in high school was a good year for Nora, her anxiety got better, and so her grades got better. After high school she became a nursery assistant and a role model.

Sara's story:
Sara, 19, her family is ethnically Bosnian and Herzegovinian. When sara was born he parents lived in an asylum centre. She She went to a public school called "Munkevænget", where a large percentage of the students have other ethnisities than Danish. She got a culture-chock in 8th grade where she spent a year at a different school. She felt that the new class mates had a different mentality than her. Therefore she moved back to her old school, where she felt she belonged. She generally felt nicely camouflaged because of her Danish looks and Bosnian roots. Today she is taking her third year of high school, and she is also a role model.

Our thoughts:
In our opinion it's a very important thing to have an open mind when it comes to differences. You have to accept people as they are. Even though that a girl is wearing a veil, she's still a human being just like you and me. It's her own choice and a part of her culture and religion to wear it, just like some decide not to.

Words

Words

Refugee: One who flees, especially to another country, seeking refuge from war, political oppression, religious persecution or a natural disaster

Immigrant: A person who migrates to another country, usually for permanent residence.

Asylum seeker: A person who, from fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, social group, or political opinion, has crossed an international frontier into a country in which he or she hopes to be granted refugee status.

Asylum: A refugee granted an alien by a sovereign state on its own territory.

Integration: An act or instance of integrating a racial, religious or ethnic group.

Residence permit: An official document allowing a foreigner to live in a country.