The doctor, author and speaker Kaveh Rashidi and his family are dressed up, decorated and ready for May 17. It hasn’t always been like this, he continues Twitter.
– 17 May is the most beautiful day of the year and represents values of community and belonging that I want the younger generation to have, he elaborates to Dagbladet.
Rootless and lonely
But let’s go back a bit to east Oslo, in the 90s. Rashidi was the child of immigrants from Iran, in an area of the capital with a high proportion of immigrants.
– My parents tried their best, either they didn’t understand the details around 17 May, nor the traditions, he says and continues:
– It was, at least for me, a feeling that you were not “like the Norwegians”. Even though I was born in Norway, he says to Dagbladet.
Rashidi “wasn’t quite Norwegian, but certainly not Iranian either”.
– You become rootless and lonely, with one foot in and one outside, he says.
17 May did not feel like a holiday for the “immigrants in the class”.
– I joined the events at school, felt left out, and went home and played football on the loop with the other immigrant children, says the Oslo citizen.
A wider Norway
According to Rashidi, it was “not necessarily about racism”.
– But only about the difficulties of finding a way to bring your background into something new – instead of thinking that you have to be like the others, he says.
Today, around one in three residents of Oslo has some form of foreign background.
– So the situation is quite different. “To be Norwegian” has taken on a broader meaning. A meaning that to a greater extent represents who Norwegians actually are, says Rashidi.
– A golden opportunity
– Invite people home
For several years, he has considered whether he should also get a bunad. A year ago he drove to Hedmark, where he was born, to see what they had to offer.
– It was both strange and scary. The choice fell on Østerdalsbunad for me, and Lundebybunad for Aina – because that affiliation means a lot to us, he says.
And thinks about how nice it is to give your children the sense of belonging that he himself did not experience growing up.
Rashidi also encourages most people to look outside themselves and include people around them.
– I think it is easy to underestimate how many people do not feel included, every time there is a holiday such as 17 May, Christmas, Easter and the like. Look up, see the people around us and invite them in, he says and continues:
– Because clearly there is a lot of outsiders. Whether it’s because of ethnicity, finances or other factors that make life lonely for people, he says via Dagbladet.
And ends as on Twitter:
– Happy Birthday! And cheers for a Norway with room for everyone.
2023-05-17 15:54:33
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