My journeys from east to west

It’s 2008 and it has been a bit over 11 years since I have been living in Canada. I know, it may not be a long time for some, but for me it is because it is the country that I have lived in the longest. I have been living in different countries all my life because I am Palestinian, and the Palestinian dream is to no longer be carrying a refugee passport and live normally like other people in the world and have a government that will call them citizens and give them basic human rights.

I always get asked this, “if you were born in Saudi Arabia, aren’t you Saudi?” Hmm, no. The thing is with the Arab world, if you are born in any Arab country other than your parent’s birth home, then you follow your parent’s country of citizenship. I always found that confusing and a bit hypocritical. I am born in a modern country, on their lands, in their hospitals, and I carry a birth certificate with the country’s name on it. However, under citizenship, it says Palestinian Refugee. I think many people out there who are in my age group have this same problem. Same goes for those born in UAE, Kuwait, etc. The common countries where Palestinians and other Arabs have moved to in the late 60′s, 70′s and 80′s because of the economic boom.

Also, why in Arab countries, under birth certificate and other personal identification, religion is always written. I always wondered about that, then when I lived in USA for 5 years, the problems people were dealing with is racism and why they have to identify their race in every government documentation. Why categorize human beings into groups? Why should I be labeled as a Muslim Sunni who is a Palestinian refugee with a Lebanese Palestinian Refugee status? I have the choice to tell people that, and I don’t want official documentations to be used in my favor or against me. It is just not right. Why can’t people just call me Mona? A female? A human being?

I get many emails to my site from Arabs back home asking me how life is in Canada and they plan to move here and is it worth it. The common question they ask is, “are people racist here against them because Arabs are not favored in the Western world?” I think about it, and I say, “no. Canada is known to be multicultural and you will find all kinds of people here, and a large population of Arabs.”

Then I thought about it more, “did I have any racist comments or any problems living in Canada?” Well, the only problem I had living here is the new immigrant Arabs and how they labeled me as “one of them.” I kept asking why, and they say, “well, you don’t have to worry about moving to a new country, learning a new language because you speak the language perfectly, and you know everything.” Hence, I was secluded and unwanted by that group. It’s funny, instead of wanting me to help them adjust to the change since I have gone through that my self, but at a much younger age, I am ridiculed and labeled. Let’s not even talk about my Arabic dialect and how it is not Palestinian enough for some people.

Blah Blah, Random Thoughts, They said what?, Whatever!