Identity
Refugee identity is complex. Once displaced, one's nationality often feels transient. In some cases, our narrators have spent more of their lives in the refugee camps than they have in their country of birth. "Refugee" is a label which no one seeks out but many live with indefinitely; for some, a lifetime.
Our narrators are still refugees. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel - they are eligible for permanent residence ("green cards"), and after five years of permanent residency, they may apply for citizenship. We wanted to know if their refugee identity feels to be enduring, or if they feel that part of their lives is over.
Our narrators are still refugees. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel - they are eligible for permanent residence ("green cards"), and after five years of permanent residency, they may apply for citizenship. We wanted to know if their refugee identity feels to be enduring, or if they feel that part of their lives is over.
Taylor: Do you consider yourself to be a refugee?
Benis: It's not a bad thing to be a refugee. I remember when I was in high school if you called me a refugee I used to feel bad. It’s like another kind of person. And the way people used to take it, it was like the refugee was another kind of people but it’s not a bad thing to be a refugee because everyone can become a refugee in the future. We don’t know what the future has prepared for us, so everyone can become a refugee, because we don’t know.
Megan: Do you think of yourself as a refugee, or do you think of yourself as an American or an African?
Bahati: Me, I think of myself—actually, I don't think anything! (Laughs) I don't think if I'm refugee. Sometimes I forget that I’m refugee. I think I'm home now. It's that I think. This is my home, my country. I don't know about, say, refugee, African. Sometime if they ask about the African, yeah-yeah, I remember I say, “Yes, I'm African.” But the thing about if I'm refugee or American or African—no. That one sometimes it don't come into my mind.
Megan: You're just Bahati.
Bahati: I'm just Bahati. “Where you live?” “I live here, in Crafton, in America.”—But about Africa, that one sometimes it don't come into my mind. Because the only thing I was need in my life was protect—protection. It's that I was need. Some place I can feel like I'm free, I’m comfortable, I have peace only. That is just my life. I need only peace, be free, and then feel comfortable, and do everything I need to do in my life.