My mother didn’t understand norwegian as great as me and my brothers. One day, my brother was playing basketball, he hurt his hand. We had to rush to the emergency doctor in town. And since I was a child, I couldn’t stay home alone. So my mother took me with them to the paramedic. While my brother was being bandaged, me and my mother was sitting in the waiting area. The man sitting in front of us said, that he wanted to cut me off with an axe towards the wall. Another woman in the waiting area asked ‘why’? He said : ‘Look at her No-one wants to marry her”. I understood what he said as a racial remark because of my color. My mother didn’t understand what he said. She looked at me and asked what he was saying. She understood from his tone and body language that it was not something positive. I don’t remember exactly how I responded. But this episode reminds me of how difficult it is for parents without language skills in a society. It was traumatic for me. I was only a child. Refugees today, probably experience similar difficulties. And only people who have been in such an difficult situation, might understand, a portion of what they are going through.
Roshnii179 