Helina Blogs

A person cannot physically be in two places at once, but their mind and soul certainly can be.  When I landed in America as a teenager, I had no doubt that I was a Kurdish refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan. Being young, America quickly made its way into my mind, body, and soul—and I’m glad that it did. But after that, the duality set in.  There are so many aspects of the U.S. that I love, as there are so many things about Kurdistan that I not only love, but feel have created me. This dual identity can be a gift, but it can also make one feel like they’re never home. After more than twenty-five years of living in the U.S., I’m no longer entirely at home in Kurdistan, and I still never feel entirely at home in America. It can be a challenge to be caught between two worlds, split in half, looking at America through Kurdish eyes and at Kurdistan through American ones. Perhaps this duality was to be expected. But what I didn’t expect when I came to America was the constant “othering” I faced. Ho