Where I am from poem…
I am from my grandparents’ house
I am from the playground
I am from the sand
I am from the sound of Azzan
I am from the taste of Kisra (traditional Sudanese food)
I am from the smell of Bakhoor (burned-scented woodchips)
I am from my mother and my two sisters
I am from my family and friends
I am from traveling and singing
I am from ‘well done’, ‘I love you’ and, ‘I am proud of you’
I write this poem as an exercise to come back to myself, to reconnect with my inner voice, and to keep knowing me. *
Today we live in a world that benefits and sustains itself from us doubting our self-worth and value. We grew up hearing the voice that tells us we are not enough. We continuously hear this voice in the media where it is difficult to see other physical features and ‘beauty standards’ than the Eurocentric ones. We have been also trained in our schools to get to disconnect from our own voices because the only legitimized and valued voices are voices coming from a different world than ours. We grew up understanding that learning in different academic institutions is not an equal process rather it is a process to which learners have nothing to contribute. This doubted relationship that people have with themselves has deeply rooted in the legacy of colonialism as well as other systems of oppression.
Colonialism shaped what people understood and believed about themselves. It took people’s land, culture, traditions, and most importantly their identities. It was central to colonialism that the worth and value of people are strongly determined by their looks, productivity, and wealth. People’s humanity was reduced to a few aspects that continued to influence how they relate to themselves because these aspects were created by some people and considered the standards of worth. It has been created for us to fit in and have very limited versions of ourselves. But during this process of fitting in, we end up being hurt, broken, and sometimes destroyed without even knowing. We have accepted, believed, and internalized these loud voices about ourselves fitting in narrowed spaces as truth without questioning them. But challenging them is a form of decolonizing the single way in which we experienced ourselves. Decolonization in this context is also about reclaiming our humanity, connecting to ourselves, and choosing to know who truly we are.
I believe that self-reflection and self-awareness are processes of decolonizing ourselves. These are acts of rethinking who we truly are beyond what we have been told we should be. When we intentionally get to start knowing ourselves, we redefine what it takes to be enough in our own ways. This work is about believing and being able to say that ‘I am my own me and I am significant as a human being’. It is also about supporting others to recognize their worth when we recognize ours.
I am enough, we are enough!
