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Nur Shkembi |
In One
Door - Out The Other
Young
Muslim women living in Australia often face a situation where they are the first
generation of their family to have been raised here as young adults. Their
overseas born parents may have immigrated to Australia to escape conflict, seek
a stable life for their children or improve the family’s economic future. Come
what may, they envisage a better life for their children and willingly make
sacrifices.
What
many families don’t bank on, however, is the cultural gap that often
arises between parents and their children – especially their daughters
– as a result of moving to a Western country. Intergenerational conflict
can be as painful for parents as it is for their children, and sometimes
has damaging consequences. Both sides sometimes make compromises, but
there are times when the rift and the personalities involved make this
much harder and the pain remains for a long time – sometimes for ever.
Sad
to say, our attempts to hear the other side of the story i.e. to listen to
what parents
might have
to say about intergenerational conflicts were completely unsuccessful.
That in itself is revealing.
Turning
the clock back, I remember my own father grinding his teeth, raising his
hands to the ceiling and complaining aloud, as most immigrant fathers are
wont to do: ‘This
is what happens when you bring them up in this country!
And my dad
was absolutely right!
Editor.
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