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The slide opened and I heard a gentle, kind voice:
What is your
confession, my child?
I was stuffed. The Priest would declare me a heretic; my parents would
call me a traitor...
The Priest asked me again:
What is your confession, my child?
I'm Muslim. I whispered.
Welcome to my world. I'm Amal Abdel-Hakim, a seventeen year-old
Australian-Palestinian-Muslim still trying to come to grips with my
various identity hyphens.
It's hard enough being cool as a teenager when being one issue
behind the latest
Cosmo is enough to disqualify you from the
in-group. Try wearing a veil on your head and practising the bum's up
position at lunchtime and you know you're in for a tough time at
school.
Luckily my friends support me, although they've got a few troubles
of their own. Simone, blonde, gorgeous and overweight – she's got
serious image issues, and Leila's really intelligent but her parents
are more interested in her getting a marriage certificate than her high
school certificate!
And I thought I had problems...
About The Author
Randa Abdel-Fattah is twenty-five, and has her own identity hyphens
to contend with
(Australian-born-Muslim-Palestinian-Egyptian-choc-a-holic). For years
Randa has been active in the inter-faith community. She is also a
member of a number of Palestinian human rights campaigns, the
Australian Arabic council and various Australian Muslim women networks.
Randa grew up in Melbourne but now lives in Sydney where she works as a
lawyer. She loves travelling to Egypt and Palestine and being spoilt by
her relatives. She also loves reading, watching romantic comedies, her
husband's sense of humour, getting a seat on the train, and any movie
starring Colin Firth.
