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Frontrunners Against Inequality: the stories of Darpan and Barwaqo

Darpan Raj Gautam and Barwaqo Jama Hussein

Darpan Raj Gautam and Barwaqo Jama Hussein participated in the project Part of the Community, organised by ActionAid Denmark, a Danish non-governmental organisation (NGO). The project began in 2014 as a collaboration between ActionAid and a youth club (Kantorparken’s Youth Club) in the neighbourhood of Bispebjerg, Copenhagen. The aim was to establish a forum for young people in the club to help them gain influence and democratic experiences. Since then, working in collaboration with local agents, Action Aid has launched various kinds of youth communities in five neighbourhoods of Greater Copenhagen. The project also included a series of public events dedicated to themes of inequality and activities such as participation in the annual People’s Meeting in Denmark (a four-day political event on the island of Bornholm).

Darpan and Barwaqo’s stories are based on interviews with two researchers (Maria Bruselius-Jensen and Anne Mette W. Nielsen) centring on a journey map. As a method, journey mapping aims to create a map of the elements interview subjects find to be the most significant in a project or process they have been part of (see also Chapter 14 in this book). In this case, Darpan and Barwaqo chose different formats (a timeline and a sketch) for their maps, but both used their maps to connect their participation in the project with previous events and experiences in other arenas, as well as with their current lives. Through their maps and narrations, they tell us about their personal experiences and visions of being engaged in change processes and political activities.

Barwaqo’s participatory journey

My name is Barwaqo and I am going to talk about my experiences of being part of Tingbjerg¹ Youth Community and what that has meant to me.

When society is organised in such a way that intangible factors like gender and cultural background limit you, that’s inequality. By that I mean the fact that those who gave birth to us, where we live (suburbs or countryside), and the genes we are born with are all things outside of our control. These are choices we do not make ourselves, but they contribute to putting you at a disadvantage compared with others. It’s not fair that your opportunities are limited by choices beyond your control. For me personally, my journey as a participant in Tingbjerg Youth Community has been about my hope that the next generation can live in a world where they do not suffer from inequality based on who they are, and that they will not have to face people with prejudices about them based on things beyond their control, such as their economic background, where they live, their religion, and so on. Tingbjerg Youth Community has meant a lot for this journey, so I’ve tried to show that.

Figure 4.1: Barwaqo’s map of her participatory journey

Note: Barwarqo’s journey map has, in agreement with Barwaqo, been redrawn by an artist. The colours on Barwaqo’s map did not work well in print and when given the chance, she preferred that the drawing be made by a professional.

I’ve drawn a suitcase that is open. The suitcase contains various things that represent what I have gained by being part of Tingbjerg Youth Community. I’ve included a key because it can open many doors and opportunities, which is something I think our youth community does. When we come together in larger groups of people, we can do more.

Sometimes I’ve had a feeling that I was the only one who felt like just another number in the statistics about marginalised housing areas. I used to associate Tingbjerg with something negative because Tingbjerg was labelled a ghetto, which implies a feeling of being unwanted. I feel like I’ve been put in the same boat as everyone else who lives here – that we are all criminals, we can’t speak Danish, we’re all on unemployment benefits. I have to constantly prove that I’m able and that I’m not different. That’s why I didn’t tell people that I lived in Tingbjerg, because they might react negatively. I discovered that we are young people with one of Denmark’s most controversial addresses – and that is something beyond our control. But the community has helped give me the courage to stand up and talk about it, and it has become something that I’m proud of. We’re a group of young people who have had the same problems and who actually choose to share our thoughts and experiences with the world. Because there are probably a lot of people who are also going around with the same thoughts, but they just don’t know what they can do about it. So, in that sense, I think it opens a lot of doors, because now we’re going out and meeting with a ton of people and talking about being a young person in Tingbjerg, and we’re also inviting people to Tingbjerg.

I’ve also put a magnifying glass in the suitcase, because instead of just looking at people like they were statistics, we actually get close to people and see them as the people they actually are. And I’ve drawn a pencil because I like to write and I keep a diary. I also use my diary to write about the things I experience in the youth community. For example, when I think a meeting was interesting, I like to go home and write about it and reflect on what we’ve done, and what I actually think about it.

And I’ve included a stethoscope – the tool a doctor uses to listen to your heart. I drew that because I don’t feel like we listen to what people say any more. But if we actually listen to what other young people say and to our own feelings, then we’ll become more attentive to listening with our hearts – listening in a way where I’m attentive and actually try to put myself in your shoes. I’ve also drawn a handshake, which is just about the fact that there’s always such a strong focus on viewing us as different. But I think that when we’re in the youth community, we’re all equal. We give each other the same handshake, or we hug each other or something like that. That’s what the handshake is about. I’ve also written some words in the suitcase. I’ve written ‘family’, and that’s because in the youth community we’ve grown very close to each other and we share a lot of things with each other. And I’ve written ‘courage’ because I think it can be really hard to share your stories. But it helps that there’s a group of people who tell you that you can. That gives you the courage to do it. On the top of the suitcase I’ve written ‘dream’ because I also have dreams – what I want to achieve – in the suitcase. Without my dreams of making a difference for other young people, I don’t think that I would have been a part of this. My hope for a better world is the essence of my dreams.

The next thing in my drawing is an arrow pointing to myself standing with the suitcase. That is to show that all of the things in the suitcase are things that I carry with me. And with the suitcase in hand, I am approaching a mountain.

The mountain is a little bit hard to explain, because it’s a lot about the process of participating in the Frontrunners programme and in the youth community. Fighting for a cause and wanting to make a change. And sometimes you can make it all the way to the top. And when things are at their best you can share your stories and people listen to what you say. But you also come down again. For me, it’s not just about reaching the top and doing something particularly brave and cool. You also have to remember to come down again, back to where you started – so you don’t forget yourself and don’t forget why you wanted to climb the mountain. When you’re down at the bottom, it can also be about just feeling down and maybe doubting yourself and thinking that you’re never going to succeed in making a difference. But you have to be able to manage being up at the top and down at the bottom, so that you’re strong throughout the journey.

And then there are some words in the mountain. I have chosen some slightly random words, but they show some of the things that I think you get out of being part of the youth community. You know, courage, joy, being able to change something. That it’s a common cause. And then the fact that it takes time. It just takes time to participate and sometimes it’s hard attending a ton of meetings or doing a ton of things with school and work and so on. We organised a festival here in Tingbjerg where people could meet and people from outside Tingbjerg could come and see what it’s like to live here. To see that it’s not like some people might think. And 500 people came to the festival. But it was a ton of work and I spent a lot of time. But I always think about the fact that I’m actually helping to make a difference and some kind of change, or that I’m helping to bring joy to some people. So these words are the words that keep me going – even when I feel like I don’t have very much time, I can find the time to do the things I want to do.

The last word I wrote was ‘development’. In a way, this is a bit selfish. It’s about my desire to develop as a person. After I’ve been a part of the youth community for a while, I want to be able to see that I’ve learned and evolved in some way – and perhaps that I’ve also gained some new skills. That I’ve reflected on some new things that I hadn’t before. I can see that I’ve come a long way from where I was a year ago. I’ve be a part of organising Tingbjerg Festival and we actually got a lot of young people to meet each other. I want to be able to see the results of the things I’ve done and the changes inside me. I’ve actually changed a lot personally, because I had never dared stand out before. I’m a bit introverted, so I think it’s hard to meet new people and then just tell them what I think and believe. If you met me two years ago, I would have been completely different. But the Frontrunner programme helped me a lot and now I have the courage to be more outgoing and the strength to share my story.

Our work on talking about things like experiencing discrimination and inequality has made me strong. It’s not something you otherwise talk about. It’s mostly something you hide or try to forget about – a taboo. Maybe you’ve experienced it on the bus or in the streets. But then you just try to forget it, because you don’t think about why it happened. But we’ve shared those kinds of stories in the youth community and with the Frontrunners. And so, all of these experiences and stories come out, and you start to realise what a common cause we have. We all discover that we all have stories and have experienced some things that we haven’t dared to talk about, but we do now.

Actually, I’ve also developed in the sense that, as a student at the university, I’m maintaining my focus on politics. That’s because I’ve been captivated by the world of politics and I’ve realised that politics is an integrated part of our lives. I’m passionate about making a difference for children and young people, and in the future, I see myself working somewhere where I can make a difference. I want to be an inspiration for young people through my work. I don’t know exactly where that will be yet, but I dream of being able to work in an NGO, the United Nations and the European Union. In any case, I will definitely continue to be politically active. Perhaps not as a candidate or giving big speeches, but I will definitely be speaking with a lot of people in any case.

Darpan’s participatory journey

My name is Darpan. I am 19 years old, soon to be 20.

I have made a timeline of my life or the most important times of my life. It starts in 2009, when I moved from Nepal to Denmark and started in the International School of Hellerup. Then I have drawn the youth club that I used to go to, called Kantorparkens Fritidsklub. I started there in 2013, around seven years ago. I have drawn different colours to show the diversity that was around me at that time, which has followed me until now.

The international school was diverse, as was my youth club. In my youth club, the nationalities that surrounded me were Afghanistani, Danish, Nepalese, Indian, Thai, Iranian. So very diverse. I was surrounded by this kind of diversity. That was very new to me, as in Nepal we are only from Nepal. That was really, what can I say, not challenging but interesting because from living the same lifestyle for nine years, I came to a country where I spoke English with some people, I spoke Nepali with some people, and I spoke Danish with some people.

Figure 4.2: Darpan’s map of his participatory journey

I went to this school for seven years and after the first year of high school, I decided that I wanted to make a change and go to a Danish school that has an international background. So I went to Birkerød Gymnasium for my second and third year of high school but in the International Baccalaureate-line. That was in 2016 and it was like the highlight of my teenage years because a lot of stuff was happening for me. At the age of 16, I was very narrow minded. My plans were to go to Copenhagen Business School (CBS), study business and make a lot of money. My thought was: “I’ll be successful making money.” That was the only thing I was thinking about. That was my goal. It drove me to get good grades, a scholarship in the school I went to and generally just everything I did was to earn money.

Around the same time, I got introduced to the youth council at the youth club. I had been part of the student council of my school for six or seven years and been the student council president the last three years of my school, so I knew the system of being in a council. It was fun, but it was like … it was basically like politics, bureaucratic politics. We talked to our counsellor, who talked to our principal, who then talked to the school board, which financed the school’s funds. There was a lot of bureaucracy. In our youth council at the youth club, it was easier to go directly to the board and just speak to them about the things we wanted to do.

All of this in 2016 also changed my life because our youth council in the youth club began collaborating with the Danish NGO ActionAid. In ActionAid, we talked about racism and prejudice and went to a very large People’s Meeting in Bornholm with many politicians present. This project of the NGO was focused on immigrant youth in Denmark wanting to have a voice. I gave a speech about how I did not break a pattern, because I am an immigrant having good grades, going to the high school I wanted to go to. Those who are criminals are breaking the pattern. It is normal for immigrants to go to school and not be engaged in crime.

This speech changed my life entirely, as I got a lot of good feedback, which made me realise that I had moved on to challenge my principles that money equalled success. I started to think out of the box. There is so much equality in Denmark and still we have all these problems.

So the youth council in the youth club really helped make me the person I am today: I got a network, I still volunteer for ActionAid, it has been four years now. Instead of going to CBS, I go to Roskilde University (RUC) and I am studying international politics instead of studying business. I am still interested in business, but I feel like I am more interested in public work. It is amazing to study at RUC, I really like it. You get new perspectives on things. When you read a newspaper, you read news differently, you understand more things. Why a person is doing what he is doing, why a state is doing what it is doing. I am also part of the student organisation, Frit Forum (Free Forum). Right now we have RUC elections to the student council and they make a big deal out of it. They give you free coffee and “Vote for me.” It is like a real election. And I feel like I am more of a social worker than a politician. I am more of a social person than I am to someone electing me. I guess it feels good to be elected, but it’s not really me. I don’t see myself going into politics. Bureaucracy is a big part of it. I feel I have more influence than I think you have when you choose people through politics. I have realised that power is more valuable than money because money is too materialistic.

In the future I want to work with kids, be it here in Denmark or somewhere else. Work with kids and help them get the things that they don’t have. If I decide to work in Denmark, it is about confronting a discourse that states that all immigrants do this and that. You can break that and make people believe something else. If I decide to work in Nepal, maybe it is about getting kids into education and teach them basic rights. Maybe sexual health for small girls. It depends on where you are, because every region has their own difficulties. But I do believe that children are the ones that … children are the future. I believe we should have the most focus on children because it is just more important that way. I think that Denmark doesn’t have enough focus on their youth. One of the themes when I was on Bornholm was that the youth were being talked with – not talked to – which really hit me because youths want to be listened to. It is nice for the youth. They deserve attention as well.

Currently I work in my old youth club because maybe I can prevent the kids that I work with from being like some of my old friends. Give them the right guidance instead. It is really weird or nostalgic when I work there. I started four weeks ago, and it is weird because of my age. Some people are 17 and I am 19 and I am supposed to be their guidance counsellor. I feel like they know that I can still teach them something because of the things I have experienced. But the age thing is really weird in Denmark because you see age as something that determines how much you know, I guess, and not the maturity of the person. Some of the most significant people in my life have also been from the youth club because they straightened me up. They knew my potential. If I skipped school, they were like, “Come on.” They push. They make you feel that you can do better than you think. They used to teach me how to be a good student and now they teach me how to be a good educator. This is the real importance of the youth club in my life.

Note

1Tingbjerg is a social housing area on the outskirts of Copenhagen. It is formally defined as a ‘ghetto’, due to low education levels among residents and high levels of residents with non-Western backgrounds. The criteria are defined by the Danish government and several social housing areas are on the so-called ‘ghetto list’.