How Do You Belong, Where You Don't Belong?

Diary of a Life Mentor

Where It Started

Years ago, on the anniversary of Nakba Day, I found myself hit harder than I had ever been before. I wondered why.

It’s all about home. About where you belong, and finding your tribe. Because in the end, ‘paradise isn’t worth walking through without people in it’ - as we say in Arabic.

Loss and Diaspora

At the time, I felt I had nothing left to hold onto. I lost my beloved mother, and my beloved husband. Before that, I had lost my brother and my father. My wonderful sister and my nieces are so far away — in Canada, Serbia, and London — and I’m here in Dubai. All of us, scattered in diaspora. Again.

The Keffiyeh and Holding On to Roots

I held on to my roots. In the past, I wore the keffiyeh, trying to affirm my identity, my place, where I belong. And perhaps that’s why, at certain moments, we reach for symbols like the keffiyeh — it isn’t only tied to Nakba Day, it’s an example of how we try to hold onto something, to reclaim that feeling of belonging. But the reality was different.

Is Nationality Our Identity?

Is nationality our identity? I don’t think so. With one simple twist of fate, we could have been born in another country, into a different community. So the personal challenge, for me, became belonging to myself — my true self is my identity. And the same is true for you.

I’m not proud of being a woman, because I simply am one, as God willed for me. I’m not proud of being Palestinian by origin, or British by passport, or Egyptian by birthplace, or Kuwaiti by upbringing. I am simply myself. And we are all one.

One Tree, Not a Forest

We are more than what we were born into. The nationality we carry is just a label that gives context to our lives. And the context of our journey is what we need to move beyond, in order to build bridges of understanding with others, and begin to grasp the nature of God’s creation.

Science has proven that everything in the universe is made of the same building blocks, and that all creatures come from “one tree, not a forest.” You and a banana, for instance, share 95% of the same genetic makeup.

What Truly Unites Us

None of this means I’m calling for us to cancel or deny our identity — it’s a genuine part of our journey.

But the deeper point I want to make is this:

we are far more than any identity shaped by social structures. What truly unites us, at our core, is our humanity.

And if we lose that, we lose everything identity was ever meant to hold.