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.