My Identity - By Rawdah Mustafa Salah

Written By: Rawdah Mustafa Salah

Category: Short Story

Competition: Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026

In the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026, Rawdah Mustafa Salah brings forth an introspective short story titled "My Identity." This narrative delves into the profound question of belonging and home, set against the backdrop of her life experiences in both the Netherlands and Qatar. Through a vivid recount of her upbringing, schooling, and cultural transitions, Rawdah's story offers a personal lens on navigating dual identities and cultural heritage.

About the Work

"My Identity" explores the theme of self-discovery through the lens of cultural duality. Rawdah Mustafa Salah paints a picture of life caught between Dutch and Yemeni cultures, highlighting the warmth of childhood memories and the challenges of adapting to new environments. The narrative is rich in imagery, capturing the essence of her journey with vivid descriptions of cycling adventures, school life, and the embrace of new beginnings in Qatar.

My Identity

Original Submission by Rawdah Mustafa Salah

My Identity

What place truly feels like home? A question that I struggle to answer. I was born in the Netherlands with a Yemeni background, I speak Dutch, attended Dutch schools and lived a Dutch lifestyle. But what about my Yemeni roots? I never felt like home or rather let’s say I never felt like I belonged somewhere or could name a place ‘home’.

I attended a Quran institute since I was 6 years old and helped me develop my deen and memorization in quran. After completing from an Islamic primary school, I enrolled in a Christian high school, I had a good time there, made new friends and started a new page. The Christian religion felt like Islam though some differences. The school mentioned Christian values like kindness, respect, honesty, and helping others, it reminded me of the Islamic values. However, the school had also students from different backgrounds, beliefs and encouraged everyone to respect one and another, and religion.

I would cycle to school with joy to see my friends. At school everyone would know me as ‘Rawdah that tears up when she laughs. That’s why you would never see me wear makeup because I would always end up with teary eyes at school. I am just a funny ,clumsy person.

My mum would not allow me to eat canteen food as I had to take home-made food. I used to eat bread with hagelslag which is Choco sprinkles. Dutch people like to eat this for breakfast or just throughout the day. This is what I am missing here in Qatar. I had this trick that saved me in high school, in the Netherlands, that was eating my home-made food quickly before going home, so one hand on the handlebars and the other to feed myself while cycling.

Cycling was my favorite hobby; I used to find every time new ,quick routes for me to only leave the house 5 minutes before the bell rings. What used to be 15 minutes became 5. Me and my bike were like best friends , wherever I go it comes along with me. Whenever I cycled with my friends, they would always say: “Rawdah, cycle right side you are too near the cars as if you want to make an accident’’. I would hear this phrase million times a day.

I was always clumsy while cycling on my bike. Once, when I was turning to talk to my friend, I bumped into tree or once into streetlight or just to the bushes.

There is one thing my mum never did, that is take me to school by car when I started High school. No matter how bad the weather got, she would never take me, not because of me getting embarrassed, is it just she didn’t want to?! Maybe she thought I needed to be independent while she was still doing school runs with my younger siblings, who attended a different school. Even when it was raining badly, snowy days or the paths were dirty, I still had to cycle to school. Don’t worry, I enjoyed those days the most!

Here is a story that happened to me. It was a normal school day in the winter, and the school gym was under reconstruction because the school was being rebuilt. So PE(Physical Education) lessons were held either outside on the football fields or inside when the weather wasn’t suitable to be outside and that is 30 minutes cycling or less, depends on how fast you are. It was snowy and icy outside, therefore it was given code orange (codes for safety precautions for the weather to avoid accidents) so the gym time was during the day and going by car is difficult. I was heading to the gym cycling with the girl’s group, chatting as we rode together.

Suddenly I noticed that one of our friends was missing behind halfway through, we stopped to look for her while the rest of the group continued cycling so they wouldn’t be late for class. We eventually found her lying on the icy ground after she had slipped. My friend and I helped her get up, but I slipped too even when I got warned by my friends to be cautious. My bike’s basket had fallen off, and the bike got stuck, so we had to head back to school since my friend was a bit injured. Luckily, we had a first aid office at the school. We came back safely to school; my friend and I we were both fine afterwards.

My locker at school always had snacks that I would buy from the corner shop near my house. The shopkeeper would see me every day and recognized my face always. The weather in the Netherlands is my favorite, when it rains and when it snows. The heat in the summer is doable. Not too hot and not cold, it usually had a breeze during the super hot days.

However, one main discovery in Netherlands is that there are no air conditions! All Dutch houses would have at least have those portable fans, which in my opinion where not even doing their job on the super humid days. In the summer, I used to stare at the wall to fall asleep because it would be SOOO hot. I would open the windows, but mosquitos would come.

After dinner when the sun is still shining in summer, my family and I would walk down the hill out for a peaceful walk in the forest, enjoying the fresh air, birds chirping all around. I would have a bag and collect treasures nature from the forest with my siblings, appreciate the beauty and peace. The Dutch have a saying: “Frisse lucht halen’’. Which means “to go out and get some fresh air’’. Dutch people love to walk cats or dogs, and we find them at the forest, I personally get scared of them but in my neighborhood in the Netherlands they were everywhere to be found.

On our school holidays, we would go camping which is a typical Dutch thing to do. Bringing tennis to play, uno cards, can’t forget the hagelslag with bread, and most importantly stroopwafels. I will be missing this always. Somehow, we eat healthy unlike hagelslag with bread we also eat cheese. Tosti which is toast in Dutch, nice cheesy bread toasted is preferred for breakfast and lunch.

One day in the summer my parents told me and my siblings we are moving to Qatar. I was really happy and enjoyed my last summer in the Netherlands. I used the excuse: “Can we go here, its our last time’’, we couldn’t dismiss it and it worked throughout the summer. I had said goodbyes to everyone and excited to go start a life from scratch. New school, new people, new friends.

Until living in Qatar wasn’t the same as visiting the country. Getting adapted to the food here, which I still struggle until today since everything tastes so different than what I used to eat in the Netherlands. Having to wake up early, coming back home with headache because it gets really hot during the day, feels like a microwave.

I felt like I have lived here all my life, I got so used to the culture since its kind of similar to yemen and the Arabic language. Wearing abayas only going to the mosque in the Netherlands to wearing it everyday here in Qatar. Hearing the adhan every day, having mosque near my house to only walk less than 5 minutes instead of driving 10 minutes. It’s a real blessing.

One thing is that children play till late whereas in the Netherlands the city goes silent after 6 pm, except for in the weekend where we have “koopavond’’ (shops close later than usual around 9pm).

Speaking Arabic at school, having Islamic classes is something I am grateful for. Celebrating ramadan, for example iftars at school, having eid holidays its something that I was missing in the Netherlands.

I feel that my life is a rolling stone, picking all the moss with my identity, culture, faith, values and being adaptable to every community I join. For this, I am thankful to my parents.

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About the Competition

The Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026 by Hashtag Kalakar is a prestigious event celebrating diverse voices in literature. It invites participants worldwide to share their stories and poems, fostering creativity and cultural exchange. This platform provides writers with an opportunity to showcase their unique perspectives and contributes to a global conversation through the written word.

We extend our sincere gratitude to Rawdah Mustafa Salah for her compelling submission, "My Identity," in the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. Her story beautifully encapsulates the essence of cultural identity and adaptation, resonating with readers across the globe. We look forward to witnessing her continued contributions to the literary world.

About Hashtag Kalakar

Hashtag Kalakar is a creative platform dedicated to providing artists, writers, singers and other creative talents with opportunities to showcase their work and reach wider audiences through competitions, features and creative initiatives.