[Music]
you
[Music]
if I were to ask you where you’re from
how difficult would that be to answer
another question how many of you feel
British but also have another cultural
background a sort of double or triple
identity even in fact 46% of the
population here in Birmingham has a
migration background Indian polish
Pakistani all living with a double
identity just like me for a long time I
felt rather confused about my double
identity today I would like to share
with you how I discovered that having a
double identity can become your secret
superpower in fact I believe it even
deserves its own special name that’s why
I came up with D I P the bolide entity
person when I was eight years old I
moved I we basically flat with my family
from Belarus to the Netherlands we lived
as refugees in an asylum Center with
great uncertainty whether we could stay
or had to go back but after two years we
got the good news we would become real
Dutch citizens and this I took very
seriously during my teenage years
all I wanted besides not having to study
and attention from boys was to be a real
Dutch von Johnson’s or Smith okay I’m
blue-eyed blonde that
help but my last name shalyah cava and
my Belarusian mom were not so easy to
hide I didn’t want that people would see
me as a foreigner I was desperate to fit
in to be Dutch I didn’t want anything to
do with Belarus this changed when I had
to choose my masters I suddenly realized
that I had something that all these
funny onsens didn’t have a Belarusian
background knowledge of the Russian
language and understanding of the
Belarusian culture while everyone around
me tried hard to find their niche and
their specialization I found mine Slavic
studies after my Master’s I had this
overwhelming urge to get my lost
Belarusian identity back I needed to go
back to Belarus I found a job as a
volunteer it Minsk the capital of
Belarus where I had to promote the Dutch
culture my mother couldn’t believe her
ears I took you away from there no
you’re going back but luckily I didn’t
have much time to explain myself as
within two weeks I was back in Minsk the
moment I stepped foot there I felt like
coming back home three things happened
when my double identity being Dutch and
Belarusian helped me to change myself
and develop myself and make a difference
in Belarus the first thing had to do
with me bringing my Dutch experiences
and connections to develop social
entrepreneurship there
many conscious Belarusians who
desperately wanted to help people in
need elderly people people with
disabilities or young mothers but just
didn’t know how back in the Midlands I
had the chance to learn about social
entrepreneurship in theory and in
practice I was convinced that with the
right practical tools knowledge and
support many would be able to start
their own social business and change
many lives together with a Belarusian
friend we received funding from the
Dutch government to start a social
entrepreneurship training program called
sock starter and during soak starter we
educate sexy belly wishes on social
entrepreneurship we connected them to
potential clients and we organized the
study trip to the Netherlands during
this study trip they had the chance to
learn about the Dutch entrepreneurial
climate and they got inspired to bring
some best practices back home one
example I forgot about a very good
example that I would like to share with
you is how two of our participants
organic Mila how we connected them to
the very first client the office of the
United Nations in Minsk
you see Olga’s and lyudmila’s mission is
to make Belarus accessible all buildings
in Belarus accessible for people with
disabilities thanks to their hard work
the office of the United Nations in
Minsk can call itself the best practice
model globally as a barrier-free
workspace today I continue promoting
social entrepreneurship in Minsk Belarus
by a similar but a logic program called
best for all and here again the
connections to the Dutch partners
experiences and experts is key the
second thing I found was that the
Belarusians I connected with didn’t have
a clear Belarusian identity which is not
really strange if you know a little bit
about their history Belarus belonged to
other kingdoms and the Soviet Union for
a very long time
another problem had to do with their
language there is a beautiful Belarusian
language it is just not very often
spoken Russian language is the dominant
language in Belarus I thought I could
help as an outsider with an outsider
perspective and position so I got
together with Martha who is also a DI P
only an American television VIP and you
see the good thing about being at the AP
is that you can switch back and forth
between two identities so we use this we
started a blog writing and illustrating
a blog called it’s Belarus babe and we
started to write about everything that
makes Belarusian spell Aleutians their
obsession with potatoes their love for
the countryside and of course the
Belarusian language this blog turned
into a book called it’s Belarus babe and
it’s been received quite well in Belarus
it has raised many positive and some
negative emotions but no matter what
emotions it raises the book does what it
was set
you night spell Aleutians today I have
written seven books all in Belarusian
and English language all of them with
the purpose to unite Belarusians lack of
tourism whether it was a third challenge
I thought I could tackle who else than a
DI P can promote Belarus as an
attractive tourist destination to the
Dutch and the Europeans so now we’re
writing and crowdfunding a social
conscious travel guide to Minsk called
Minsk in socks with the mission to
promote mints and Belarus as an exotic
tourist destination in Europe I have
spoken about the good experiences I had
however it is not only positive being a
di P can be quite challenging as some of
you may know fitting into one culture
can cause anxiety and stress it can make
you feel alone and not fitting in
anywhere I found this beautiful Tibetan
saying that made me feel better many
times and that made me rethink of what
home actually means and it goes like
this everywhere where you have friends
is your motherland and everywhere where
you receive love is your home but back
to the secret superpower research has
shown that people with a double identity
and bilinguals are less restricted to
one worldview and more open and adaptive
to change they have a greater
understanding and appreciation for
people of other cultures the good in
thinking in solutions
because they can tap into two different
languages and worlds another strength of
di peace is one of being a bridge
between two nations offering experiences
expertise and new ideas to another
country the world is getting smaller and
smaller and soon many of us won’t be
able to identify oneself with one single
nation or culture which in my opinion is
a good thing for the ones out here who
don’t have a double identity don’t worry
interact with the IPS and learn from
them
of course it’s never too late to move
abroad and become a cool d IP yourself
but if you are a di p don’t neglect who
you are and the identities you’re
carrying with you you don’t have to do
what I did move to Belarus eat potato
with every meal or a right crazy comic
books but I would like to encourage you
to use your double identity as your
strengths as your own secret superpower
to do beautiful things in this world
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
you
[Music]
if I were to ask you where you’re from
how difficult would that be to answer
another question how many of you feel
British but also have another cultural
background a sort of double or triple
identity even in fact 46% of the
population here in Birmingham has a
migration background Indian polish
Pakistani all living with a double
identity just like me for a long time I
felt rather confused about my double
identity today I would like to share
with you how I discovered that having a
double identity can become your secret
superpower in fact I believe it even
deserves its own special name that’s why
I came up with D I P the bolide entity
person when I was eight years old I
moved I we basically flat with my family
from Belarus to the Netherlands we lived
as refugees in an asylum Center with
great uncertainty whether we could stay
or had to go back but after two years we
got the good news we would become real
Dutch citizens and this I took very
seriously during my teenage years
all I wanted besides not having to study
and attention from boys was to be a real
Dutch von Johnson’s or Smith okay I’m
blue-eyed blonde that
help but my last name shalyah cava and
my Belarusian mom were not so easy to
hide I didn’t want that people would see
me as a foreigner I was desperate to fit
in to be Dutch I didn’t want anything to
do with Belarus this changed when I had
to choose my masters I suddenly realized
that I had something that all these
funny onsens didn’t have a Belarusian
background knowledge of the Russian
language and understanding of the
Belarusian culture while everyone around
me tried hard to find their niche and
their specialization I found mine Slavic
studies after my Master’s I had this
overwhelming urge to get my lost
Belarusian identity back I needed to go
back to Belarus I found a job as a
volunteer it Minsk the capital of
Belarus where I had to promote the Dutch
culture my mother couldn’t believe her
ears I took you away from there no
you’re going back but luckily I didn’t
have much time to explain myself as
within two weeks I was back in Minsk the
moment I stepped foot there I felt like
coming back home three things happened
when my double identity being Dutch and
Belarusian helped me to change myself
and develop myself and make a difference
in Belarus the first thing had to do
with me bringing my Dutch experiences
and connections to develop social
entrepreneurship there
many conscious Belarusians who
desperately wanted to help people in
need elderly people people with
disabilities or young mothers but just
didn’t know how back in the Midlands I
had the chance to learn about social
entrepreneurship in theory and in
practice I was convinced that with the
right practical tools knowledge and
support many would be able to start
their own social business and change
many lives together with a Belarusian
friend we received funding from the
Dutch government to start a social
entrepreneurship training program called
sock starter and during soak starter we
educate sexy belly wishes on social
entrepreneurship we connected them to
potential clients and we organized the
study trip to the Netherlands during
this study trip they had the chance to
learn about the Dutch entrepreneurial
climate and they got inspired to bring
some best practices back home one
example I forgot about a very good
example that I would like to share with
you is how two of our participants
organic Mila how we connected them to
the very first client the office of the
United Nations in Minsk
you see Olga’s and lyudmila’s mission is
to make Belarus accessible all buildings
in Belarus accessible for people with
disabilities thanks to their hard work
the office of the United Nations in
Minsk can call itself the best practice
model globally as a barrier-free
workspace today I continue promoting
social entrepreneurship in Minsk Belarus
by a similar but a logic program called
best for all and here again the
connections to the Dutch partners
experiences and experts is key the
second thing I found was that the
Belarusians I connected with didn’t have
a clear Belarusian identity which is not
really strange if you know a little bit
about their history Belarus belonged to
other kingdoms and the Soviet Union for
a very long time
another problem had to do with their
language there is a beautiful Belarusian
language it is just not very often
spoken Russian language is the dominant
language in Belarus I thought I could
help as an outsider with an outsider
perspective and position so I got
together with Martha who is also a DI P
only an American television VIP and you
see the good thing about being at the AP
is that you can switch back and forth
between two identities so we use this we
started a blog writing and illustrating
a blog called it’s Belarus babe and we
started to write about everything that
makes Belarusian spell Aleutians their
obsession with potatoes their love for
the countryside and of course the
Belarusian language this blog turned
into a book called it’s Belarus babe and
it’s been received quite well in Belarus
it has raised many positive and some
negative emotions but no matter what
emotions it raises the book does what it
was set
you night spell Aleutians today I have
written seven books all in Belarusian
and English language all of them with
the purpose to unite Belarusians lack of
tourism whether it was a third challenge
I thought I could tackle who else than a
DI P can promote Belarus as an
attractive tourist destination to the
Dutch and the Europeans so now we’re
writing and crowdfunding a social
conscious travel guide to Minsk called
Minsk in socks with the mission to
promote mints and Belarus as an exotic
tourist destination in Europe I have
spoken about the good experiences I had
however it is not only positive being a
di P can be quite challenging as some of
you may know fitting into one culture
can cause anxiety and stress it can make
you feel alone and not fitting in
anywhere I found this beautiful Tibetan
saying that made me feel better many
times and that made me rethink of what
home actually means and it goes like
this everywhere where you have friends
is your motherland and everywhere where
you receive love is your home but back
to the secret superpower research has
shown that people with a double identity
and bilinguals are less restricted to
one worldview and more open and adaptive
to change they have a greater
understanding and appreciation for
people of other cultures the good in
thinking in solutions
because they can tap into two different
languages and worlds another strength of
di peace is one of being a bridge
between two nations offering experiences
expertise and new ideas to another
country the world is getting smaller and
smaller and soon many of us won’t be
able to identify oneself with one single
nation or culture which in my opinion is
a good thing for the ones out here who
don’t have a double identity don’t worry
interact with the IPS and learn from
them
of course it’s never too late to move
abroad and become a cool d IP yourself
but if you are a di p don’t neglect who
you are and the identities you’re
carrying with you you don’t have to do
what I did move to Belarus eat potato
with every meal or a right crazy comic
books but I would like to encourage you
to use your double identity as your
strengths as your own secret superpower
to do beautiful things in this world
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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