Today’s my birthday. I know it’s actually today because I have a birth certificate that says so and parents that remember the exact date. My birth certificate says I was born at 10:38PM therefore, I won’t actually turn another year older until this evening. In America we celebrate our birthdays but I wonder if this is a cultural thing. Many of my refugee friends have no idea when their actual birthday was.

The country of Somalia keeps poor records. Most of my refugee friends received a birthdate of January 1 and a best guess year stamped on their I9 cards by some government official during the processing of their arrival to the states. This date ends up as their permanent birthdate recognized legally. It seems some of my friends actually knew their birthdate but somehow were caught up in a long line of other struggling people being processed for refugee status that also didn’t speak the English language enough to communicate the real date which they were born. I suppose there is no time to wait for an appropriate translation process for refugees to state what they do know about themselves. Maybe document officials assume the person in front of them is just like most of the other thousands that really don’t know their birthdate so they don’t even bother to ask each individual. I don’t know, it’s weird to me and it seems very disconnected from all sensitivity and care for a person.

I know one lady that received an official birthday stamp marking that she was like ten years older than she really is. She’s like in her mid to late 20s and her birthdate shows she is near 40. She doesn’t like that her birthdate is so off her true birth year. It seems that this could cause her problems life. When she is 39 her birthdate will say she’s 49. I suppose she will always look young!

When a refugee has to prove their birthday or their child’s, they often have to have an affidavit written and signed by someone who witnessed the birth or can verify that they knew the refugee during the time and around the birth. It’s quite an ordeal for them. Many of our friends poke fun at the amount of paperwork and documentation that seems unnecessary to them. They usually have a difficult time organizing and keeping track of all the paperwork that is created for them here in the states. Asha’s Refuge volunteers try and teach them some organizational skills.

I’ve never seen a refugee celebrate their birthday. They do understand that we celebrate ours. I will have to research this. Birthday celebrations may be a cultural thing.