CONTINUING.FOR.WARD
Dafar Shaban was born in Plovdiv, 28 years ago, in the family of Iraqi immigrants. He is prospecting for business opportunities for a software company and is an activist devoted to sustainable eating and the Slow Food youth network.
Have you experienced special treatment because you have a foreign name?
When I was young, the kids made fun of my name and my skin colour, but it also happened for the teachers to say: "Look at your classmate, he knows Bulgarian literature better than you." After the teenage years, the attitude improved. But recently, at a job interview, they tried to provoke me with a question: "Okay, but how do people accept you with this beard and this name?"
Can you single out a typical Bulgarian character trait?
I haven't lived long enough outside Bulgaria to compare, but it is probably the habit to think that here everything is the worst. For me, Bulgarian citizenship is precious. I received it when I was 11-12 years, and I remember how my parents craved it. I cannot understand those Bulgarians who leave the country for a more comfortable life abroad. I don't understand this reverse nationalism.
Do you celebrate Bulgarian holidays?
This year I decided not to buy Martenitsa, because I got fed up with the Made-in-China Martenitsa.
Can you describe Bulgaria with three words?
Make it clear that the separation is deliberate: Continuing.For.Ward.
Do you plan to stay in Bulgaria?
I think of going abroad to broader my professional horizons – and then I will come back.
What in your opinion is to be a Bulgarian?
Between Liberation in 1878 and Socialism in 1944, Bulgaria proved that when you have people with the right education and skills, you can achieve a lot. These people were not only Bulgarians, there were Czechs, Poles and others, who came to build a modern society. I would like Bulgarians to be like that again.
Do you feel Bulgarian?
Yes. Sadly, I fell less and less an Iraqi.
