This photo was taken during the Romanian Saturday of the Dead celebration. Ruxandra is wearing a traditional Sudanese costume and holding a Romanian memorial dish, the two objects symbolizing her multiple identities.

Ruxandra was born in Romania to a Sudanese father and a Romanian mother. Her parents met in Romania where her dad was studying, however unfortunately her mum passed away when Ruxandra was only 8 and her dad took her to Sudan.

In Sudan, she had to adjust quickly and grew up with a lot of contradictions, multiple dialects, tribes and cultures, but also a big loving extended family. There was no internet or mobiles and the ties with Romania and the Romanian language fizzled out along with the memories of her childhood.

As the situation in Sudan is very unstable and the civil war meant the future was not certain for her as a single mum with a young daughter. That’s what made her dust off her Romanian roots and obtain a Romanian passport which would enable her to live in Europe. 

She had friends living in Northern Ireland and that’s where she wanted to go. When she arrived here she felt the future was bright, and quickly applied for status under EUSS. Her application took months to be processed and by the time she got the decision she and her daughter had already settled in.

To her shock Ruxandra was refused status because she arrived in the UK a few months after Brexit took effect.  Returning to Sudan was not an option and the prospect of relocating to another EU country was too daunting. She then had to explore other, far more complicated, time consuming and costly pathways to be able to stay here.

Now, Ruxandra is happy to call Belfast her home and she is also rediscovering her Romanian heritage and re-learning the language through volunteering with Belfast Intercultural Romanian Community where her daughter attends the Saturday Language School and various social clubs and activities.