KOFI LAWSON

There are many immigration stories, and a lot have nothing to do with war or famine but are more about the desire to make one’s own destiny. These are stories that almost never come up when Africa is mentioned, but they are more common than one would think. Kofi Lawson represents one of these stor ies.

At age nine, Kofi moved to Denmark from Ghana, the country where he was born and raised in a middle-class family. His father decided to set off for Copenhagen to go to veterinary school. After graduating, he found work in Denmark and brought Kofi over. “My mother and father were adventurous and ambitious, two qualities that Ghanaians are well known for.They had a good life, but they wanted to try new things. So they left.”

Kofi studied in Denmark, found work as an employment consultant, married a Danish girl, and now has two children. He feels like he is a part of the new generation of Europeans and says he feels extremely patriotic when the Danish national team plays and during the Eurovision Song Contest. Or when he sees Danish actors find fame abroad, like Mads Mikkelsen or Nikolaj Coster-Waldau from Game of Thrones: “These are the small things that make you feel like you are part of something bigger, proud of being Danish.When you see people from your country find success and get r ecognised for their talent.”

When he speaks about the future of Europe, it is with the hope that politicians and the media will focus more on what brings people together than on their differences. “We all want the same things, whether you are Portuguese or a Syrian immigrant: a normal life, a safe future for our children. When I turn on the TV and hear talk of foreigners, I feel like there are no shades of gray. It is all negative generalisations. I would like to hear more immigration stories like mine. Positive examples, success stories like that of Virgil Abloh. His parents also came from Ghana. Stories like that are so uplifting to me .”