Spoken Word: “The Right to Work”

Hi. My name is Gunou.
I’m 23, and I’ve got dreams as big as the sky.
But every step I take,
Feels like a mountain I need to climb,
Because my path is filled with barriers.

They call them “limitations.”
I call them the walls they’ve built around me.
I go to school one day a week,
I’m supposed to work two,
But the job I have now doesn’t even pay—
Not because I can’t,
But because they fear I might stumble.

Do you know what that does to a person?
To be seen as a risk instead of an asset?
To have your value reduced to a number?

Last summer, I sent 30 applications.
Thirty.
Every click of “submit” carried hope,
And every rejection
Chipped away at that hope, piece by piece.
The reason?
Not my skills.
Not my motivation.
But my dog.

Yes, my dog.
Not my heart,
Not my drive,
Not my ability.
Just… my dog.

But this didn’t start last summer.
It started before,
During my previous education.
I made 73 calls.
Seventy-three.
Dialing number after number,
Explaining who I was,
Explaining my ambition,
Only to hear the same answer again and again:
“No.”
Because of my service dog.

Do you know what it feels like to fight that hard
For something that should be so simple?
It took 74 calls to finally hear a “yes.”
Seventy-four times I had to convince them
That my worth was greater than their fear.

But let me tell you something else.
During the pandemic, I worked for the government.
I was part of a program for the covid pandemic—
I got a yes
I deserved a shot.
I didn’t just work—I thrived.
Top 3 out of thousands of employees.
My supervisor fought for me,
Because my work spoke louder than any limitation ever could.

But when the subsidy ended, so did my job.
Not because I wasn’t good enough,
But because the system decided I wasn’t worth the cost.

And that’s the part that breaks me.
The system isn’t broken.
It’s working as it was designed—

I see it everywhere, not just in my life.
In the lives of others like me.
We’re capable. We’re ready.
But we’re overlooked.

And I’m tired.
Tired of hearing “no” when I deserve a “yes.”
Tired of fighting for a seat at the table
When I’m just as qualified to stand at the head of it.

But I’m not giving up.
And I’m asking you—don’t give up either.
Let’s tear down these walls together.
Let’s rewrite the rules.
Because work is a right,
Not a privilege.

And I refuse to be invisible any longer.

 

Een spoken word geschreven door onze student-onderzoeker Gunou Mahmoud, over arbeidsdiscriminatie door haar hulphond.

Gunou is momenteel niet op zoek naar werk.

Een triest relaas van een supersterke, leuke, intelligente jonge vrouw, die ALLE kansen verdient, net als alle jongeren, zich te ontwikkelen en een mooi leven op te bouwen. Gunou werkt al een hele tijd voor het European Anti Poverty Network Nederland. Als vrijwilligster. Ze was lid van de EAPN NL delegatie die deelnam aan het European Youth Event 2021. Tegenwoordig is zij onze coördinator voor de jaarlijkse Europese Armentop, the European Meeting for People Experiencing Poverty, waaraan delegaties uit 28 landen deelnemen. Een conferentie waarbij EAPN Europa samenwerkt met de Europese Commissie en waar leden van het Europees Parlement aanwezig zijn. Wij zijn heel blij met Gunou en willen werkgevers oproepen haar die zo belangrijke kans te geven.

Jo Bothmer, coördinator EAPN Nederland
www.eapnned.nl

Wow Gunou, What a spoken word. Thank you for this true words! I think a lot of people thanks you for this.
With this words you speak for many people.
I’m so proud of you that you don’t give-up and ask others not to give up either in this system.
All people have the right to be visible! 
I always told my daughter: “Even if everyone nags you, never give up!”

And I'm happy your a great young collegae in EAPN NL. Respect!