It has been a while since the last blogpost here...
I will not report on everything that has happened since, but slowly recall episodes that might be of interest to some potential readers. Or just episodes that I feel the urge to write something about.
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I am at the moment working a lot. My hours are 90% of a fulltime job, but since Swedish people in general work longer hours than other people in the west, I view it as pretty full on. I work 36 out of 40 hours.
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The two projects that I am working on, are both within the field of integration. The state has ensured funding for different initiatives, and I work as a project coordinator for an association in Malmö that promotes female network and gender equality, as well as working for a sports association that will carry out an integration project with young people in Kristianstad.
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Working with this kind of initiatives makes me reflect a lot about what integration is, and what it actually means. Having spent a few years abroad, I have gained a bit of an outsider´s perspective on Sweden, and this is now also influencing the work I do and how I view this matter.
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Not having many answers nor very much to say about the subject yet, except that what I find is that the most important thing to work on is some kind of openness and willingness to meet new people, and to take them in. My work is very much about connecting people with each other and also exposing refugees (in the case of my Malmö work) to different areas of the Swedish society. I am initiating visits to different workplaces, hosting a language café as well as doing a cycle-course.
These are some of the activities and it is very important to carry them out with love. I want to create good and safe places, to which the women or, as in the Kristianstad project the children want to return.
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Talking in terms of marketing is not entirely bad. My services reach out to people with limited knowledge of Swedish. The most successful marketing strategy is building trust and doing something good that more people will want to take part in. In this way the word is spreading....
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I feel very good doing a work where I am useful. I am doing something which makes me feel good because at the core I am doing something to help another human being. At least I am trying to.
With art and music I was not sure I was helping. Maybe just helping myself, which isn't a bad start. Expressing things in artistic ways have always been second nature to me, but I was not feeling like I was helping anyone. And for a long time I didn't know that was what I wanted to do.
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While I am further integrating into Swedish society I am not giving up on arts, it just feels so good to do something for others. And to get paid at the end of the month.
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I haven't given up on any dreams, the dreams just changed....
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On the last note: A nice image I took when I lived in Gothenburg. I always imagined this would be a good start for an albumcover...
XXX//Sara- Grunk Ma
