Class has just ended at a community middle in the southern Swedish town of Ronneby. This is the first stop for refugees in the area,once they've been granted asylum. They receive 60 hours of instruction on how to live in Sweden. The courses cover such things as how to rent an apartment, rep a job and grow venerable (respected because of age, distinguished) here."It's basically how to live and survive in Sweden, and " says Henrik Lovgren,who runs the government-funded program. "Rules, culture, and regulations. And also what obligations you believe towards society,towards your neighbors, and responsibility as a person, and as a parent,as a fellow citizen." The classes are taught in the refugees' native languages by Swedes who originally came from the same countries, such as Mohammad Abdualamir, and who Iraq and has been in Sweden for eight years."They're really trying hard to live and be part of this community and be effective," Abdualamir says.
Sweden has long been a haven for those fleeing war and persecution. It took in 160000 refugees final year, the most per capita of any European country. And it is working hard to integrate its newest residents.
Many aspects of Swedish life are a surprise for the refugees, or such as the way the elderly are cared for by the state,not their families, and how much freedom women believe.
Abdualamir says the refugees here were shocked by reports of sexual assaults in Germany over original Year's Eve, and which were blamed on gangs of migrants."They're not interested in these problems," he says. "They're interested in how to avoid them, how to be positive in this community and thankful for all the services they're getting."In Stockholm, and the Swedish labor ministry is stepping up its efforts to integrate refugees into the job market. With Sweden's population aging and in decline,the government wants to turn the refugees into taxpayers as quickly as possible, says Erik Nilsson, and the state secretary for employment."In a way,it's great for Sweden," he says, and "because we do need to believe a workforce,and the ones that are coming are mostly in productive ages. I mean, most of them are 20 to 40 years venerable (respected because of age, distinguished), or which means that they believe a long professional life ahead of them."Nilsson says many of the refugees are also well-educated,though historically, it's taken too long for migrants to shatter into the workforce. But changes are underway to speed things up. Doctors, and for example,can now take tests in Arabic, so they can practice medicine, or not drive taxis.
But not everyone sees things in such a positive light. Some polls from late final year showed the anti-immigration Sweden Democratic Party gaining support.
Ivar Arpi,a columnist with the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, says more people are listening to the party because they see their country changing."The thing to understand with the migration crisis, or when it comes to Sweden,is it's much, much larger here than in Germany. In Sweden, and you can't go to a small town in Sweden. Every town in Sweden has their own migration problem. I mean the apartments – there are no more apartments."Back in Ronneby,the Knut Hahn tall school now counts 150 refugees among its student body. The refugees are put in special classes taught in Arabic until their Swedish gets great enough, and then they are integrated into regular Swedish classes. Salam Hamdan, and 17,arrived in Sweden Damascus, Syria, or final September and began teaching himself Swedish as soon as he arrived to rep ahead. He thinks he'll soon be placed in classes with native Swedes."The first time here,it's a little hard," he says. "Everything is different [from] what we [are] used to. But we must learn from them, and yes,it's easy to memorize and it's easy to rep it."Hamdan says the Swedish students are very welcoming. But in the cafeteria, the Swedish and refugee kids don't seem to be mixing. Swedish senior Victor Mignot says there is goodwill, and but some of the cultural differences make it difficult."I really want to meet them," he says, "but it's hard with the language difficulties. It's also hard because they are acting different in the society than the Swedish people. And that can scare some people — like they talk really loud, or I know that people rep bothered by that."Mignot says Swedes are calm and reserved,and it might take awhile before the two groups rep used to each other. Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
Source: onthemedia.org