When refugees come to Sweden, many at times we have the assumption that they are pretending to be having problems so that they can be given permission to stay and enjoy the social benefits. Yes, it’s true they might be such people with such motives as it is normaly that in a group of people you always have deviants.
On the other side, one would argue that many of the refugees that has come for protection in Sweden and many other countries around the world have problems that have led them to sacrifice leaving their rooted cultures, loved ones and son on. Some have been disturbed psychologically, socially and mentally. This disturbance has even in many become a syndrome that they are leaving with for the rest of their lives.
One common symptom of these disturbances that has become permanent is silence. It has become common amongst asylum-seekers that have been given permission to see this symptom. They rarely speak and show emotions of too much thinking. Their minds are still filled with the memories of troubles they have faced back home, memories that will probably never be forgotten.
However, with some refugees it does dissapear after some time. This is a very serious problem which needs to be addressed with the incoming immigrants when they are integrated into this society. They should receive proper psychological and counselling help. One Swedish citizen shares with us how he has seen this strange behaviour from one of his workmate who is a refugee.
‘We work with a refugee form Bosnia. When he first arrived at our work place we used to think it was his normal behaviour but later we realize this has been the consequences of the problems he faced in his home country before he came here. He rarely talks and it’s been quite a while since he stayed in Sweden but the memories that troubled his soul are still probably fresh in his mind. His mind is still disturbed. I would think that if he had recived proper medical attention and maybe counselling, he could not be having this same behaviour”.
The above case probably represents a large spectrum of refugees who are now Swedish citizens and are still living in the world of silence, mind disturbances and probably even stress because of what they went through. There is need for a better psychological approach to new immigrants arriving in Sweden seeking protection.
How many people in Sweden would really believe it that while they enjoy peaceful times and moments with their families some people amongst us are having hard times of living with quarrels, misunderstandings and to certain extents fights that threaten their lives. Yes, very few would believe! But it’s happening! Right here in the heart of Sweden and the world doesn’t know anything about it. This is the life on the other side of asylum-seekers in Sweden.
Life amongst asylm-seekers awaiting decision from the relevant authorities is not as easy as the world assume. For the sake of those in the darkness of how this group of people live we wil briefly enlighten you on that. To begin with, asylum seekers come from different countries around the world. When they arrive in Sweden, after applying for asylum(protection), they have to be assigned places to live if they don’t have family or friends who can accomaodate them. Now , this is where the problem is, they usually have to share apartments up to four people if they are single. The migartion authorities tries to find right matches for them as in the countries they come from, language and gender. But this has become a problem because of the huge number of asy-seekers and as a result the authorities have no choice but to just put some together even though they are not matches. For example, it’s very common to find now a somali and an ethiopian together, iraqi sunni and kurdish and so on.
Now, imagine you staying, eating and sharing everything in the house with the person who is your enemy. Obviosly there is bound to be tensions and fights one day. And this is exactly what it’s happening amongst most asylum-seekers. They have been reports not to the police most of the time but amongst themselves or to the authorities about these fights and conflicts that happen quite often. Some of these conflicts have even threatened other people’s lives. Some of them have gone unreported. But still life continues.
However, some said that they have reported their problems to the relevant authorities and have even tried to sort transfer to other places but they have been told to report first to the police and make a report and then that’s when the authorities can look at their cases. However, many feel afraid to make a report to the police because they fear it might send a wrong message to the authorities about themselves. They prefer rather to keep quiet and live with it. But the big question to the authorities is: Do we have to wait to see blood in order to know there is a problem amongst these people? Surely, how many of us would not rush when you have a noisy neighbour, the least that can take your life, truly many, but now here we have a situation that has the probability of taking somebody’s life, who doesn’t have any means to run away but to a report to the authorities like a child reporting to his parents and the parents tell him he has to report first to the police. Surely, most of the asylum-seekers are our would be Swedish citizens. Let’s send a fair picture from the beginning so that we don’t spoil the road.
Sweden is experiencing a boom in the number of immigrants coming to seek asylum. Most of them find their way here through various means. Thye come here with litlle or no information about the Swedish society and their culture neither do they have any information about the system of applying for asylum in Sweden.
However, besides all these odds they still manage to find their way here in Sweden. However, many of us have never paused to ask ourselves, Is the Swedish society and authorities doing enought to disseminate information to these would-be citizens of Sweden? Many of the refugees we meet complain of lack of openess from the Swedish society about the country itself and relevant authorities not providing adequate information. Below is an account of some responses by asylum sekeers on whether they do get enough information about Sweden.
“When i made a decision to seek asylum in Sweden i had expected to find a more open society but when i came here it was the opposite. People here do not talk to us, sometimes i feel they shun us. Besides you cannot tell the mood of Swedish people. I was told in Sweded you have to talk first,but is it not to be the other way round? I expect to talk to my visitor at home and try to make him/her feel at home.
“Well i find Swedish people helpful and very kind. The only problem is to make them talk. They are shy people. When i came here i had a problem of wheo to ask about the country itself. I just relied on friends who has satyed here for a long time. The authorities resonsible for us do not give us enough information. Its only during the introduction part they we are given some information about the country and thats the end. When you try to get more information especially more on the procedure on your asylum case, you to book your handler and most of the time they are ocupied and busy. So the only way is to ask some of the asylum seekers who have been granted the permission to stay.”
” I rely on the local library and some colleagues we meet here in Sweden who have been granted permission to stay.” The migration board could have time to time forums to inform us more on the culture and other things we are to know about Sweden since some of us will soon be part of this society”