Sorry to the ones expecting a blog post ready early yesterday morning. It had it typed out but believe it or not, internet connection failed at the hotel in Sandnes.
We did move in the mean time to Sandnes, a little bit south from Stavanger. Here we are visiting the oldest and biggest centre of the Hero network. We could call it the “Klein Kasteeltje” (= the center I work for in Brussels) from Norway. It used to be an old psychiatric hospital and there are slightly less than 400 residents living over here.
Today, it wasn’t that eye-opening or confronting as the first days in Norway. Nevertheless they do an amazing job at Dale center. It was just a bit more comparable to my own center in Belgium. For instance: Rolf Ingar didn’t accept my bottle of wine since they can’t consume alcohol in the center, whereas at the headquarters they can. I think the same goes for us at Fedasil…
No, honestly they encounter very similar challenges as we do. Not hiding the major problems we have to tackle in Belgium, the staff guiding us around wasn’t shocked about our stories. Compared to Stavanger, one has to admit that size and the age of the infrastructure you’re working with definitely matter!
Trying to get a big centre clean, dealing with vandalism that you can’t always fix or rapair right away, furniture that hasn’t been respected by residents that much. Dale, just as Klein Kasteeltje, faces this kind of challenges.
I’d like to invite the staff from Dale at our center and probably they’ll make similar conclusions. Since they do have unaccompanied minors at Dale and people with medical problems as well, you see that the number of staff is getting more comparable to us than Stavanger or the Hero’s Headquarters.
At the other hand, I could observe other strategic choices that they have made. Dealing with hygiene problems, they do outsource cleaning to a professional private firm for certain sections. This way, Hero tried to prove or convince UDI they are guaranteeing more quality than other companies who submitted a tender offer.
This morning we met two very nice people, Rajab and Tone, in charge of voluntary return and the training they do offer to those who have received a second negative (so again a negative after appealing). Again, despite the very good intentions with the programs set up for them, Silvia (from Italy) and I were really urprised how much effort is put into them. It didn’t look very consequent to us to at the one hand reject the persons as an asylum seeker, and at the other hand offering them trainings like English language and an agricultural training. Not to forget these trainings aim to motivate people to apply for the voluntary return. But frankly speaking, would you consider a return when you still live in a beautiful country, you’ll be offered a free bed, money to buy food and on top of that additional interesting courses and skill trainings? I can imagine this looks probably far better than the harsh situation someone tried to escape in his country of origin.
You feel how much Norwegian wouldn’t like to see anyone falling out of the boat. Everybody should have access to almost the same kind of rights and services of autochthonic Norwegians. Although, I admire this goal, I get somehow puzzled why in this case people are given a second negative in the end.
Norway has been sending people out forcefully more often than Belgium does. Interesting as well is they do notice a surge in the number of people who like to voluntary return to those countries to which Norway is able to return forcefully on the basis of bilateral agreements. The other ones kind of stay forever in reception centres. Apparently the tread of being repatriated by the police seems far more effective than giving additional courses after a second negative.
If it was up to me: I wouldn’t give up these training programs but I would put the focus on another target group. Either for the ones who get their first negative and still like to appeal, either in the country of origin itself for those who actually (voluntarily) returned.
Finally, there is one very good practise I’d like to share with you. At Dale, they are organizing film and debates with people from the same nationality to actually discuss the situation at their home country. Improvements, new opportunities since they left, news on the evolution of a country could be set on the agenda. It’s done in a rather informal way. For instance, there might be some traditional food from this country to create a nice atmosphere. A staffmember is present and the discussions are mainly held in Norwegian, usually some residents are translating. It proves these evenings to be pleasant and actually having a positive impact onto the perception of voluntary return.
Melanie, Steven, Anne-Marie, Sebastian. Are you ready to implement this at Klein Kasteeltje?
Greetings, Kobe
Ps: Norway does have a solid program for return, but statistics show that in 2010 Belgium had a higher amount - just under 3000 people - of voluntary returned people (in absolute as well as in relative numbers) We definitely can learn from each other. Long live Enaro ;-)
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