The final chapter...

Captain's log, stardate 150612

The final chapter...

 Because the weather forecast gave us good expectations on a sunny day and our final destination was only a few blocks away, we decided to rent a bike at the hotel. Today we would visit the Red Cross school for adult foreigners. Hear they can learn languages like Danish and English, but also get a basic knowledge about reading and other education in order to function better socially on daily life basis.

When we entered, Mrs. Anette Eriksen greeted us with a warm welcome. She is the leading manager of the school and was very pleased and proud to show us around. While passing by all the classrooms, I noticed that there weren't that many students attending. A maximum of ten persons in one class, as I could count. Getting up and going to school on a friday morning seems to be an international problem then, hehe. I also noticed that the teachers do their best to adjust their teaching to the skills of their students. There are classes where you can learn Danish, follow a “PC drivers-license”, some social skills. There even is a class for people with special needs, because it's merely impossible for them to attend the regular classes. But at other classes they only teach English, to my surprise. Those classes are available for anyone who wants to attend them, but especially for asylum seekers who are rejected and might need to leave the country in a certain amount of time. English is an international language which most people understand, so it’s very crucial if your future in the present country isn't certain.

Besides structurized lessons, the most popular media they use for this purpose, must be “The New Times”. A sort of newspaper, made by refugees and the challenges they meet in their lifes. You might think that these people only write this paper for other refugees and foreigners, living in Denmark but they don't. Even other institutions concerning their interests (other schools, lawyers, politicians and social workers in particular, but also to all the people who might be interested. Mrs. Patricia Brancer is a British woman on a mission. She was the one to create the initiative into empancipating refugees and other volunteers into engaging themselves into collecting valuable information and sharing this with others. When she presented me a page to look in, I saw how well prepared these articles were. No common info, but specific information was shared on hot items like “The asylum law how it was and now”  In order to comprise to also giving less educated people a change to share their talents with the world, everything is done in order to give these people an oppurtunity to participate in this project. Like an Afghan man who is ilitterate, is given a photo-camera so he can give a documentary about his daily life and what he does to pass his day. Not only specific info is shared, but also are there topics like health, passing freetime in a pleasant way, finding the right people to speak with concerning specific information. I could tell that Mrs. Brancer was very proud of her work, and wasn't planning on building down her dedication she had for this cause. So little time to discuss, so much interests to share... But we had to move on...

Still thinking about the valuable sharing with Mrs. Brancer, we were offered to sit in an English class, together with fourteen asylum seekers. Instead of speaking with the teacher and following the lessons, Andreas and I decided that we would like to hear the stories of the people themselves. We heard a lot about what it was like to work for an NGO like the Red Cross, but now we got the stories from the people living there. And what they thought about it... and actually, the stories I heard were just the same as the ones I heard in Belgium. “We have to wait so long, away from our family.” “ Allthough I played in first division in my country, I cannot join any national football team because I need a four digit registration number in order to be allow.”... “I'm in my last phase, what future do I have? Nobody can tell me. I just await the final answer when I have to leave... but I cannot return, my family would be in even more danger if so.” I gave a big sigh, thinking: “Oh boy - I mean God - we still have a long way to go in order to find world peace. Why do some people have to be so selfish and only think about their own greed, power and domination? We're all human beings, coming from the same source of excistance and yet ... it seems as if so many people are still treated like animals, just ignored by those who have no worries, except what to do with all their money or just loose their common sense and respect to start taking away other lives...”

Not to leave these people hanging in these negative thoughts and also making my own feelings come to a more positive sense, I decided to brag about the good food I tasted untill now. And as I expected, pretty soon everyone around the table was telling about their own favourites and how to prepare it. I got a lot of wonderful tips into creating my own topchef multicultural meals. Eventually, I asked them if they wanted to pop a question about me. An Algerian man asked me: “What do you like in life?” I said: “Gosh, that's an interesting question... Lets just follow my heart then... I love freedom, and accepting eachother in this. Going beyond your own cultural, religious and emotional prejudgement and looking at the inside, the true person behind all the conditioned behaviour. It's a challenge, but as a clown I feel that most of us share this understanding. Especially children. To me, they are the most pure human beings. They don't judge, they don't blame. In their innocence of excistance they live on impulses, authentically and without fear that in the end the score will be settled. We should be happy with a more basic way of living, not putting too much value into the materialistic way of living.” The person who asked me, shook my hand and said: “You're a good man, keep up your work.” And actually, he's right... Except from my slight overweight and heavy snoring at night, you might say I'm a Godlike heroe... hehe.

Eventually, we went to speak with Mr. Lars Brügger. He works as a counsellor in this school, in order to support them into finding some practical experience at a compagny, hospital or some sort of job that they do, without payment. A very friendly and flexible man who explained the different aspects of his job very well. To most of these people who go to school here, it's very important that that get this practical experience, in order to find a job easier in the future. But also that they can pass their free time in a more positive way.

By noon, we ate another fine Danish buffet. I even managed to create my own Bicky Burger – sortlike sandwich. So when I closed my eyes, it tasted a little bit like home... except from the Danish voices in the back. When I looked up, I saw three North African guys discussing their opinions. Not in Arabic, but Danish... am I being prejudice myself now?


 

In the afternoon, we had the oppurtunity to share our experiences and thoughts about this exchange program, together with Mrs Tsovinar Khachatrian and Mrs Mette Schmidt. Actually, I don't need to share this anymore through here, because everything can be found if you read all my blogs... :) The most important thing I remembered is that the Danish Red Cross workers all seem to share the same value: they work for an NGO and this is translated in their attitude. No nine to five mentallity, to me it seems as if they do it from the heart. Professional love, I'd like to call it. :)

So, that's all folks... See you at work, in the pub, at home … or maybe we'll just have to wait untill november this year to meet up again in Sicily.

I would like to send a special thanks to all the organisers and hosts who made it possible for us to have this unforgetable experience!

Here are some nice pictures I took on our bike tour in the afternoon...

To be continued ...

Wesley