Allthough I went to bed at midnight, the fatigue true all the translating, toolkitting and blogging was building up. So my body decided to stay asleep a little bit longer then the hour of the alarm I set the night before. Even when awake, I had to drink quite an amount of coffee to bring all systems up and activate to a social acceptable behaviour... In other words, morning moods have different degrees, and today I passed on an epic level. Thanks to that, I was five minutes later than the program expected.
Luckely, Mrs. Gitte Frandsen - our driver and one of the assistants at the Kongelunded Unit Woman- was allready waiting for us at the lobby. It seemed that Andreas - as always - was very solidary with me, because he managed to arrive half a minute later... :) Mrs. Frandsen was already doing her best to reach us, so she was pretty relieved to see us... On our way to the Special Care Center at Kongelunden, Mrs. Frandsen explained her work and the situation for the women who lived at the center. I could hear that she had been doing this work for quite a long time, because she knew to explain every detail very clearly. I wondered if -on arrival- we would hear anything new that Mrs. Frandsen hadn't told us allready? Anyways, after a few minutes we arrived.
So, finally we were to meet the woman Chamilla told us so much about. The expert concerning victims of trafficking. Her name is Mrs. Lillian Vigslund. My expectation upon meeting her were quite high after all the admiration I heard from Chamilla during her presentation about victims of traficking. But actually, I felt immediately at ease, when she welcomed us inside the kitchen of the block where her office was. A real down-to-earth person who knew what she was talking about. The most important thing I remembered her saying is: "All these women living here are very strong and powerfull. They don't need to be treated as victims but as individuals who can take their lifes into their own hands and make their own decisions in order to deal with their situation." A perfect example of empowerment in the practical field. Actually as we continued sharing our thaughts, I noticed that we had quite some similar visions on how to help these people. Not too much in a nurturing way, but confronting them with their own practical problems and how they find a solution for themselves. Eventually they will have to live a social life on their own, so it's better that this attitude is carried out by all in the same way.
So then, noon... I thought it wouldn't get any better... well... We were served the best traditional Danish dinner ever, in an even better compagny... hihi. I felt quite at home, sitting around a table with women who already learned a lot about life and its' true values. I guess about two times as long as Andreas and I walk around on this earth... If you guys think I'm going to start crying out for my mom now, I must dissapoint you. I 'm way past that point where I need a warm hug and some sweet chocolate milk to sooth the feeling of homesick. My new friend who helps me cope with that, is called Glenfiddich. He only visits me for fun, not for any other reason. I know my limits.... ;)
In the afternoon, we were presented to the Youth Club where Mrs. Ditte Bartholdy and her team welcomed us. The Youth Club is a sort of afterschool and freetime facility where the children of parents with special needs (drug problems, psycho-social problems, agression, ..) come to take part in organised activities. The average the teammembers were working there, was one and a half years. Allthough this doesn't seem long, I felt that this team really hung closely together. All decisions and actions we never done individually, but always discussed within the team. It struck me that these people could very well describe what their challenges are in working with these children who have a lot of special needs, because of their parents also being in a very difficult situation and not up to educating their children in a proper way. Especially when it comes down to finding the proper punishment for these children when they misbehave, they always keep in mind that they try their best to do it in the benefit for this kid, and not making the situation even worse. Mrs. Bartholdy wasn't that new to this field of work. She had been doing this for about -or even more if I remember correctly- ten years. And that was clearly noticeable on all levels in how she knew to explain every aspect of her work into every detail. Of all the people I spoke with, I was astonished in how well she prepared all the answers to our toolkit.
To conclude our visit, we were taken on a tour througout the centre... We passed the kindergarten, some of the blocks where the families live and eventually arrived at the car in which two of the staff members were so friendly to bring us back to the train station. Before we left, we saw a girl with the age of about ten and her younger brother being brought back from school by taxi, because it was to difficult to let them drive along in the bus with the other children... They were born in this center, and grew up to be as they are right now: two children who speak Danish fluently, but who's parents only speak their language of origine and very litte Danish... these people lived in the Special Care Centre for over more then twelve years... Something I never heard of that it still exists in a modern society like this... :(
During our free time, Andreas and I decided to go watch 'Get the Gringo' starring my Braveheart - heroe Bruce Willis. We didn't know that half the movie was in Spanish, and with Danish subtitles even a relaxing night out at the movies got to be a learnfull confrontation with how difficult understanding a strange language can be in no time. To feel imprisoned in my own knowledge and not capeable of doing anything else than to try my best and translate what was said through body language and their tone of voice... damn !! Eventually it turned out to be a modern spaghetti western, but I was quite tired after the movie. I imagined experiencing that day in day out, in a foreign country, with a lot of strange ways of interactions, having to cope with no or few contacts with my loved ones, remembering the horror I went through to get here, the cravings, the uncertain future, dealing with inner fears, but also external fears like racism, or even ignorance of others who think they're worth more ... Damn, how I respect those people for their strength... and also myself... for showing them my understanding and, on the other hand helping them forget all their misery for a while through laughter, authenticity and especially acceptance into knowing that nobody is - or has to be - perfect... except Pikatchu... And my fiancée of course, at least sometimes...in particular when she says how much she loves me. hehe :)
Luckely, Mrs. Gitte Frandsen - our driver and one of the assistants at the Kongelunded Unit Woman- was allready waiting for us at the lobby. It seemed that Andreas - as always - was very solidary with me, because he managed to arrive half a minute later... :) Mrs. Frandsen was already doing her best to reach us, so she was pretty relieved to see us... On our way to the Special Care Center at Kongelunden, Mrs. Frandsen explained her work and the situation for the women who lived at the center. I could hear that she had been doing this work for quite a long time, because she knew to explain every detail very clearly. I wondered if -on arrival- we would hear anything new that Mrs. Frandsen hadn't told us allready? Anyways, after a few minutes we arrived.
So, finally we were to meet the woman Chamilla told us so much about. The expert concerning victims of trafficking. Her name is Mrs. Lillian Vigslund. My expectation upon meeting her were quite high after all the admiration I heard from Chamilla during her presentation about victims of traficking. But actually, I felt immediately at ease, when she welcomed us inside the kitchen of the block where her office was. A real down-to-earth person who knew what she was talking about. The most important thing I remembered her saying is: "All these women living here are very strong and powerfull. They don't need to be treated as victims but as individuals who can take their lifes into their own hands and make their own decisions in order to deal with their situation." A perfect example of empowerment in the practical field. Actually as we continued sharing our thaughts, I noticed that we had quite some similar visions on how to help these people. Not too much in a nurturing way, but confronting them with their own practical problems and how they find a solution for themselves. Eventually they will have to live a social life on their own, so it's better that this attitude is carried out by all in the same way.
So then, noon... I thought it wouldn't get any better... well... We were served the best traditional Danish dinner ever, in an even better compagny... hihi. I felt quite at home, sitting around a table with women who already learned a lot about life and its' true values. I guess about two times as long as Andreas and I walk around on this earth... If you guys think I'm going to start crying out for my mom now, I must dissapoint you. I 'm way past that point where I need a warm hug and some sweet chocolate milk to sooth the feeling of homesick. My new friend who helps me cope with that, is called Glenfiddich. He only visits me for fun, not for any other reason. I know my limits.... ;)
In the afternoon, we were presented to the Youth Club where Mrs. Ditte Bartholdy and her team welcomed us. The Youth Club is a sort of afterschool and freetime facility where the children of parents with special needs (drug problems, psycho-social problems, agression, ..) come to take part in organised activities. The average the teammembers were working there, was one and a half years. Allthough this doesn't seem long, I felt that this team really hung closely together. All decisions and actions we never done individually, but always discussed within the team. It struck me that these people could very well describe what their challenges are in working with these children who have a lot of special needs, because of their parents also being in a very difficult situation and not up to educating their children in a proper way. Especially when it comes down to finding the proper punishment for these children when they misbehave, they always keep in mind that they try their best to do it in the benefit for this kid, and not making the situation even worse. Mrs. Bartholdy wasn't that new to this field of work. She had been doing this for about -or even more if I remember correctly- ten years. And that was clearly noticeable on all levels in how she knew to explain every aspect of her work into every detail. Of all the people I spoke with, I was astonished in how well she prepared all the answers to our toolkit. 
To conclude our visit, we were taken on a tour througout the centre... We passed the kindergarten, some of the blocks where the families live and eventually arrived at the car in which two of the staff members were so friendly to bring us back to the train station. Before we left, we saw a girl with the age of about ten and her younger brother being brought back from school by taxi, because it was to difficult to let them drive along in the bus with the other children... They were born in this center, and grew up to be as they are right now: two children who speak Danish fluently, but who's parents only speak their language of origine and very litte Danish... these people lived in the Special Care Centre for over more then twelve years... Something I never heard of that it still exists in a modern society like this... :(
During our free time, Andreas and I decided to go watch 'Get the Gringo' starring my Braveheart - heroe Bruce Willis. We didn't know that half the movie was in Spanish, and with Danish subtitles even a relaxing night out at the movies got to be a learnfull confrontation with how difficult understanding a strange language can be in no time. To feel imprisoned in my own knowledge and not capeable of doing anything else than to try my best and translate what was said through body language and their tone of voice... damn !! Eventually it turned out to be a modern spaghetti western, but I was quite tired after the movie. I imagined experiencing that day in day out, in a foreign country, with a lot of strange ways of interactions, having to cope with no or few contacts with my loved ones, remembering the horror I went through to get here, the cravings, the uncertain future, dealing with inner fears, but also external fears like racism, or even ignorance of others who think they're worth more ... Damn, how I respect those people for their strength... and also myself... for showing them my understanding and, on the other hand helping them forget all their misery for a while through laughter, authenticity and especially acceptance into knowing that nobody is - or has to be - perfect... except Pikatchu... And my fiancée of course, at least sometimes...in particular when she says how much she loves me. hehe :)
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