Presentación de el libro "A Santiago desde mi celda" - Presentation of the book "To Santiago from my cell"

El pasado viernes, 4 de marzo, se realizó la presentación oficial de nuestro libro “A Santiago desde mi celda” en el que se recogen las vivencias de los internos del Centro Penitenciario de Monterroso que realizaron el Camino de Santiago en Galicia como parte del proyecto Grundtvig “Sin Barreras”.

Last Friday, March 4th, we had the official presentation of our book "A Santiago from my cell" which details the experiences of the inmates of the Prison of Monterroso who completed the Camino de Santiago in Galicia as part of the Grundtvig project "Without Barriers."




El acto tuvo lugar en la Diputación de Lugo y fue presidido por diferentes personalidades: La Alcaldesa de Melide, Dª Mª Socorro Cea Vázquez, Alcaldesa de Melide y presidenta de la Mancomunidade de Concellos del Camiño Francés, entidad que subvencionó el libro, D. Antonio Gato, Alcalde de Monterroso, D. José Vázquez Portomeñe, Subdelegado del Gobierno en Lugo y Víctor Fraga, Gerente del Organismo Autónomo de Trabajo Penitenciario y Formación para el empleo. Todos ellos participaron en la rueda de prensa en la que se explicó el alcance del proyecto y de la publicación del libro.
Durante el acto, también fue entrevistado uno de los internos participantes en el proyecto, Wang Lu Ling, de nacionalidad china, expresando con emoción las vivencias que tuvieron durante el Camino y que luego se plasmaron en el libro “A Santiago desde mi Celda”.

The event was in the Provincial of Lugo, and was chaired by different personalities: The Mayor of Melide, Mrs Cea Maria Socorro Vazquez Melide, Mayor and President of the “Mancomunidade de Concellos do Camiño Francés”, the organization that funded the book; D. Antonio Gato, Mayor of Monterroso, D. José Vázquez Portomeñe, Government of Lugo and Victor Fraga, representing the National Department of the Spanish Prisons. They attended the press conference in which they explained the scope of the project and the book's publication.
During the ceremony, one of the inmates involved in the project was interwied: Lu Ling Wang, from China, saying with emotion the experiences which they had during the road and then expressed in the book "To Santiago from my cell."






El seguimiento de los medios de comunicación fue importante. Aquí dejamos algunos de los artículos más destacados.

The presence of the media was important. Here we leave some of the most outstanding articles.







También, el pasado viernes, dia 11 de marzo, vinieron a nuestro Centro de Adultos del Centro Penitenciario de Monterroso 2 periodistas del Diario “El Progreso” de Lugo, quienes entrevistaron a los responsables del proyecto y a algunos de los internos participantes, así como a otros internos, participantes en los nuevos proyectos Grundtvig que se siguen desarrollando desde el Centro de Adultos de Monterroso. En la fotografía podéis ver el artículo que también está on-line en la dirección que se incluye.

Also, on Friday, March 11, came to The Adult Center of Monterroso two journalists of the newspaper "El Progreso” form Lugo, who interviewed the project managers and some of the inmates involved, as well as other inmates, who participate in the new Grundtvig Projects developed by the Adult Center of Monterroso. In the picture you can see the article and the on-line link.





http://elprogreso.galiciae.com/nova/79936.html

A Santiago desde mi celda - To Santiago from my cell

El próximo viernes, 4 de marzo, a las 12,30 h. presentaremos oficialmente nuestro libro “A Santiago desde mi Celda”, basado en los escritos realizados por los alumnos recogiendo sus experiencias cuando recorrieron el Camino de Santiago en Galicia.

El acto será en la Diputación de Lugo y a él asistirán diferentes autoridades nacionales , regionales y locales. También acudirán 2 de los internos que relizaron el Camino en el marco del proyecto Grundtvig “Sin Barreras”.

El libro ha sido publicado por la Mancomunidade de Concellos del Camino de Santiago en Galicia a quien queremos agradecer sus esfuerzos y, especialmente, a la Alcaldesa de Melide, Dª María Socorro Cea Vázquez, quien desde el primer momento se interesó por nuestro proyecto y consiguió que finalmente nuestro libro fuese publicado.



Ayer, presentamos el acto y nuestro libro en el programa “Hoy por hoy” de la Cadena Ser, intentando dar aún más difusión a nuestro proyecto Grundtvig “Sin Barreras” y al libro “A Santiago desde mi Celda”. Nuestro agradecimiento, también, a Juan Carlos, presentador del programa, que siempre nos apoya en cada una de nuestras iniciativas en Monterroso.




Next Friday, March 4th , at 12:30 pm. we will officially present our book "To Santiago from my cell, " based on writings collecting the experiences of our students when they walked the “Camino” , Saint Jacques Way, in Galicia.

The event will be in the Provincial of Lugo, and various national, regional and local authorities will assist to the presentation. Two inmates who realized the experience will assist to the act. The book has been published by the “Mancomunidade de Concellos del Camino de Santiago en Galicia” and we thank especially to the Mayor of Melide, Ms. Maria Socorro Cea Vazquez, who was interested in our project from the beginning and got our book finally published.



Yesterday, we introduced the act and our book in the radio program "Hoy por hoy" (Cadena Ser) trying to give more publicity to our Grundtvig project "Without Barriers " and to the book "To Santiago from my cell. " Thanks to Juan Carlos, presenter of the program, because he always supported our initiatives in Monterroso.

That's all, folks

Queridos Socios

Sin barreras está llegando a su fin. No llores, Ayse, que seguro algún otro proyecto volverá a reunirnos…

Dear Partners

 

-->

Han sido 2 maravillosos años compartiendo tantas y tantas experiencias con un grupo excepcional de personas.

Mis sentimientos, al final de este proyecto, son de un trabajo bien hecho y de haber logrado un grupo al que me he sentido orgulloso de pertenecer.

There have been two wonderful years sharing so many experiences with an exceptional group of people. My feelings at the end of this project are from a job well done and have been a group which I was proud to belong.

-->

Agradecer a los socios noruegos, como así reiterar el agradecimiento a todas las instituciones, por la excepcional reunión organizada en Noruega y de la que siempre guardaremos emotivos recuerdos.

Thank you very much to the Norwegian partners, as well to reiterate the gratitude to all institutions, for the exceptional meeting held in Norway and the emotional memories that will keep forever.

-->

Estamos pendientes de la publicación de nuestro libro sobre el Camino de Santiago, lo que informaremos en el Blog cuando tengamos el libro en nuestras manos.

Sólo me queda recordar que, Sin Barreras, debe ser no sólo un proyecto, sino una actitud a continuar en todos y cada uno de nosotros. Ahora hemos comprendido un poco más la problemática de la población inmigrante; no lo olvidemos y sigamos, en nuestro día a día, intentando que aquellas barreras que, como diría Cherif, se han roto, no se vuelvan a levantar.

Y recordad que os estaré vigilando…

We are awaiting the publication of our book about the Camino de Santiago, which inform on the Blog when we have the book in our hands.

I can only remember that, Without Barriers, must be not only a project, but an attitude to continue in each and every one of us. Now we understand a little more the problem of the immigrant population We must not forget it in our day to day, trying to make that those barriers, as Cherif said “breaking”, do not raise again. And remember that I will be watching ...

-->

Pedro the First, King of Without Barriers and another unexplored lands...

Sajjad's story

Introduction

Sajjad, the young man you all met the last night we spent together, our barbeque-chef who provided us with tasty food, has given me his story. Though many of you might feel that the project is over, I feel the opposite: it has just begun! Stories like what you are about to hear from Sajjad gives me an important perspective about life itself, many times depending on where you are born. It motivates me to work even harder to understand, to participate in the integration process. This is his story, told especially for you working with Without Barriers.

A high price for a new life

My childhood in Afghanistan was stolen from me when I was just 10 years old. At this age I witnessed that they shot and killed my father. Who “they” were, I don’t know, but later I’ve been told that they did it because they wanted our property, our money. More than 20 years have passed, but I still see it, I have it in my head, my body, it fills me entirely! Since that time I’ve seen dead people many times, and I’ve been close to getting killed several times myself.

My mother became a widow much too young. She was left alone with me as the “head of family”, a child, and also there were my siblings of 2 and 3 years. Life is not easy for women in my country, especially not if they do not have a husband or other men to look after them. My mother had only me, and I was a child. We managed to cross the border to Iran, thanks to savings and good connections. In Iran life was somewhat better, and I could continue school. I have always been smart, and school was easy for me. I got good grades, and was accepted at the university. But I never started my studies to become a dentist, I had to flee the country to help my mother economically.

Since I come from Afghanistan, I did not have a passport. I therefore had to flee Iran illegally. I went over the border to Turkey, but I was not alone. We were many, all young men crossing the border without papers. It was hard and cold, very cold. We went over the mountains, and all I had was my trousers and a T-shirt. In the mountains there was wind and snow, freezing cold. For almost a week we had no food, but could not rest. All night we were walking, and all day we had to hide under big stones so the Turkish helicopters should not see us.

The way we went was covered with minefields. The Turks did not want anyone to cross the border illegally; therefore they patrolled it with men with machine guns and helicopters. I saw many men get shot, and corpses who had lost their lives long ago were also witnesses on the road to my freedom.

Not only the crossing over the Turkish border was hard, also the crossing over to Yugoslavia where they also shot at us. Many people had lost their lives here too. My trip continued towards Austria. To do this, I had to cross a river. The boat I sat in, a small rowboat, went around, and all of us fell into the cold water. To survive, we had to undress at the shore and run. That is when they caught me; naked and afraid. My fingerprints were taken in Austria, at the police station. I never applied for asylum there, but those fingerprints have given me a lot of problems later. That is why the Norwegian government spent years and years to give me my permit to stay, to settle in a new country. Finally, after many years!

I remember happy days, before I was 10. I was a child, I played with other children, I remember family members laughing, having big parties. I remember my mother working as a teacher, my father was a doctor. Both had nice jobs which they were proud of, and we had a nice home. But that was before I reached the age of 10… My life has been tough, and I feel like I have wasted the 9 last years of my life. So much I’ve been through, so much paperwork, so much waiting. All I ever wanted was to continue my life, get an education and a job so I could help my dear ones.

There are many, many more out there who have experienced worse things than me. We are survivors, but we pay a high price to live – because memories cannot be wiped out easily. Bente told me to write down my experiences, to write a book about it. Maybe one day I will, I need to do it, only then I can have peace in mind.

Epilogue: The language is “the hands and feet” – without them you are lost

When I first met Sajjad at our school, I saw a positive and always smiling, young man. He told me that he wanted to find work, to settle down and start his life here in Kongsberg. He had great respect for the Norwegian way of working, and admitted that the Norwegian language was important to find work. “The language is the hands and feet, if you don’t have it, you cannot function”, he said. When I asked him what kind of work he wanted, he answered that he was open for all options.

I contacted a friend of mine who runs a food store in town. He was willing to meet Sajjad and give him a try in the shop. To make a long story short; Sajjad is the best worker they ever have had, and he is about to get a permanent job with good career opportunities. I wish him the best of luck in the future – and I will never forget his story!

Final meeting in Norway

We, the Norwegian delegation, know that we live in a country with a harsh climate, so my survey from June has told you. We do not necessarily have sunshine every day, or hot temperatures. We do not have many historical and grand buildings dated back to before Christ, nor do we have splendid cathedrals with world known ornaments and paintings. But we do have our nature, and that was where we wanted to put our focus when you came to visit us in Norway.

Since you all had different schedules here, arriving with different means to different places, we found out that we had to split up to receive you all. It was important for us, after everything you have done for us earlier, to welcome you in a positive way, making your stay here as nice as possible.

Our own sweet "troll" imported directly from Spain: Pedro F. Cantero

The first partners arriving were the Spanish guys. Bente received them in her apartment In Horten, close to Larvik, where their ferry from Denmark arrived. They came in the middle of the night, but were astonished about how light it was in mid-June. We had a nice time visiting towns like Nevlunghavn, Stavern, Kjærringvik and Åsgårdstrand on Sunday. Monday we spent in the prison of Halden, a modern and well known site in Norway because of it’s luxurious premises.

The Spanish delegation with Bente in the prison of Halden.

After this visit we went over the border to Sweden for a short visit, where we walked around the town of Strømstad. The day finished in the old town of Fredrikstad, where Manuel and Ali had a great time playing with children’s toys. (I hope you are friends still, although Manuel struggled a lot to get down from the toy on the photo).

Boys having fun on childrens playground of Fredrikstad

The Germans arrived Monday, and was picked up at the airport of Torp by Cherif. He invited them to join for an active Tuesday after settling in Grand Hotel, Kongsberg. The same day Henri picked up Ayse from Turkey and the French partners in Oslo. They managed to see the Opera building before they sat off for our little town. So next day, Tuesday, were spent with Cherif and Grete in the surroundings of Kongsberg. They went to a small water-fall, had a barbeque there and finally sat down for coffee and ice-cream in Grete’s garden. Here the Spanish people met the rest, and we were finally united.

Icecream and coffee/tea in Grete's beautiful garden

After tons of coffee and ice-cream we all went down to Bergstaden Taekwondo, Henri’s local where he and I do our training. It was funny to see how our partners enjoyed playing with stuff in the local, they kicked and boxed and got quite crazy, maybe some of you saw a new potential in yourself?

Laure shows her boxing skills with great eager.

Henri then had a light training session with us which was very nice after a long day with many impressions. And Manuel had a great opportunity of studying some techniques.

All training with Henri in his local

"This is not difficult!"

Henri, Norwegian champion of Taekwondo

Christian enjoys the training...

Our meetings were held Wednesday 16^th and Thursday 17^th of June. We started at 09.00 in the town hall of Kongsberg. Here we made a short presentation of the program, of the town itself and our social plans for the days working with the project. The social part is very important whenever we make our meetings, because it reveals a lot about the country’s culture and the people in it.

After the short morning coffee, we went into the church of Kongsberg. It is one of our countries most beautiful churches from 1761, as you may see on the full screen image here. It has a very simple facade, but inside it is highly decorated. After the church visit, we went across the street into the Fredheim school to participate in a 30 minutes “crash-course” in Norwegian.

Sajjad helps with the Norwegian pronounciation.

Grete and Bente were teachers, and the participants were mixed in two groups, helped by participants from many different countries from our school. Sentences like “Hei, jeg heter…” (Hi, my name is…) and “Jeg kommer fra …” (I come fom…) were repeated, and we teachers sincerely think that our partners made great progress in short time! Well done!!!

Hervé impresses Annette (USA) with his fluent Norwegian.

Of course there was a reason for our small “language course”. We wanted to draw attention to what “Without Barriers” really includes: that every immigrant in the beginning has a lot of barriers to deal with before they can integrate properly. We wanted to put ourselves into the shoes of an immigrant just arriving Norway. His/her problems will be:

• Need to learn the language

• Find out names of food and other necessities, where to buy it and prices/money

• Make friends, hopefully with native people too

• Need to understand the codes, culture, the rules and the system of the country

• Get a job and be independent

There are many obstacles to be won, but we partners have means to help everyone a step further, and that’s what we have been working with throughout this project.

We went from school to our local where we had our work-meetings. Bente showed a quick resume on a Power Point presentation of our meetings in the past; in Spain, France, Germany and Turkey. She also made some comments on peoples’ signatures, and drew the attention to how these can be meaningless to even try to read. It is a kind of "secret language", a signature could as well be written in Chinese, because it only gives meaning to the writer itself. Well, the presentation was of course meant to be amusing, and I believe our partners saw both the humor and the memories in it.

After lunch we went back to our local where we decided upon our work which was to be done during the stay. We split into 5 groups (as in member-countries), and carried out some serious work before the Spanish delegation run to their hostel to watch the first football-match; Spain against Switzerland. (By the way, I maybe should NOT mention that Spain lost this game 0 – 1. This was probably just to make everything more exciting, I’m sure…)

After the Spanish loss (OH, I said it again) we met with towels and swim suits to start our competition: “Who will be the Viking of our project?”. We went to Fiskum, an inland fiord near Kongsberg. Even I must admit that the water was VERY cold, but some of us managed to put our bodies into it. The tuff people were: Ayse (Turkey), Victor (Spain), Hervé and Laure (France – the WHOLE French delegation, as a matter of fact), Christian (Germany – first one in) and finally Grete and Bente (Norway).

Henri and Birgit tried the water from water-pistols.

We had a great time almost freezing to death, but dinner afterwards was so much better for us! We ate salmon at a restaurant in Eidsfoss, a cozy and typical Norwegian old house with charming walls and interior.

The restaurant

Well, not everybody wanted salmon, so Ali got his number one meal instead; hamburger.

Dinner at Eidsfoss

After dinner Bente gave our project coordinator, our dear Pedro, a gift from Kongsberg; 2 coins made from the Kongsberg Myntverk (where coins are made in Norway). We hope he will enjoy them under a pair of wine glasses whenever good wine is served in his house in Lugo, Spain (and I hope to see them when I come back to taste more wine with you, Pedro!!!)

Thank you, Pedro, for the coordination-work with our project!

After the visit in the restaurant, strawberries and Norwegian Acquavite and acquavite-liquor was carried down on Cherif’s head – as usual. (I do not know what it is with this man and his lust for carrying alcohol on his head. Remember in France, do you?)

How things are carried in Africa...

Thursday we met at our local and made some final decisions about the final report. We also had the manager from the Culture Department of Kongsberg visiting, and she showed us a nice film about our town’s large cultural events during the year. Now that you have been here, you may watch this film again here. You may even like another presentation of the town…

Henri and Hervé then had a surprise for our dear Manuel; a “Black belt member of Honour-certificate" in Taekwondo including a “business card” with his own photo! (Little did Manuel know what the photo he gave Henri would be used for before now…). We all found this very amusing, since Manuel has been seeking to win over our Norwegian champion in this fight sport since we were in Turkey. The pictures will tell the rest.

Our "Taekwondo member of Honor, Black belt, 5th dan..."

Wednesday we were at the inland fiord (lake) of Eikern. Now it was time to climb mountains! We went up to Knutehytta to eat a typical Norwegian lunch; bread with ham, cheese, fish, caviar, jam etc. together with coffee, tea and a sweet cake called “kanelsnurr”. The weather was beautiful, and so was the lunch. After eating we all set off to climb up to Knutetoppen. I was amused by Pedro who many times during our climb shouted that “I hate you, Bente!!!” Well, this lasted until he came to the top. The hate transferred into love, and I was happy to see that both he and all the others loved the beautiful view we were rewarded with.

Christian and Víctor find snow in June on the way to the top

Ayse made a "drawing" of everyone in the book on the top of Knutefjell

The view from the top

In the evening, after a short shower and to collect towel and swimsuit, we went to our barbeque place. We had rented a hut to get this place, which lies nicely besides a warm and quiet water. Cherif brought two canoes and life-jackets, so anyone who wanted could paddle on like real vikings... oh, I mean indians. Again we invited everyone into the water, and Christian was first man in – as usual J The temperature here was totally different from yesterday, so I do not lie when I say that everyone trying to swim here, was positively surprised. It was delightful!

Sajjad (Afghanistan) and Henri (Kamerun), our chefs for the barbeque

Some of us by the shore of the lake

One of my dear participants, Sajjad from Afghanistan, had arranged all the food. He and I had bought everything in advance, but he was left alone with all the preparing. And he had done a great job – everything was so tasty and good! We enjoyed it together with wine brought by the German people (what – not all of you noticed that???), nicely chilled in the water.

Our German partners posing outside Knutehytta before we went to the top

Norway is a country with many qualities. I believe that there is not many countries in the world which can offer free nature experiences like Norway. Our policy is that every man and woman in this country shall be able to enjoy the nature, that there shall be a minimum of private property and limits to get access to nature pearls like fiords and lakes, mountains and woods. Our work with integration in Kongsberg focuses allot on this, we try to make immigrants see the immense possibilities our country offers – all year around.

Our Diva: Christian, enjoying Norwegian sunshine

Norwegians are very good at using the nature, and most tourists come just to take part of this too. Hopefully we succeeded in transmitting a little part of what we enjoy in our country, but also to make our partners experience what immigrants do. As long as we who have taken part for the last two years have managed to help just one single person each, I believe we have succeeded. Success is all the small victories, all the small points gained. Today we can compare it with what the Spanish football team did during the World Cup; collecting points – loose some – win some more – and we all know that their effort ended up at the very top: as World Champions. Congratulations, Spain!

The winners of our Viking-competition: Laure, Christian and Ayse. Well done!

With our very Norwegian friend, Víctor, we thank you for coming to our country of trolls.

Soo long everybody – we miss you all!!!!

"How integrated am I?"

During the weeks 40 (2009) and 6 (2010) we had classes in Norwegian social studies. All together we gave 35 people, men and women, a questionnaire to answer regarding their life in Norway. Here we present our results, where we – in my opinion – also have some interesting findings.

Personal information:
Most of our female participants were married and had children, but only half of the men were.

Why did you come to Norway?
It was quite clear that the women came to Norway for two reasons; for love/marriage and work. The men on the other hand came either for work or because they had applied for asylum in Norway, and now had obtained refugee-status.

What was your first impresion
- of the country itself
Words like “peaceful, nice, beautiful, calm, safe for children/family, good” were mentioned on almost all questionnaires, but one (woman) also wrote “boring”. We guess she is quite young, and can to a certain extent understand her 

What was your first impresion
- of the Norwegian people
Here the words were “nice, smiling, polite and friendly”, but some even said Norwegians are cold people.

How long do you plan to stay in Norway?
Most women planned to stay in Norway for the rest of their lives (80%), but this was not the fact for the men. Only 40 answered positive here, and most of them said they intended to stay a few years. This corresponds with the reason to come to the country, the refugees put “all my life”, whilst the men coming for work ticked off “a few years”. For the women, who mainly came to Norway because of love, the “all my life” choice scored highly.

Do you have Norwegian friends?
Most of both women and men answered positively, and we are happy about this.
Do you have friends from your home country?
About 70% of all people have friends from their own country in Norway.
Do you have friends from other countries?
Many also have friends from other countries. Many of the students for social studies work in international firms or attend our school, so this was expected.

What was easier in your home country?
There is one simple answer referred to by the majority: “Everything is easier in my country”. Especially everything concerning job market and accreditation for studies were mentioned by the majority. Also the weather was mentioned more than once……..

What is easier in Norway?
Possibilities to get work seems to be the main answer, but that does not mean that our respondents say that it is easy (ref. next question). Also do they find less bureaucracy, equal health care and good organization of our society in general favourable?

What is difficult regarding your new life in Norway?
This is maybe the most important question for us in the survey. Almost everyone said that learning Norwegian is difficult. Work is hard to get, and it worries many of them. Getting the first job is more difficult than they first imagined. And last half of the asked said that the climate in Norway (referring to the winter-period) was difficult to live with.

The woman also said that they miss their families allot, and that they also find it hard to get the food they want in the stores, not because it does not exist, but because they do not know the names and looks of it here.

On a scale from 1 to 10, how integrated do you want to become to the Norwegian way of life?
Surprisingly the majority ticked on the scale between 6 and 9, so they really try hard to integrate. One respondent though pointed out an interesting angle:
“My ability to integrate: 10”
“Ability of Norwegians to integrate foreigners: 2”.

The "VAE" in the prison of Varennes Le Grand

In France, the National Education allows the persons having exercised a job during more than three years to validate a certificate corresponding to this experience. It’s call VAE (Validation of experience qualifications). A person who wants to have her experience recognized can write a professional project composed of forty pages at least. It is a difficult work especially to someone having a low level in French and especially in a penitentiary center because prisoner who wants to realize a VAE have to do a mental effort to remember his past. Most of the time it’s a painful experiment.

To help them in this initiative, GRETA set up sessions of evaluation of the professional acquired. They can describe their training and explain their professional background. This first stage allows the candidate to improve his French, to enrich his vocabulary and to find self-confidence.

We set up this plan with the training team of the penitentiary center. It allowed to validate five certificates. Today, four persons are writing their project .

In April, the chief education officer came to the prison to meet the candidates and to congratulate them. Following this event, several articles were published in a news paper and in the web site : Dijonscope, and a reporting was realized for the local TV.

https://www.dijonscope.com/004574-quand-prison-rime-avec-reinsertion

https://mailweb.ac-dijon.fr/horde2/util/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbourgogne-franche-comte.france3.fr%2Finfo%2Fbourgogne%2Fvarennes-le-grand-71--un-diplome-en-prison-61856526.html&Horde2=cc341983de65ceaf2cd746bef972fd45