Sin Barreras y el Camino de Santiago. Segunda Etapa: Triacastela-Sarria - Without Barriers and the St James’ Way. Second Stage: Triacastela-Sarria

El miércoles, 25 de noviembre, siguiendo la actividad prevista para el proyecto Grundtvig “Sin Barreras”, realizamos la segunda etapa del Camino de Santiago en Galicia, entre las localidades de Triacastela y Sarria.



Si la primera etapa transcurrió bajo el sol, la lluvia fue protagonista en esta jornada. Aunque supuso un mayor esfuerzo y dificultad, también fue una experiencia enriquecedora, para comprender la dificultad que tiene el peregrinaje.



Debemos destacar, fundamentalmente, de la etapa, la visita al Monasterio de Samos. Tuvimos un guía de lujo: El prior del cenobio, D. José Luis Vélez, quien con absoluta paciencia y amabilidad nos mostró uno a uno todos los rincones de Samos, ilustrándonos con su gran saber y conocimientos históricos.



Además, compartimos nuestra comida en el refectorio del Monasterio, acompañados del prior y del periodista de la Voz de Galicia X.R. Penoucos que realizó la visita con nosotros y cuyo artículo mostramos más abajo.



En definitiva, la experiencia fue realmente enriquecedora para nosotros y para nuestros alumnos y por ello queremos compartirla con todos vosotros a través de nuestro Blog.



On Wednesday 25th November, and according to the planning of the activities of the Grundtvig project, “Without Barriers”, we made the second stage of the Santiago’s Way in Galicia, between the towns of Triacastela and Sarria.



Though we could walk under the sun on our first journey, the rain was leading in this second stage. Obviously, this meant greater effort and difficulty, but it was also an enriching experience to understand the hardness of the pilgrimage.



On this stage we have to highlight mainly, the visit to the Monastery of Samos. We had the best guide, the prior Mr. José Luis Vélez who, with absolute patience and friendliness, showed us one by one all the spots of Samos, instructing us with his wide knowledge and his learning about historical facts.



Besides, we shared our food in the refectory of the Monastery accompanied by the prior and by a journalist, X.R. Penoucos, who works for La Voz de Galicia, and who came on the guided tour with us and whose article is shown below.



In short, it was a really enriching experience for us and our students and that’s why we want to share it with all of you through our Blog.

A travel without any knowledge of what is to come

Many travel from their mother land to an European country to apply for asylum. Here you are registered and placed in a reception-centers while your application is treated.

What awaits you in a reception-centers?
We who work in the centers are trying to help, to keep hopes up. We teach about the new countries society, the rules, routines, laws and language.

We show them the different stores, where to go for special items. About expensive stores and cheap stores, about money, how to transfer into dollars or Euro. Asylum seekers in Norway do not receive allot of money while waiting for their application to be treated. The money you receive has to cover food, clothing, medicine etc, so it is important to know how to make the money last.

Other services that are important to know about are where to go for coffee, to meet friend at a pub, where to go swimming, where the museums are and so on. Also to learn to rent books and read newspapers for free at the library. Is is also possible to use the internett at the library, and many asylum seekers use this as a meeting spot.

Language is hard to learn because we are all different. Some people learn language easily, some not, but all have language problems in the beginning. But allot can be said by using body language and a dictionary also.

The staff also help the asylum seekers to find sparetime activities. We arrange football-, volleyball- and basket games, and guide them to fitness centers. The fitness centers is Kongsberg have good prices for our participants. Since Norway and Kongsberg has a magnificent nature, we also arrange picnics. Although they have the opportunity to participate in activities, many are occupied with worries about their case and their future. They miss therir family and friends, and do not attend to any of these activities.

Some asylum seekers are interested in practical work so we are in contact with allot of workplaces to see if it is possible for the the asylum seekers to either get a part time job or be in a workplace to practice the language.

Henri Filmand

The Introductory Act

When a refugee is granted a residential- and work permit he/she is settled in a municipality, in this case Kongsberg. In the first week or two, he/she is introduced to a new home, the children to their new school or daycare and is also shown around town. Then the grownups are informed about the introductory program. All municipalities that resettle refugees are obliged to offer the introduction program. The Introductory Act is a national act (of 2004) for immigrants, and the goal is a easier and speedier integration of newly-arrived refugees into Norwegian society. Qualifications the participants need and are offered are:

* basic Norwegian language skills

* basic insight into Norwegian society

* preparation to participate in the Norwegian labor market

The law is for newly-arrived immigrants between 18 and 55 years who need to gain basic qualifications.

In order to participate in the program the immigrant must have granted asylum, arrived in the country as a resettlement refugee, or have been granted a residence permit for reasons of protection. People who have been granted family reunification with a refugee can sometimes be offered an introductory program. The municipality can choose to offer the introductory program to all immigrants.

The introductory program normally lasts two years. It is possible to apply for an extended program (of up to three years). It is a full time program. Participants get five weeks holiday a year. The participants have a contact person (program consultant) . The program consultant’s job is to advice and guide throughout the introductory program.

The contents of the introductory program can include everything that qualifies you toward self dependency, most often Norwegian language training, work experience placement in various workplaces and other activities.

Program participants are paid for taking part in the program. This money is called introductory support. The introductory support is the same throughout the country. In 2009 it is 144.000,- Nok pr year. The introductory support is taxable.

In order to succeed with this program we are dependent upon cooperation with many institutions in the municipality. If the refugee office resettles a refugee from the reception-center in Kongsberg or from a reception-center near by, we arrange a meeting to inform what Kongsberg can offer in terms of education and work opportunities. We inform what is expected of the refugee, and finally answer questions and generally talk about our city.

The refugee office has a very close cooperation with Fredheim (Bente and Knut), where we aim to find the best possible plan for the participants program. As Kongsberg believes that having meaningful activities also outside of school or work is important, we work closely to the cultural department (Cherif) to find interesting sports, clubs etc for our participants.

The results from our work tells us that we have succeeded. Near 80% of our participants are in ordinary jobs or schools within 2 years. Only 6% have completed the program unsuccessfully.

Ingrid Berge

Reunión con el grupo "sin barreras" de Monterroso - Meeting with the work group "without barriers" of Monterroso

Siguiendo la sugerencia de Bente, hicimos una reunión en la que se pasó una encuesta sobre diferentes temas relacionados con la emigración. Los resultados fueron los siguientes.

CONSIDERACIONES SOBRE LAS CONTESTACIONES DE LA 7ª CONVOCATORIA


De los veinte alumnos que participan en este proyecto, cuatro de ellos no pudieron asistir y de los restantes, otros cuatro son eurocomunitarios y tres más venezolanos que no se consideran emigrantes.
En la séptima convocatoria del grupo el 30/10/09 se les entregó una serie de preguntas sobre el fenómeno migratorio, que habrían de contestar reflexivamente, para en una sesión posterior entablar un coloquio para el intercambio de ideas, coloquio este que se gravó en video y resultó altamente interesante.
No es fácil hacer un análisis de las contestaciones, dado lo heterogéneo del grupo y tratarse de preguntas abiertas, hechas más para la subjetividad y que pretendían tan sólo una reflexión para el posterior intercambio de ideas, por lo que solamente se puede hacer un breve esquema donde, a lo más, se vislumbren unas tendencias.
Siguiendo las preguntas planteadas y se según las respuestas:

1.- ¿Por qué tuviste que emigrar? : El 80% contesta que por motivos económicos y otras razones distintas al hecho migratorio.
2.- ¿Cómo repercutió tu decisión en tu familia? : La mitad nos dice que se aceptó su decisión.
3.- ¿Qué pasos seguiste para poder emigrar? : Para un 50%, conseguir visado y/o pasaporte.
4.- ¿Cómo fue el viaje y cuales fueron tus sensaciones y sentimientos? : Para un 40% normal y otro 40% nostalgia y tristeza.
5.- ¿Qué impresiones recibiste en tus primeros contactos en el país de acogida? : Un 70% responde que fueron buenas.
6.- Pasos a seguir para establecer tu residencia, si es que fue así: El 50% conseguir un trabajo y legalizarse.
7.- Si tu situación aquí ha sido forzosa, ¿qué pasos seguirías para quedarte? : La mitad no contesta y el resto, buscar trabajo y legalizarse.
8.- ¿Crees que el proceso administrativo favorece o dificulta el establecimiento? : Un 40% piensa que lo dificulta y otro 40% que varía según las circunstancias.
9.- En tu vivencia día a día, ¿cómo ha sido tu convivencia con los autóctonos?: La mayoría considera que buena o normal.
10.- ¿Piensas que las instituciones son eficaces? : La mayoría contesta que la educación y la sanidad sí, pero no otras instancias administrativas.
11.- ¿Las embajadas de tu país te han prestado la ayuda debida?: La mayoría dice que sí o que no fue necesaria.
12.- En el caso de haberte integrado, ¿qué relación guardas con tu país y tu familia?: La mayor parte responde que buena y frecuente.
13.- Cómo planteas tu futuro, quedarte o marchar: Más del 50% quedarse y el resto duda o marchar.
14.- ¿Qué significado tiene para ti ser emigrante?: Un 40% no se considera emigrante y de uno de ellos recogemos su pensamiento:


“Ser emigrante significa esperanza, sueños, lucha, humildad, privaciones, falta de cariño, ansia de triunfo, inseguridad y… a veces hambre. No es nada fácil vivir lejos de tu casa, de tu gente, de tu tierra donde no tienes que agachar la cabeza para cada solicitud o dolencia, aunque sea pertinente y de lo más normal. Es para mí una dura lección de vida, pero mis sueños se harán realidad… El tiempo lo dirá, no me rindo.”
(reflexión de uno de nuestros alumnos)



At the suggestion of Bente, we had a meeting in which our students realized a survey about various topics related to migration. The results were as follows.

REMARKS ON THE ANSWERS OF THE 7th CALL

Of the twenty students that are taking part in this project, four of them could not attend and of the remaining, four of them belong to the EU and other three are Venezuelan, who do not consider themselves emigrants.
In the seventh meeting of the group, held on 30/10/09, a series of questions on the migratory phenomenon was handed out to them. They were asked to think carefully about them before answering, so that we could discuss about these questions and exchange opinions in a subsequent meeting. This discussion, which turned out highly interesting, was recorded in a video.
It is not easy to do an analysis of the answers, due to the heterogeneity of the group and because the questions were open, asked to allow the subjectivity of the answers and inviting to reflection in order to exchange ideas, so we can only do a brief outline which may help us to discern some trends.
Following the questionnaire and according to the answers:

1.- Why did you have to emigrate? : 80% answered that because of economic reasons and other reasons different from the migratory fact.
2.- How did your decision affect your family? : Half of the people said that their decision was accepted.
3.- Which steps did you have to follow to emigrate? : 50% said they had to achieve visa and/or passport.
4.- How was the trip and what about your feelings? : 40% described it as normal and another 40% said to have felt homesickness and sadness.
5.- Which were your impressions on your first contact with the host country? : 70% answered that they felt good impressions.
6.- Steps to follow to establish your residence, if you did it: 50% answered to get a job and legalise their situation.
7.- If your situation here has been compulsory, which steps would you follow to stay? : Half of the people did not answer and the rest said they would look for a job and legalise their situation.
8.- Do you think that the administrative process favours or hampers the establishment? : 40% thinks that bureaucracy hampers it and another 40% thinks that it depends on the particular circumstances.
9.- How has your everyday life been with the native people?: Most people consider it good or normal.
10.- Do you think that the institutions are effective? : The great majority answered that education and health are effective, but not other administrative instances.
11.- Have the embassies of your country given you suitable aid?: The majority says yes or that aid was not necessary.
12.- In the case you are integrated in the host country, which relation do you have with your own country and family?: Most people answered that they have a good and frequent relationship.
13.- What are your plans about the future: stay here or go away? More than 50% say they would like to stay and the rest has doubts or would like to leave.
14.- What does being an emigrant mean, according to you?: 40% does not consider themselves emigrants and we would like to report one of the participants’ thoughts.

“Being an emigrant means hope, dreams, fight, humility, suffer privation, lack of affection, eagerness to success, insecurity and…sometimes hunger. It is not at all easy to live far away from your house, your people, and your country where you do not have to lower your head in front of each application or complaint, in spite of being this appropriate and completely normal. For me it is a hard lifelong lesson, but my dreams will come true… time will tell, I do not give up.”

(reflexión of one of our students)

Learning by doing

At Fredheim school immigrants can learn how to understand, speak and write Norwegian, a language spoken by only 4,5 million people of the world. Depending your country of origin, this learning process can be shorter or longer for you. People from Asia normally need more hours learning than people from Europe. And if you know a European language (using Latin letters), the task is possible to overcome.

We also teach our immigrants about our culture, our rules and regulations. For some people they meet a totally different culture up north. This can create many practical problems in daily life routines. Making food is not easy since you do not know where to buy the ingredients you need anymore, and if you do - what does the wrapping look like? Is flour and sugar sold per ounce, or in wrapping? And to buy soap for your body must not be mixed with soaps for floors or even toilets... Many questions rises, and it is natural that we use allot of time on different themes.

We do not only use the school as an arena for learning. When a participant has learned basic Norwegian and is interested, he/she also gets the possibility to learn more at a workplace. My job is to talk to our participants about their future in Norway. What work do they wish to have, and how possible is it to reach this aim? For some immigrants the way is quite clear, since they have documentation on education and/or practice. For others, people who have fled their homes due to war or other critical situations, the way to success might be longer. But it all comes down to the main question: How much effort do you want to spend to reach your goal?

People who have clear ideas about their strenghts, and who manage to communicate these, are much easier to help than people who do not have anything to go for. Together with a male colegue (Jan) I try to encourage participants to enter the labour market. Interviews are made, and Jan or myself are always togehter with the participants on this. They will not get paid by working two days a week, but they will get:

- a relevant network

- work experience

- a reference from the work place

- practical Norwegian training

- a visit once a week from one of us teachers

We experience that each semester we succeed in turning several of these contracts into real jobs with pay, like Nay Tun on this photo! Everytime this happens we feel that we have managed to speed up this participant's dream: the dream to start a new life in a new country - and to tear down the barriers!

Bente Grosvold

At work with private teacher

Nyuay Ong came to Norway from Burma. She has not been able to finish her primary school, and therefore it was difficult for her to start on Norwegian studies. This courageous woman with 5 children did not give up! She came regularly to Fredheim (our school), sat between other participants and struggled to learn the difficult Latin letters which formed the even more difficult words of our language.

After some months at school, I wanted to try her out into the labour market. She seemed to me as a hard working woman, always with a nice smile. We therefore made our preparations and found out that she could try to work at one of the town's cafés. Nymoensenteret (the café's name) lies in the center of the town, and is linked up to a center for elderly people. All workers here ar volonters, that means that they are not paid for their work.

Nyuay Ong immediately charmed everyone here! She is a fantastic worker, never late, always doing everything that has to be done with high speed and a warm smile :-) And when there is little to do at the café, she sits down with Annie, a pensioner, at a table to learn Norwegian. Annie is fantastic! She has made a private "book" with drawings for Nyuay Ong, teaching her words that might be useful for her. It is much easier to understand when you can see the words either in real life or in pictures and drawings. (And you, my friend, can click on this photo to learn a few Norwegian words too - as a preparation for the visit in June 2010!)

Nyuay Ong's week is now filled with 2 days work and 3 days at Fredheim school. I visit her at work nearly every week, checking up on her development in the language and her understanding of the routines at a café. She seems to be very content with this, and she and her colegues have a nice time working together.

La prensa regional con "sin barreras" - Regional media with "without barriers"

Os mostramos el artículo publicado por el diario regional "la Voz de Galicia" sobre nuestra última visita a Alemania



We show to you the article published by the regional newspaper "la Voz de Galicia" about our last visit to Germany

Local People and the Immigrants meet at the same course

Foreigners, immigrants in Yalova see the hand made needle work and Turkish motives around them, from their neighbours. They applied to Termal Public Education Centre. Ahmet Tuna started three types of courses for them. The first one is "needle work&seewing" course. The second one is "machine needle work" and the third one is "handmade needle work".

In order to develop the intercultural dialogues Ahmet Tuna offers to mix local people with immigrants. So immigrants can teach their motives to locals and Turkish women can teach their traditional needle work to immigrants.

Turkish handmade needle work has taken its roots from Middle Asia from the year 220 BC.

Women in that courses state that they come to these courses in order to use their time effectively, do their housework and earn their own work.

Women are both occupying at the centre and they help their family because at the end of the course they can get certificate and they can sell their works.

Tirkish leaflet about Bremen "Centre for Pupil-related Avisory Services

Dear friends from Turkish partner, as I could not translate my text in your language, I include here at last the turkish version of the general information (to teachers, parents ...)

Jürgen Stein, Diakonisches Werk Bremen

Diaconia Bremen: Cooperation with the Centre for Pupil-related Advisory Services / Coopération avec le Centre pour Conseil en relation avec des Problè

The “Zentrum für schülerbezogene Beratung” is an assembly of services offered by the Bremen Minister (“Senator”) of Education. It deals with various councelling for pupils with reading/writing or math learning difficulties, psycological services at school, addiction problems etc.

Cette institution réunit plusieurs services du Ministère («Senator») de l’Education a Brème. Il y a conseil en cas des difficultés avec lire et écrire ou mathématique, des problèmes de la dépendance de drogues et l’alcool et le service psychologique scolaire. Il y a un lieu dans l’internet en Allemand et une fiche en langue turque (blog prochain).

There is a German language Homepage to be found under http://www.lis.bremen.de/sixcms/detail.php?gsid=bremen02.c.742.de

A leaflet published in Turkish language (pupils with Turkish descent being second large, at some schools largest group in Bremen schools) is n the next blog.

One “branch” is related to the problems of children and young people for migrant families, who reach – due to well known deficits in German integration policy - statistically significant worse school results than their German peers.

Une département a le but de aider aux enfants et jeunes gens venant de familles des migrants. Ils ont plus mauvaises résultats dans l’école, lequel est significative pour les déficits de la politique de l’intégration (discuté sur le rencontre des partenaires de « Sans Barrières» a Bremen)

Reasons for this and strategies against it were discussed during the Without Barriers meeting at Bremen this month.

Now there was a meeting between Diakonisches Werk Bremen, including the Without Barriers Partners Foundation St. Petri and Alten Eichen, and the specialists from the Centre (Mrs. Meyer-Mews, Mrs. Lutz and Mr. Brüggemann shown in the middle of photo, to enhance cooperation.


In the Future, the Centre will no longer promote the services for migrant pupils in a department of its own but wants to handle these questions of diversity with a cross-section approach. The speakers showed examples of discrimination in schools, even by “well-meaning” persons, who wished to spare migrant pupils certain strain.

Maintenant Il y avait une rencontre entre les institutions qui sont les partenaire allemands avec les spécialistes du Centre de Conseil, qui a intention de offrir ses services pas dans un département spécial mais comme tâche transversale dans tous les services. Les rapporteurs montraient des exemples pour désavantages ou des résultants négatives de «bons intentions»

Lack of fluency in the German language might result in many learning problems, bad results and psycho-social problems. Children with these problems tend to be sent to school designed for pupils with learning deficiencies, where they are badly placed. It is to be regretted that a multilingual heritage is rarely seen as a achievement and that most instruments of education diagnosis are still not cultural-neutral.

Des déficits dans la langue Allemande peuvent causer des problèmes d’apprendre, mauvaises résultats et problèmes psycho-sociaux. Tant des élèves ont été placé incorrectement aux écoles spéciaux pour des enfant avec handicap. Un héritage multiculturel n’est pas vu comme une richesse et le plupart des instruments de diagnosis ne sont pas «neutre» en regard à la culturel. On ne cherche pas des causes réales des problèmes.

Schools tend to see all problems with migrant pupils and their family in relation to their status as migrants, but there might by reasons beyond this.

Mrs Meyer-Mews explains with the example of Roma families the vast number of challenges, but also the possibility of success. Social and Advisory services tend to see the “hard cases” and the difficulties - it is often necessary to concentrate again on good results and chances.

Mme Meyer-Mews expliquait problèmes et chances dans un rapport sur des familles Roma. On a besoin de ne pas voir seulement des problèmes mais aussi le succès du travail. Les institutions de Diaconia et se Centre de Conseil ont plusieurs possibilités de coopérer dans le future.

The institutions of Diaconia and the Centre considered specific measures for better information and future cooperation.

HOW DOES TURKIYE WORK FOR THE PROJECT

HOW DOES TURKIYE WORK FOR THE PROJECT

The Project Plan of Turkiye:
Determining foreigners, immigrants and refugees who have residental permit in Yalova. Affording their self dependence, training them both at vocational area and in their family life. Promoting and strenghten their relationships with local people in Termal.

The Goal of the Project:
1.To get across truely with immigrants for this reason “Termal Public Education Centre” starts Turkish courses for them freely. If they know Turkish they can learn the true usage of Turkish pronounciation. This is the first rule.
2.To meeting at a common point, we are teaching our culture and learning their culture.
Learning new working methods, new ideas and new teaching methods from our partners from Spain, Germany, Norway and France.
3.To develop the intercultural dialogues.
4.To communicate proper associations and to receive support from them. Cooperate with them and to make organisation when it is essential.
5.To listen the problems of immigrants and in this context to build up new teaching and working methods.
6.To take off the mutual prejudice, to think global and being a world wo/man.
7.To share our successfull ideas, working and teaching methods with our partners.

The Participants of the Project:
Ahmet Tuna, Mustafa Sami Akyol, Ayşe Topay, educationalists of the Termal Public Education Centre and students.

The Structure of the Project:
1.An immigrant applies to the Centre or the centre reaches an immigrant and offers help. The immigrant must have took her/his residental permit. Ayşe Topay describes her/him the structure of the course and the Project, tells them which activities can be done or which courses can be available, also as a teacher; teaches them English as a second language.
2.Ahmet Tuna searches educationers for courses, purchases educationers and provides instruments that is required. Starts courses which are required and gives certificates at the end of each course. Arranges seminars for educators. He is the director of the Termal Public Education Centre.
3.Sami Akyol finds places for courses, gives required permissions for courses, puts through, controls and monitors the courses. He arranges teacher’s participation to the seminars. He checks out the activities. He is the branch manager of education.

The Period of the Project:
Two years: 2008 November (for Turkiye)- 2010 September

Making contacts

Friday 30th of October two of our groups spent a nice time talking with several Norwegians. The happening took place at the café of the City Hall. Jan Hansvold, an active pensioner in the Kongsberg society, took the initiative to invite several politicians and resource persons from the town’s commerce to a chat with immigrants.
The theme was not fixed, since the plan is to repeat this café-meeting 3-4 Fridays in the following weeks. This first meeting therefore served as an introduction for all participants. They talked about themselves, their lives in Kongsberg in general and about their leisure time in particular.

One of Fredheim’s groups consisted of people who have attended Norwegian course for some time now. The other group started in August, but did extremely well in this setting. They all managed to participate in the conversations, and many times there were great laughs around the three tables.

Next week we hope to see more Norwegians joining this activity, and hopefully we will also manage to bring the local newspaper to join us. Jan Hansvold has just had a very interesting article published here, where he pointed out important aspects around the theme integration. In his opinion this is not only a matter for the immigrants, but something we Norwegians must consider as something we all can contribute to. If the immigrants cannot have an open and friendly dialogue with the population, how can they ever take an active part of the society?