Norwegian language is the key to integration!

Ca 30 participants from 18 different nations sat arount the cofee talbe Friday the 16.th of April. With them were 3 teachers from our school plus 10 Norwegian people from the local community.

This was their first café-chat out of total 6 meetings which will take place this spring. Different themes are set up for each meeting, and this first reunion focused on health and freetime activities. Next to come up are themes about:
- the participants wishes for their future in Norway
- Norwegian history from poverty to one of the richest countries in the world
- our National day the 17th of May
- challenges participants meet due to language and culture


Our guests are all well known people from our local community. Some are politicians, others have leeding jobs in big companies, and some are pensioneers with knowledge and connections in the community. One of the main figures, Jan Hansvoll, has worked closely with me during many years now, and he is a person who is deeply engaged in questions about integration. He is also a member of several political groups governing the community, and he therefore find it nessecary to invite other people to see and hear for themselves what immingrants in Kongsberg really stand for, which problems they encounter and what resources they hold.

The conclution after the first café-renuion was very positive; all the participants agreed that this was very motivating and useful, and our Norwegian guests too are already looking forward to the next meeting - next Friday.

You can see the whole article in our local newspaper, Laagendalsposten, here.