Flyktningkonferansen, Trondheim

This week I am attending a conference in Trondheim about refugee work, Flyktningkonferansen. All of today was filled with informative and interesting talks about issues related to inclusion and integration in Norway. For instance Mohammed Almashhadani, who first fled Iraq during the war in 2003. His mother was shot and killed, while at work, along with other doctors and nurses in Baghdad. Mohammed and his father fled to Syria. As a 17-year-old, life was fine and he went to school. He had friends and participated in activities, growing to become a young man. Until Syria also succumbed to war and conflict in 2011. He fled the country in 2014, when ISIS imposed their extremist terror regime on Syrians. He coincidentally ended up in Norway via human trafficking. Someone told him and showet him on a map where he had arrived. His first reaction was “Norway - is that even a country?”

For two years he lived in an asylum centre in a small town of 1200 inhabitants. The experience left him retraumatised, as he had little or no contact with Norwegians. “I never saw 1200 people”, he says, laughing. And he had plenty of time to think about the 3-4 attacks and attempts at his life, with the intention to have him killed.

Many other people are living with similar experiences, while living in asylum centers. It is not necessarily the experience of surviving a bombing attack, or even torture, that is the worst part, Mohammed says. It is rather the experience of having time to think about what you have lived through that is intolerable. And about family members who have been persecuted, imprisoned or killed so that you could live.

In a peaceful country you would think that you would feel safe, but you don’t. Winter time in Norway means that there are few people out in the streets - they stay inside, rarely talking to strangers. Lack of access to mental health support or medical treatment does not help at all. And not being able to talk about the experiences, and the fact that other people (seemingly) simply do not care.

He agrees that the system of integration in Norway, the way it is organised, does not function well enough. He says that part of the solution is to allow refugees to be recognised and met with respect, and to be included in society, through participation. And to be viewed as skilled human beings, rather than “problems”. It is important to focus on having a dialogue, and for people to cotinue to learn, to thrive and to engage with others. That is how people can move on after suffering from trauma.

Mohammed is now a medical student at Oslo University Hospital, in his third year of his study. He is underaking research in cardiovascular diseases. This coming autumn he will be attending a medical conference in London where he will present his research in the field.

In the evening I received this message from Magamba Michael, who works in Rwamwanja refugee camp in Uganda. He shares his experience of using our picture cards, solution 1.0, in having groups with youth. “Today I enjoyed using your cards in a session of values, it supported scholars in identify things that they consider most important, displayed the card on ground and each moved searching for what she/he connects with in accordance to the cards, it made my session more enjoyable.”

Knowing that young refugees staying in Uganda are finding it meaningful to participate in groups using our picture cards just made my day. Thank you, Michael, for your update about your session with young refugees in Uganda!

And thank you, Mohammed, for sharing your personal story of flight and trauma at the conference in Trondheim.