Being born in a country at war, part 2
In this column Mohamed Abdulkareem writes about his thoughts as a refugee in Finland.
I’m Mohamed Abdulkareem from Iraq. I have master degree in computer science, but I learned from my life experience that people are looking at my passport before they are looking at my academic certificates. My current target is to express the challenges and difficulties that I have faced in my life to the world.
The Lack of Communication Between Refugees and Finnish Society
I have spent more than two months in Finland and would like to share with you some thoughts about the challenges we refugees face here.
One of the biggest challenges is the lack of communication between the refugees and the Finnish people. We have a high interest to build a strong relationship with the Finnish society. We would like to become part of it and participate in building it. I really appreciate the great opportunity Finland has given me to stay here. From the first day I arrived, I have done my best to make a connection with local people. Yet I only know few and mostly through the Finnish Red Cross who organize activities in the reception centre. In addition, we have few activities available to choose from and one is to learn Finnish. This is anyhow with other foreigners. I would hope to have more channels to communicate and become part of the society here.
I know that to make a real connection, one would also need to find a job. We need to wait three months in order to be allowed to work in Finland. The process of finding work is extremely hard. I have many friends who have professional skills and qualifications, and yet it is very difficult for them to find a job.
If you are an active person like myself, it is not easy to just stay home and do nothing. It is not about the money. It is about the feeling of doing something good in the society, to be able to make a difference. We stay here usually a long time before we get the decision whether we can stay or not. We have a lot of time in our hands.
On the other hand, it is our responsibility to try our best not to just sit and wait for opportunities to come. Some refugees seem to think that Finland is a promised land where everything will come to you without making an effort. In the end it is the responsibility of both the Finnish people and the refugees to do their best to reduce the gap between us in order to make this a better country for everyone to live in.
Teksti: Mohamed Abdulkareem
Kuva: Pixabay / Unsplash CC0
Earlier columns:
Being born in a country at war: Not just a number