This leg of the trip was a real treat, as I was traveling and staying three days with the Professor Benny Carlson – who started the whole discussion about the Swedish-Somali integration in Sweden and its comparison with Minnesota-Somalis and their businesses in Minneapolis. After 20 years of civil war and living in big numbers outside of Somalia, my hope is that Somalis are more capable at possessing multiple identities. For example, in Minnesota I am American, African-American, Somali-American, Muslim-American, and New American. Of course, these are identities place on me by others, as I see myself as a human being first before any other label. I am sure a lot of Somalis are grappling with these types of identity issues as well. Moving forward we just need to be comfortable with multiple identities and critically adapt wherever we find ourselves.
Our flight to Karlskrona was about one hour. We arrived around 2:00 p.m. and then we went to Benny’s summer house. We went to a local grocery story to get groceries for the 3 days we would stay at his house. We also ate at a local restaurant and by the time we headed to the house it was about 4:00 p..m. I took a nap and did a lot of writing when I awoke around 6pm. For some reason I was productive and energetic that night and able to think clearly.
______________
On Wednesday May 25th we got up early and headed to the Karlskrona Marinmuseum where I spoke with Professor Benny Carlson to local integration staff and other Karlskrona municipality employees. We were joined and welcomed by the Deputy Mayor of Karlskrona along with Ann-Katrin, who is the head of the integration office in Karlskrona and the one who organized all of our meetings. After the lecture, we headed for an early dinner at a nearby restaurant and then we went to a local school to meet with the Swedish-Somali community. All of the people that I have met here in Sweden are special, however, Karlskona’s Swedish-Somali community came to the evening meeting all dressed up – with young girls and boys dressed in the white and bright blue of the Somali flag colors. I was given beautiful flowers and I joined in singing the Somali National Anthem with them. It was quite something to see Swedish-Somali children sing the Somali National Anthem as the nation itself has been struggling for quite a while. At least for a moment we felt like a united and prosperous Somalia!
At this juncture of the trip my emotions are running high and I am encountering real people with real sets of issues that they need to overcome in order to make a daunting yet doable transition to a new of life. The Swedish-Somali community faces race and racism issues. For long period of time Sweden has been mainly a homogeneous country, so they don’t have a well-developed vernacular to talk about discrimination based on race. The topic is largely avoided.
As I have been mentioning in my previous blogs, the Swedish-Somali community is also not very united across the country, which prevents them from reaching their full potential. Yet, the community seems fully aware of the need for unity and discuss the benefits of unity and leadership within the community quite a bit.
Despite the challenges the community faces in Karlkrona and elsewhere in Sweden, I have seen a hopeful community that is ready to embrace change – from the way they practice Islam to how they raise their children in Sweden. But of course, meaningful change takes a long period of time!
As always, if you ever feel I have made a mistake or unintentionally offended anyone, please let me know via hsamatar@adcminnesota.org. Feedback is always appreciated.
Thank you for traveling with me and I do appreciate you reading my blog and interacting with me.
Graciously,
Hussein Samatar
Executive Director
