I arrived at the Stockholm Central Station around 1:45 p.m. on Sunday May 22, 2011. My awesome and urbane guide Andres was waiting for me at the station. At this point of the trip I am used to carrying my heavy luggage around and since I don’t have time to get to the gym I am using this as an exercise tool to burn some calories. We bought bus tickets and headed to the lovely and picturesque hotel where I would be staying in Stockholm. Elite Hotel is a chain of hotels throughout Sweden owned by an immigrant man from India, Bicky Chakroborty. This is truly a business success story and I hope some of the Swedish-Somali community will one day own hotels like this and more! Somalis are owning and running businesses everywhere in the world from Kenya to South Africa and from China to the Untied States of America. Why not in Sweden in a big numbers? Soon!
Sunday afternoon was sightseeing time for me. Stockholm is a big and unbelievably beautiful city. I don’t have enough superlative adjectives in any language that I speak to describe Stockholm. The novelist Selma Lagerlof once called Stockholm “the city that floats on water.” I agree. Andre took me to the southside of the city. Some of the places we visited included vegetarian restaurant and boutique hotel Rival owned by the famed Swedish pop group ABBA, which was formed in Stockholm. Please enjoy with me Dancing Queen -if you feel like it, wherever you are, groove with me.
After a long walk (and I mean very long – over 6 hours!), we ended up at a downtown park where I have been told different groups routinely come and perform for the people every Sunday. Lovely! This Sunday we got extremely lucky to catch up with young and rising Swedish pop singer Eric Saade, who has a father from Lebanon and Swedish mother. Sweden is becoming an increasingly diverse country – beyond European diversity – and Eric Saade is symbolizing it.
Andre thank you for the lovely time and tour!
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Monday May 23, 2011 was all about work. For this leg of the tour I was joined by Professor Benny Carlson, who started the whole dialogue regarding the the large similarities between Swedish-Somalis and their counterparts in Minnesota, and that Swedish-Somalis too can start businesses and work if they are given the opportunity in Sweden and understood their unique needs. My take is Somalis are the same everywhere, with the difference being where and in what system they find themselves living. Also, longevity of staying in one place and acquiring education and working has a huge impact on their overall success.
First, we met small group of officials at 11:00 a.m. who work for the Ministry of Employment) which also deals with integration issues – although the responsibility of integration issues have shifted lately to the local regional municipalities. This meeting was brief and professional. I am really uncomfortable when the bureaucrats project their personal opinion and bias without solid research and data on the Swedish-Somali community. Again, the feeling is that the Swedish-Somali community is not integrating…but based on what measures?!
I am always astounded when I meet Swedish authorities who want to see the Swedish-Somali work, but don’t have real statistics or a deep understanding of the employment picture of this community. It is obvious that many smaller cities in Sweden don’t have employment opportunities for many of these Somalis, especially if they are new to the country and still learning the Swedish language. There is no statistical distinction between the Swedish-Somalis who came in early 1990s and those who arrived recently in the last 5 years or so. Nobody knows how the earlier Somalis are fairing in the labor market vs other immigrant communities or vs the general labor market. The Swedish-Somali community statistics are not refined enough to be useful in my opinion.
Unfortunately, the concern whether or not the Swedish-Somali can integrate into the Swedish society is arising without a clear definition of what integration means and without deeply understanding the totality of the issues and the concerns of the Swedish-Somali community so that they can become successful in Sweden. However difficult this is, it does not mean Swedish-Somali community themselves shouldn’t try and step up to figure it out for themselves – on how they can unite, collaborate, and feel for one another and educate themselves and their children. Everywhere I have been, the Swedish-Somali community was upbeat and hopeful.
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I had lunch with Erik Ullenhag, who is the Integration and Employment Minster. This meeting was organized by his his political advisor, Catharina Bildt. I met Catharina last year at the ADC’s office when she visited Minnesota. Minister Ullenhag is young and dynamic. He is working hard on making Sweden a more tolerant and open community for all, regardless of how or where people are coming from. Some come like Somalis – fleeing from war as refugees – and some come to Sweden to work or study. Here is a great speech that he gave in April 2011.
He is connected to Minnesota because he studied one semester at the University of Minnesota Law School. We had a great discussion. He shared with us the current Swedish integration and employment issues. And I did share my believe that the Somalis in general are honest, tolerant, and hard working. Somalis have been less fortunate in the last two decades or so in dealing with tough civil war in Somalia and lot of people in the Somali-Diaspora are still affected by the civil war. The most recent arrivals of the community are able and willing to work, so the Swedish government needs to be smart about how to integrate these new people into the labor market. I told the minister that I thought the best way would be to invite and promote Swedish-Somali community members who are knowledgeable about their own community as well as educated and professional. It does not make a sense to talk about Somalis in Sweden without Swedish-Somalis being at the table to guide the discussion. Otherwise the dialogue will be one sided and meaningless. At this time the dialogue in Sweden is abbot how to help those poor people instead of seeing the Swedish-Somali community as an asset of people who are capable to work, study, and become contributing members of the society.
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We then rushed to an afternoon session at a think tank in Stockholm where we talked about the issues of integration and employment. Finally, we ended the evening attending a working dinner at the headquarters of the Swedbank. This meeting was attended by the mayor of Fagersta, which recently received over 120 new Somali refugees. Also attending the meeting were the officials of the bank, members of the business community, and two young Swedish-Somalis fluent in three languages: Swedish, Somali, and English. I saw what I have been articulating throughout my trip – given time and opportunity the Swedish-Somali community will be integrating fully into the mainstream society while retaining some aspect of their religion and language. Again the meeting was organized by Catharina Bildt. Thank you Catharina!
By the time we took the bus back to our hotel it was about 10:00 p.m. and were true tried and looking forward to good night sleep. I called Ubah and the children and then went straight to sleep.
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On Tuesday morning, May 24th, I was traveling by plane to Benny Carlson’s summer house in the city he grew up. But first we stopped by the US Embassy in Stockholm and met the embassy officially and the ambassador. The Embassy has taken true leadership in fostering dialogue between the Somali Diaspora in Sweden and United States of American, and has recently sponsored the Nordic Somali Delegation that visited Minnesota, San Diego and Washington D.C.
I will post more on this visit with the Embassy soon.
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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
