Visit from Gonzalo Vargas

The 24th March

We had a visit from a Chilean man, called Gonzalo Vargas. He lived in Chile at a time where there was dictatorship. He was against the dictatorship therefor he were politicly active, the government was against his protest and therefor they arrested him for protesting and began to totur him. Amnesty helped him to get out of prison. He found out that the police was watching him and they would probably arrest him if he stayed, so he left Chile and fled to Denmark to start a new life.

Gonzalo had a secretary who also were his friend, but Gonzalo didn't knew he actually were spying on Gonzalo and turned him in. When Gonzalo had lived in Denmark in some years he went back to Chile to forgive his "secretary". We think Gonzalo has a big heart because he forgave him.

Would you be able to forgive the secretary if this happened to you?

Food from Bulgaria

17th March

We made filled peppers and a salad from Bulgaria.

The salad was delicious and was filled with some great stuff.

The ingredients were tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, red peppers, yellow onion, fresh parsley, olive oil, red wine vinegar and feta cheese. 

Then the salad was ready a girl named Nicole (she is from Bulgaria) didn't think the food was ready at all. The pieces were to small and there were missing oil.

The filled peppers were also made wrong. There were missing Greek yoghurt, which were an important ingredient. The filled peppers were also made on a different way than we in Denmark normally would do. They were in a saucepan with a plate on and then the top.

All the food tasted great and it was really interesting to make Bulgarian food because the cultures are so different. In Bulgaria you don’t cut down on the ingredients which also were one of the biggest differences.

Visit from role models

February 24^th we had a visit from two role models.

Both of the girls went to a state school with almost only immigrants. Therefore they hadn’t experienced the Danish community. When they started on the upper secondary school, they began to be a part of the Danish community. In both of their classes there were one or two immigrants so they weren’t in their comfort zone anymore. The third year was the best year because they were adjusted to the friends and school.

In the end of the lesson we had a discussion about wearing a veil. None of the two girls wore a veil but the girl named Nora wanted to when she had settled down. In Denmark immigration is a big issue. It’s difficult for the immigrants to get a job and some of them have it mentally hard because of the bad experiences they had e.g. because of war. Therefore we want to know if immigration is a big issue in USA and why that is?

Movies about meeting of cultures

March 17^th we saw three movies about meeting of cultures.

The first movie was about a girl named Zainab who was born in Africa. She grew up on two different orphanages in Denmark with her younger sister. It was a culture shock for both of the sisters to come to a new country, and they had some troubles with communicating with the pedagogues. When Zainab turned 18 she moved and got her own apartment.

The second movie was about a Muslim girl named Sumaya. She lived in a neighbourhood with a large amount of immigrants. We wonder how she became a part of the Danish community when she lived around immigrants.

We met a girl named Josefine who was confused about the meaning of life. She tried to act like a grownup but at the same time she was a teenager.

The movies made us think about how different people see life and how they become a part of a different community.

Definition of words about integration

Our work from March 17th:

Refugee: a person who escapes from e.g. war or persecution.

Immigrant: a person who moves to another country and has decided to stay for a long period of time. It can e.g. be for the social benefits or job opportunities the country has.

Asylum seeker: a foreigner who wants the rights to stay in the concerned country as a refugee. The asylum seeker isn’t established as a refugee.

Asylum: a person who wants protection can get asylum from the government. It is not always the case that the asylum seeker gets asylum.

Integration: when you settle down in another country and have the plan to live there.

Residence permit: when a foreigner gets permission to live in the concerned country.

Citizenship: if you are a member of a country/state.