For Iraqis, Swedish life is so different
Posted: Thursday, June 19, 2008 9:49 AM
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By Jennifer Carlile, msnbc.com
SODERTALJE, Sweden – "Life is so different here than in Baghdad," Duraid Faraj said of his new, unlikely home of Sodertalje, a small Swedish city near Stockholm.
In a country known for its dark winters, and its seafaring and seafood-loving people, Middle Easterners can feel like fish out of water.
In the center of town, Swedes and Iraqis walk along the lakeside waterfront and watch their children play on jungle gyms, but they never appear to mix or talk with each other.
With around 6,000 Iraqis living in this city, refugees arriving here are welcomed by friends, relatives, and neighbors from back home and can easily get by only speaking Arabic. Although many Iraqis in Sweden are Muslim – especially around the southern city of Malmo – the vast majority in Sodertalje are Christian. Iraqi churches here serve as both places of worship and as informal community centers, offering refugees a sense of belonging.
Talking to Iraqis at Johannes Chaldean Catholic Church and in Ronna Centrum – the heart of the neighborhood nicknamed "Little Baghdad" – most said they would like to integrate into the Swedish community, but that they have had little success given their inability to speak the language.
"I don’t have a chance to know Swedes other than my (language) teacher Thomas," said Faraj, a photographer who had worked for the U.S. Army in Iraq and arrived here seven months ago.
He spoke after a recent young peoples’ Friday evening meeting at Johannes Church, During the meeting, dozens spoke in Arabic, discussing everything from monkhood to prayers for their homeland. Afterward, they milled around the basement, joking around, eating stuffed grape leaves, cookies, and drinking soda. Outside, at 9 p.m., the summer sun was still burning bright.
Evan Mamo, an 18-year-old with spiky, gelled hair, said he was looking forward to attending a regular high school and making Swedish friends in the fall.
"All my friends come from Iraq," he said, explaining he had to attend 18 months of government-run Swedish language classes before attending "normal school."
With his parents and relatives still living in Iraq, he had made most of his friends through the church, and also played soccer on an all-Iraqi high school team where instructions were given in Arabic.
Attitudes toward life here seemed to be delineated by generations, with older people sticking most closely to their Iraqi heritage and saying Swedes lacked warmth and family values. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the young seemed to be taking to Sweden like fish to water.
In Ronna Centrum – a concrete square with an apartment tower looming over it, a couple basic stores, and another church – 9-year-old Manuela Duraid Hikmat chatted comfortably in Swedish after living here for 2 ½ years.
Her mother, Dina Bior Yousif, said, "My daughters have so many friends here now."
Click here to read more about Iraqi refugees:
'Little Baghdad' thrives in Sweden
One man's efforts to get Iraqis into U.S.
