This is what an African Immigrant in Sweden would say about making proper adjustments in this new life. I call them Gaps. I Have recently presented it in an exhibion.
I came to Sweden the land of peace
But inside myself I have no peace
My body is the battleground of clashing cultures
As Inside me an integration war is taking place
I came from a land where time is not important
I came to a land where life is put in a time frame
I came from a land where news is passed orally
I came to a land where people read newspapers
I came from a land where people greeted in smile
I came to a land where people greet only in hej
I came from a land where a family stayed together
I came to a land where family members are busy
I came from a land where wives cooked for their husbands
I came to a land where husbands cook for their wives
I came from a land where we shared the little we had
I came to a land where people live not in shortage
I came from a land where tomorrow bothered us not
I came to a land where people have to make plans
I came from a land where seasons caused no big change
I came to a land where everything changes every season
I came from a land where the sun shined all year round
I came to a land where most of the year is dark
I came from a land where a cloudy sky carried hope
I came to a land where people are fed up with rains.
It is a tremendous adjustment for immigrants, especially as drastic as your geographic and cultural change was. However, the next generation, if you have children, will assimilate quite well to all these things that seem to be so new to you. You have one thing in your favor. You have a wonderful command of the English language that many Swedes would only hope for.
There is much to be said for all cultures and people.
There are many more commonalities than differences
if anyone chooses to look for them. Ultimately, we all
seek peace, love, and understanding--a brighter future for
ourselves and for our posterity.
Difficult changes to deal with, that is for sure. Sometimes we trade one kind of war for another and sometimes we trade liberty for security. Good luck with your transitioning, Abdi-Noor, I am glad you are now out of the line of fire.
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American…
There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people." This quote from Theodore Roosevelt's interpretation of immigration is applicable to any nation that accepts legal immigration. To expect a host nation and it's natural citizens to acquiesce to the cultures of its immigrants is to discredit the host nation and its native culture.
"Immigration, like foreign policy, ought to be a place where the national interest comes first, last, and always."
– Barbara Jordan, 1995
So "Gaps" are correctly identifiable as cultural dissonance. It is impossible to hold two conflicting beliefs at the same time. Thus it is incumbent upon the new arrivals to a host nation to commit to a willingness to assimilate into the existing society of their new homeland.
New Poetry by Abdi-Noor Haji Mohamed (Eagle Of Hope)
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Ron
There are many more commonalities than differences
if anyone chooses to look for them. Ultimately, we all
seek peace, love, and understanding--a brighter future for
ourselves and for our posterity.
There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people." This quote from Theodore Roosevelt's interpretation of immigration is applicable to any nation that accepts legal immigration. To expect a host nation and it's natural citizens to acquiesce to the cultures of its immigrants is to discredit the host nation and its native culture.
"Immigration, like foreign policy, ought to be a place where the national interest comes first, last, and always."
– Barbara Jordan, 1995
So "Gaps" are correctly identifiable as cultural dissonance. It is impossible to hold two conflicting beliefs at the same time. Thus it is incumbent upon the new arrivals to a host nation to commit to a willingness to assimilate into the existing society of their new homeland.