Can`t Wait

Now we are finally complete a mission, Baraka has got his passport and we have finally booked our tickets. So now we just have to wait for time to pass.  It feels so good and everything is so excited. It is long time since I was in Tanzania so I guess time will go so slowly because I’m counting the days. I am so excited to come home again and play there with no fucking jackets and warm clothes. And this is the first time I will travel together with my girlfriend and our son. I have such a good feeling to be there for 8 weeks. As people say; You know always east or west but home is the best. I’m looking forward to see my family and for them to meet their grandkid.
 

 

My Hero

The day you were born, I just knew God sent me a blessing‑and that was you. For this I thank Him every day, You are the true definition of a son, in every way. It is because of you that my life has meaning, Becoming a dad has shown me a new sense of being.

 

 

From once just a thought in faraway dreams, now into my arms and in my eyes gleam the presence of you. Your laughter and smiles which go on for miles, warms my heart and soul. You’re growing up so fast. As I wish each moment with you to last forever.
 

Always Happy

Baraka loves to be outdoors and sits in his chariot. When he was younger he always fell asleep in the chariot. Now he just falls asleep few times and then he must be very very tired. We now use the seat, which allows him to sit and look out for himself on the surroundings in a completely different way than before. He loves to sit up and look out at anything and everything.

The biggest problem we have, like many parents we've met don't have is that he is really selective with food. It is almost every day we struggle to feed him. Since 2 week ago he has learned how to spit and he really use this new founded talent at every meal.

Baraka loves gruel and mashed fruits and berries. However, he doesn't seem to like porridge, meat, fish, chicken, potatoes and other vegetables. He really wants to eat his parents' food instead of his own. But we are trying and it will come.

He likes to plays and laughs so laud and he likes to look and "read" books especially his parent’s books. I'm so happy to raise my boy and I enjoy each single time I see his smile. He is completely lovely. 

 

Citizenship

Just called the Tanzanian embassy and asked about Baraka citizenship and how the system works when you have parents from two different countries. We are so happy and relieved that he is both Swedish and Tanzanian to the year he turns 18. When he has reached the age of 18, he has to make the decision which citizenship he wants to have.  But I really wish him to be able to continue to have two citizenships in the future also. I hope that in the coming years, before he reaches 18 years, Tanzania will change the system and allow people to have different citizenships so he will always have to possibility to choose which country he will stay in. It will also be good for him to expand, learn and experience different ways of living, since his family lives in two countries.  .  But it is still 18 years, before we face this problem.

Today we also went to fix his Swedish passport and when we arrive to Tanzania, we will apply for his Tanzanian passport.

Life in Sweden

Since I have moved to Sweden I have experience that some Swedes have a certain attitude that sometimes make you to feel less valued and important than them. The way I have experienced it is by their action, words and their eyes expression as they think they are better than me just because I'm foreign. It is difficult for new immigrants to come here and try to start their new life in a new country, where hardly any of their past lives and experiences are valued as precious. In Sweden, people thinks of  himself first and this is a completely new way of living for me and also I get the feeling that I am worth less just because I was not born Swedish.

Noone is perfect and will never be it neither. But here people try to show perfection but is not how they really are. They don’t want to have contact with other people just because they are Swedish.

Almost directly when I arrived to Sweden I sent my school certificates for judgment, so I would be able to continue my studies at the university here. But the process would take up to 6 months to get the result, so I decided to start to learn Swedish during the time I waited for the result and also the chance to be create a social life in Sweden.

So I went to register at sfi which means; Swedish tuition for immigrant’s forms part of the public adult education system in Sweden. The purpose of the scheme is to provide basic Swedish language skills to learners. It also aims to give adult immigrants who can't read or write the chance to acquire their skills. Immigrants must be given the opportunity to develop their ability to communicate in Swedish - orally and in writing - in everyday situations, social settings and working life.

I started with a very positive attitude and good willing to learn Swedish, even if i hadn't been so positive before to study Swedish at all. I had realized that I really need to speak Swedish as soon as possible both for myself and my family. When I started I was in very good willing and really need to speak Swedish as soon as possible and I learn a lot at home. But when I started to the class I felt like is not my place to be, and felt very down. But already in the beginning when I started the class, it felt like the wrong place for me and I felt very down.The system of their teaching felt like a nursery school and that the people that are trying to learn Swedish at the school are stupid. They teach us by cutting newspaper and pictures and put on the walls. This way of teaching really offended and embarrassed me, because these things I did when I was study in nursery school.  And every day they ask what have we done and the answers are always the same: play football, watch TV, cooking food and so on. So you can understand that they think we have nothing to do, just like kids.

And what was making me even more emotional and actually really upset is that they put instructions. There is many "rules" but one rule is: Wash your hands after visiting the toilet (Tvätta händerna efter du har besökt toaletten). What the hell?

Most of the people all over the world learn in young ages about hygiene and cleanness and the importance to keep clean. We don’t have to be reminded of that, especially when SFI is for adult people and not children. Many in our class are Muslims and you don’t have to learn Muslims about cleanness and or write it because hygiene is probably more important than it is for Swedish. 

 I have graduated from high school in Tanzania and also studied at university there. This felt like a big insult against me as a person, since my goal of studying Swedish was to learn Swedish quickly and get out into the workplace and be able to continue my studies at university. Not cut and glue paper as they do in kindergarten.

I can only imagine what the older people who study Swedish there felt, as many have actually studied in their home countries. Then there are of course those who have not studied much earlier in their lives and then maybe this way to teach is good, but it feels like SFI are not adapted to that many actually have been studying before and just want to learn Swedish quickly and to get out and manage on their own.

Hej its me !!

I’m Ezekieli and am originally grown and raised in Arusha, Tanzania. I grew up in a big family with many siblings. I have been raised in a community with a rich social life. I have always had big dreams for my life and always struggle for huge success. Such a big family but nothing to wonder I am in love with them and they do mean my life and make my life complete.

In the beginning of 2010 I met a Swedish girl who came to Tanzania as a volunteer. We spent a lot of time together, which resulted that we became a couple and a long distance relationship between us was created, since she had to return back to Sweden. This year I was still studying my last year at secondary school. She has since her first time returned to Tanzania several times and our relationship started to grow more and more for each second that passed.

2012 I started my studies at Collage of African Wildlife Management and before I graduated I decided to come to Sweden to visit her for 2 months during the summer. When the two month was over I went back to Tanzania to graduate and go ahead with other plans, but things changed. Before I returned back to Tanzania she became pregnant and we decided to apply for a Swedish resident permit. Waiting for answers was tough but I got residency.

I graduated and in December 2012 started my journey to Sweden. It felt extra tough to leave my mother and move away several thousands of miles from the world I grew up in and had my security in. I left my family in Tanzania which was the hardest decision I have ever made.

In March 2013 did our lovely baby boy arrive to the earth and my life changed completely.  I adore him and he is always so happy. Both he and his mother mean everything to me and I love them. Now he is already 6 months and in January 2014 will we finally go home to Tanzania to show them my wonderful son and get blessed. I am so excited.