Frida Fossland, verksamhetschef, Medborgarskolan Region Nord, introducing the evening.
Left to right: Nooriya Ibrahim, Sreeja Naveen and Amrutha Ananthan preparing food.
The event was fully booked.
Haya Khadeeja Rafeez during her presentation.
A large audience, including many children, watching Haya Khadeeja Rafeez talking.
Micael Silenstam of Welcome House Skellefteå during his presentation.
When cities expand fast, there can be growing pains. This is why the municipality's Welcome House Skellefteå unit teamed up with Medborgarskolan, to start a new series of events, "One Evening - One Country", aimed at introducing different nationalities and cultures to each other, including Skellefteå locals.
The first event was held just before last week's snowstorms and Norran was there to speak to some of the attendees and take lots (and lots) of photographs.
The organisers:
Frida Fosslund, manager Medborgarskolan Region Nord, Micael Silenstam of Welcome House Skellefteå and Ananthan Indukaladharan, of Skellefteå's Indian community
What do you hope to achieve with these events?
FF – We think it's amazing that Skellefteå now has more than 100 nationalities, so, together with the municipality's Welcome House Skellefteå, we wanted to create a meeting place for both new and old residents of Skellefteå. We came up with this concept of One Country - One Night, and hopefully it will be one piece of the puzzle to help the residents of Skellefteå learn more about each other's cultures - because we are more multicultural than ever before!
MS – We want to provide a meeting place where people new to Skellefteå can proudly present their country, and its way of life, food and culture. At the same time, local Swedes from Skellefteå can discover a new country, meet newcomers and perhaps make new friends! It's also very important that newcomers feel welcome, and part of Skellefteå society.
AI – When the team at Medborgarskolan invited us to organize the night, we were really excited. And we were also a bit confused, like, okay, what should we do? The hardest thing for us was how to fit everything into the 10-15 minute presentation.
And when it comes to food, India has a huge amount to cover. So we tried to have at least one representation from the different parts of India, because each state has different tastes and traditions. Finally, we think this is a great way to introduce new international residents to local Swedes.
Was the evening a success?
FF – Yes! I think the participants were very satisfied with the event, and we achieved a good mix of new and long-time residents of Skellefteå, as well as a variety of ages - just as we had hoped. Now I hope that more people will join us in the future - people who want to meet and get to know new cultures and new people. And hopefully make new friends!
MS – Absolutely. It was a complete success, the event booked up quickly and there was a queue of people wanting to attend. It was so nice to see a mix of locals and people who have moved here from all over the world mingling and talking to each other. We will have more evenings like this!
AI – Yes, it really was a very good evening - a total success. (See more photos below)
Coming up: Welcome House Skellefteå's Christmas Café for newcomers on Sunday, December 10, at 12pm at Exploratoriet Science Center near Nordanå.
Invitation only. Invitations have been sent to those who have moved to Skellefteå during the last two years. Bring your invitation!
A young boy talking to Haya Khadeeja Rafeez.
Left to right, Nooriya Ibrahim, Sreeja Naveen and Amrutha Ananthan preparing food, with Ananthan Indukaladharan, front right (holding his baby).
Haya Khadeeja Rafeez and some other children.
Lots of local Swedes attended.
Left to right: Gayathri Kunjamma, Amrutha Ananthan and Nooriya Ibrahim singing.
Children were made very welcome.
Left, Biju Sukumar and right, Ananthan Indukaladharan, with his baby in a sling.
The kids seemed to have fun, too.
There were many local Swedes at the event.
Ranjan K. Melin.
Left to right: Rafeez Jamal Mohammed and his wife Nooriya Ibrahim. Behind them in a navy shirt is Biju Sukumar. Micael Silenstam from Welcome House is in the foreground.
Lots of lovely food.
Even more food!
Hannelore Normark with Amrutha Ananthan holding her baby, and husband Ananthan Indukaladharan.
Left: Oskar Kassander, from Norrköping, studying in Skellefteå. Center: Marina Popic, from Serbia. Right, Ankan Anurag, from India, who is married to Marina.
Left: Oskar Kassander, from Norrköping, studying in Skellefteå. Center: Marina Popic, from Serbia. Right, Marina's husband, Ankan Anurag, from India.
Left to right, adults in back row: Rafeez Jamal Mohammed and his wife Nooriya Ibrahim, Rejoice Varghese Maliackal with his wife Dhannya Rejoice Maliackal, Ananthan Indukaladharan and his wife (holding their baby) Amrutha Ananthan, Gayathri Kunjamma with her husband Biju Sukumar, Naveen Prakash with his wife Sreeja Naveen.