Job-related opportunities, overcoming language barrier and challenges from the perspective of young migrant woman
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Institutions involved
Public Bodies
Initiative Typology
Financial support, Language or/and culture courses
Problem addressed
In this case, the main problem address the schooling of the interviewee and her brother due to Slovenian language barrier. The interviewee learned Slovenian language in a month or two which is extremely fast. She was very young teenager during the migration process, but the integration was easier due to the fact that her father lived in Slovenia before the rest of the family and she has a talent for learning languages thus she was a very fast learner of the Slovenian language. In any case, the school should offer the support in the integration process of young people with migrant background. She had an experience of being discriminated only on the basis of being foreigner. There are some classmates who don’t like “us”, strangers. Not only the people, coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina, but no foreigners at all. Personally, she acts in such situations that she just withdraw away from such people. Their parents faced many obstacles during the bureaucratic procedures and the arranging of all documentation. It was necessary to rent an apartment. They checked whether the interviewee’s parents had enough money to support the whole family and similar. The interviewee noticed that Slovenian people are more individualistic in comparison to more solidarity among Bosnians. On the other hand Slovenia is better in terms of security, but also in taking care of young people (for example: there are restrictions regarding the age of young people when they can start buying alcohol or cigarettes).
Resilience strategies addressed by women
The strategy used in this case was to learn a Slovenian language as quick as possible in order to integrate in various communities (school, schoolmates, surrounding). Besides the interviewee had all the support from her family members, especially parents in this migration and integration process. Since Bosnia and Herzegovina is relatively close to Slovenia, they came by car. They had several information on the life in Slovenia due to her fathers’ previous experiences (family reunion). All the relatives were very supportive to the idea that we should move to Slovenia due to better quality of life for us. The interviewee hardly waited to move to Slovenia. She also had previous information of the life in Slovenia from her uncle, aunt and the other relatives, living in Slovenia. Her fathers’ broader family is still living in Bosna and Herzegovina, meanwhile her mother’s broader family mainly lives in Slovenia (exceptions are mother’s parents). They are in constant contact – either through the e-mails, Viber, calls and when possible in person. During the covid-19 pandemia the personal contacts were not possible. The interviewee recognized no gender differences in terms of the risks during the migration journey.
Description of the integration initiative implemented
From the perspective of very young woman much more emphasis should be put in organizing the opportunities to meet other young people from different countries and various surroundings that live in Slovenia. Besides, school system could offer additional support in the integration process of young people with migrant background.
Personal story
The interviewee’s father lived and worked in Slovenia, meanwhile interviewee lived with her mother and brother in Bosnia and Herzegovina. When her brother started to go to the secondary school, they decided to join their father (family reunion). Now she is 19 years old. She was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Until now she finished elementary school. Currently she is not having a partner or boyfriend. The decision to migrate to Slovenia was taken very quickly – at least from the interviewee’s perspective. She had 13 or 14 years during their migration process. She, brother and mother came six years ago to Slovenia. Even though the interviewee hardly waited to move to Slovenia, she enjoyed it for the first month, but then she realized that her expectations were different. She didn’t like it. She missed a lot the opportunities to meet with other young people. Her experiences are how difficult it is to find other peers or other young people if one is a foreigner. It was extremely difficult to make new friendship. The cultural background, the system of habits, the principles of socializing young people are different, so she can't easily just look for company. They went directly from the school in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the school in Slovenia. Due to the language barrier the interviewee had to go one class back in the school. The interviewee reported how very difficult were her experiences in the beginning since she and her brother did not understand anything in school nor did they talk to anyone. Now they got used to it. The school provided them a Slovenian language course, but the interviewee put forward the fact that she learned the language more from the conversations she had with her schoolmates later on than within that language course in school. She really learned Slovenian language very fast, while her elder brother needed longer time. One of the reasons was also that her brother did not want to move to Slovenia at all. She believe that her brother will move back to Bosnia and Herzegovina one day in the future. In the beginning everything was difficult, but her family always had enough resources to survive. Her father got sick and lost his job for some time, but since the whole family members are working they could overcome this challenge. The interviewee is working besides schooling (secondary school) for 3 years already. As a student she works in production where they pack poison for mice and similar. In comparison between her perception of life quality in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia she commented that there were several good things before (like parties or other social events, relaxation) and other advantages (like work or job-related opportunities) nowadays in Slovenia. The whole family is satisfied in the current neighborhood, they never had bad experiences. But in the previous flat they had troubles with a neighbor who didn’t like foreigners just because they came from somewhere else. The interviewee’s plan is to find a job and stay in Slovenia. In principle, she would not go to live back in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She might consider this option only if she would have a boyfriend there. Otherwise, she would like to have her own hair salon, where she would also offer manicure, pedicure and similar. She would like to live in a world where the respect among each other will have high value. It is important to recognize the religious or other holidays regardless to from which religion or country one comes from.
Analysis of the initiative and individual story
The main initiatives to improve integration have been:
LEGAL SCOPE:
- The bureaucratic matters are complicated in Slovenia.
RESOURCES AND SUPPORTS
- The problem for young people, migrating to Slovenia, is to find the contact with peer group, either coming from other countries, either already living in Slovenia.
- There is a lack of social integration support, especially for young people, even though also for others.
NETWORKS AND PARTICIPATION
- Family and previous networks have an important role, especially due to the Covid-19 period, during which the new social relationship were not possible.
- The support and participation is much easier if one have previous contacts with family members or other relatives, living in the new destination country.
- The interviewee had an opportunity to visit the so called “Common point” (“Skupna točka”) that enabled her to meet other young people, to cook together, to talk or learn together or to do homework together in one common place (this contact was made by the school, even though these activities were led by another person).
CULTURAL IDENTITY
- Maintaining their cultural identity through contact with relatives and migrants from the same cultural context.
- Nevertheless, they incorporated the cultural guidelines of the host society in their lives.
RESILIENCE STRATEGIES
- The ability to face life situations through new strategies of adaptation were additionally challenged during Covid-19 period.
- Valuing the resources, available in the host society.
- School system is inclusive, but could offer various types of support for young people, including the social events which were even more difficult during Covid-19 period.
Results and Impact
This migratory process has had an important impact on the life of the interviewee since she as a teenager lived many years apart from her father who was working in Slovenia. The interviewee put forward the importance of empathy of people in the destination country into the situation of people with migrant background.
