A while ago I saw a call for volunteers at the organization of Flemish Refugee Action regarding translating from Dutch to Arabic of a new portfolio for asylum seekers in Belgium. But since I’ve been job searching for quite a while and I thought it would be better to put my priorities on paid work first, I didn’t consider applying right away. Also, I know Dutch and I know Arabic, but do I have translation skills? Wasn’t sure. But after I caught myself going back reading about the vacancy and the organization several times, I contacted the project leader. This project leader, Adia Sakiqi, and I had some contact through email. She said she was glad I had interest in doing Arabic translation because there weren’t any other responses for doing translation in this language. She informed me that since this was volunteer work, I could either do this at home or at their office. Brussels is quite far and I figured I’d need more than seven or eight hours to come to an acceptable translation, so I suggested to do it at home and work on it bit by bit. Ms. Sakiqi pointed out where on their website I could find the documents that needed to be translated and thanked me again for my interests. At this point I thought, pity there isn’t more human contact involved, or even knowing what the translation will be used for, but I also eased my mind thinking it would be a good reference on my CV. However, when Ms. Sakiqi informed me they couldn’t offer me any of the expenses volunteers often get, she suggested a tour at their organization in return and with a refund of my train ticket. Last Thursday, I headed over there and Ms Sakiqi herself welcomed me. She introduced me to some of her colleagues, clearly all with different cultural backgrounds. She made sure I had enough coffee and other drinks for a whole day and I had a pile of papers, forms and brochures already waiting for me on her desk. My volunteer status got confirmed, and I even filled out an insurance form, not that translating is all that dangerous. She had the documents all ready and printed out for me and explained to me the project, for which the translation is needed, is aiming for and how this portfolio can be useful. Let me fill you in too. Refugees are all too often automatically labeled and a lot of them end up working way below their educational level and abilities. Yet, in their home countries, a lot of them have acquired knowledge, certain insights, skills and attitudes, which under this project are titled ‘previously acquired competences.’ If they somehow can have these validated, this can benefit them, educationally or professionally, as well as in society. Applying for the academic recognition of a foreign higher education diploma can be an important step for the refugee towards a full participation in the professional life. To facilitate this procedure, the Flemish Refugee Action designed a portfolio for higher educated refugees. The projects’ target group consists of asylum seekers, recognized refugees and persons with subsidiary protection status, which means they are allowed a temporary residence. The portfolio is meant to be an addition to this academic recognition application procedure. More concretely, the portfolio can be considered an extended CV. Refugees can decide for themselves what they fill out and how they want to describe their abilities. One can report in a clear and elaborate way about the knowledge and skills one has acquired after his or her studies, under paid work, but also during internships, trainings, unpaid work and activities in their spare time. I don’t want to take you into any further details. Let those be part of the battle of translation I’ll be fighting very soon. Though I think one can agree that this is a very useful elaborated project. And that’s just a tiny bit of a whole bunch of actions this organization undertakes and which I got acquainted with during a one on one power point presentation on Flemish Refugees Action, on what they do and what they stand for. Too much really to reproduce here, Ms. Sakiqi spent more than an hour talking about it, but to round up the story I’ll give you some highlights. Their main vision holds that every person has a right to peace, safety and freedom and refugees have a right to protection. And this in the form of a qualitative fair procedures, good shelter and opportunities for integration. They are an independent organization. They defend the principles of respect, humanity and protection and they do this for asylum seekers and refugees in Belgium and Europe, working together with several partners. Their mission is to increase and strengthen the support for refugees, to influence the policy and to support the field and promote cooperation. Recently, there have been some issues between the Flemish Refugees Action and the Belgian government, when the former accused the latter of violating their own law of providing overnight shelter for every asylum seeker. According to the organization people still sleep on the street every night. Ms. Sakiqi made the comment that despite their winning in court, there’s still no concrete solution because she told me that that Wednesday night, 83 people slept outside. Moving public opinion through several campaigns is also an important agenda point. Another few matters that I especially remember is that they are against closed shelters because they prefer to have refugees live more autonomously. On days people can apply for asylum at the Immigration Services volunteers distribute free soup and there are plans to extend this to a soup and information session. They also encourage voluntary repatriation by providing help for a possible re-integration to their home countries. As with many current themes or issues, refugee stories can definitely touch a nerve. And sometimes it’s good they do, because it can make one act. Ms. Sakiqi told me about a family, a couple with a young child, that came to their organization just the day before, having no place to stay. She pointed at this box of toys next to where we were sitting. Toys they rapidly collected for that child to play with while looking to help its parents. It made me realize small steps can make a big difference and that I’m eager to participate more in this organization. Despite of what I initially thought about this task, volunteers at Flemish Refugee Action are definitely taken care of! And they keep their promise, a job with a meaning… BM The beliefs and statements of all Bikya Masr blogumnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect our editorial views.
