Keeping you updated!

Hi guys, sorry once again for the bad update. However like I have said , I am on my summer holiday. I have not had access to the computer since I have been to the countryside... All the same we have a TV there and I have been following the Olympics...Read this story and tell me what you think!

Swedish Ara Abrahamian throws his bronze medal in protest

Abrahamian threw down his 84kg greco-roman bronze in disgust after his shot at gold was ended by a decision denounced by the Swedish coach as "politics".

Abrahamian took the medal from around his neck during the medal ceremony, stepped from the podium and dropped it in the middle of the mat before storming off.

The Swedish wrestler had to be restrained by team-mates earlier as a row erupted with judges over the decision in a semi-final bout with Andrea Minguzzi of Italy, who went on to the take gold.

Abrhamian, who won silver at the Athens 2004 Games, shouted at the referee, then went over to confront judges, angrily throwing off the restraining arm of a team official.

Swedish fans booed loudly as the judges filed out of the arena. Abrahamian said nothing to waiting reporters but whacked an aluminium barricade with his fist as he left the hall.

"It's all politics," said Swedish coach Leo Myllari.

Myllari did not say if he intended to lodge a formal protest over the decision by referee Jean-Marc Petoud of Switzerland, judge Lee Ronald Mackay of Canada, and mat chairman Guillermo Orestes Molina of Cuba.

Other favourites went out in the semi-finals or earlier. Athens 96kg gold medallist Karam Gaber of Egypt failed to make it to the quarter-finals. Aleksey Mishin of Russia, who took Athens gold in the 84kg class, was beaten by Minguzzi.

Read more on:
Telegraph
Yahoo

Some black female celebs in Sweden

Hallo!

I just thought of showing you pictures of some black celebrities in Sweden that I find interesting. Here they are....

The current winner of Sweden´s Next Top Model Hawa Ahmed, 18 years old ,

Blossom Tainton, model and fitness guru,


Haddie Jallow, an actress,


Katarina Sandström, news ancor and finally the gifted...


LaGaylia Fraiser, who is a musician.

Have a nice beginning to your weekend people!

Career guide a ticket to Sweden

Good afternoon to you all! How is it going out there?

Stockholm is pouring, cats and dogs, spoiling a lovely sunny day. Anyway what to do besides just accept that it´s the way it is. Probably some of you are wondering why I am complaining but believe me if you have spent almost half of the year in the winter here in Sweden I am sure you would be complain too, at the slightest weather change that deprives you of the sun. Oh the sun a precious commodity here in the north.

Enough about the weather lets talk work opportunities in Sweden.... Anyone who needs to find employment is never satisfied with just one job application but applies for as many vacancies as possible right. How does the saying go by the way? Yeah, "If you search you will find" and definitely the attitude to have whilst looking for employment here in Sweden.

Where then to start one may wonder but it´s simple start of with a CV, get acquainted with some websites I will show you below and make very good use of google and start some serious job hunting. Always make a good presentation of yourself attach it to your electronic CV, so that you can send it to as many vacancies as possible that fit in to your qualifications. Here is some very practical information to read and it´s in this link Looking for work in Sweden?

Where to find work check out the following sites that have a number of job vacancies:
The Local
Career jet
Sweden Jobs

I recommend that you visit Ericsson , Teliasonera, Astra Zeneca and Scania and leave in your CVs. There are other more swedish companies the list is endless. I suggest that you google them.

I hope this has been helpful like I have mentioned make use google to search for other sites that provide similar services.

Enjoy your day

Emilia

Blackness continued...

Hi guys! I hope your day has been wonderful. Mine was quite hectic and it´s only now I feel I can sigh of relief. I am so glad the day is over you can not imagine.

So once again I would like to say it´s really amazing how much response I am continuously getting from you and the feedback is awesome! Thanks once again, for all your support. Before I continue with this week´s theme I would like to answer a question that has been reoccurring a number of times since I launched the blog. These are some of the comments I got regarding the issue:

"Good start. Please let us know how people react to black people there ........".

"What is the general attitude towards black people? .......... are you accepted or are you seen as a species exhibit?"

This is apparently a concern that most of you have regarding Sweden. To clarify I would like to say that what I say here and now is based only on my experiences about the Swedes so far. So if you maybe ask someone else they will probably relate another point of view regarding this matter.

To really understand this issue it might help with some background information about Sweden´s immigration history. Sweden does not have a long history of black immigrants due to its geographical location and its non-colonial history. However, immigrants have come to Sweden and they have mainly come from the Baltic states. So, Sweden is used to taking care of foreigners and a system has been established to help all who have newly arrived to integrate into the country. Well, I can not compare this system to the other European countries´ since I have no access to their integration policies. What I know for a fact though is, that Sweden has taken in most foreigners i.e. Iraq refugees compared to the rest of the EU countries all put together. This says that Swedes are alien friendly.

I would like to say that I have not experienced any racial prejudice towards me from a Swede because I am black. However, I have had encounters with other non-black foreigners and those have in way tried to put themselves above me as a black person by saying that I as black have the tougher situation in Sweden compared to them. I disagree totally with this, because there many blacks who have worked hard and have established themselves in the society. What I have realized in Sweden, regardless of what many say, it is like this, as long as you are determined and you know your facts the doors are unlimited despite what your background is.

What I would like to point out lastly is that how you dress and present yourself is very , very important as a black person. In this aspect a Swede can get away with a scruffy , shabby look, however not a black person. It is unfortunately like this, however as a shabby black person you give Swedes the impression that you have struggled and still is struggling either financially, emotionally or psychologically. I think this is influenced by the pictures shown of Africa in the media. This is not a fact however it´s just a quick link they make, I presume. So now if you would like to get a more positive response, I recommend a clean, neat and well arranged appearance for every black person . You definitely need to be an African with Style. This beats the hurdles that make come with a pre- judgmental attitude.

African-Swedish Marcus Samuelson a grounder and shareholder in Aqua white (exclusive restaurant)

On an overall I would like to say Sweden has a lovely system for foreigners, and I would hesitate to move here if the chance arose because a lot has been done to make foreigners feel at home. As a black you need to prove yourself though, compared to a Swede.

Hope you liked this, do you agree or disagree? Write in and comment on your own experiences.

P/S I will continue with the article on job hunting in SWEDEN tomorrow

Blackness in Sweden- Labour immigrants

Hi guys, thanks a lot for the support! I am truly overwhelmed by your response it means a lot for me. Many have sent comments highlighting what they would like read which is a lot of help for me because I can redirect my thoughts in the right direction therefore I will write for 100% for you.

Anyway continuing on the same theme of being black in Sweden, I would like to point out today that for it to be possible to be "Afro-Swedish" you need to be here in Sweden right!. Many may not know though that coming to Sweden is among the hardest processes due to a number of factors of which a few of I have already mentioned yesterday and that is the language. I am not going to touch on the language factor today....

Yet another factor that I will mention though is that the country is isolated from since there are few foreigners with an African background that are living here. This means that most people who might want to move here are put off by the idea of moving to a place where they do not know anyone, making Sweden even more isolated. Another thing too I have noticed is that there is not much information about Sweden in English that is readily available for anyone, if inquiries are to arise since most of it is in Swedish. If you do not know anyone living here, I´m quite sure most of you are like me you would not pick up the phone to call the embassy to inquire on what exactly is meant by the piece of information provided..... you would just leave it at that, right?

That is one of the reasons why I started this blog, partly to help those who might be interested in moving to/ visiting Sweden. I will be posting on a regular basis some tips and suggestions of how one can come to Sweden. At the same time if you know someone and you have the right information as well a good contact with your Swedish Embassy your way to Sweden will be the easiest to. Nothing is hard as long as you have the solution to the equation.

What I will take up below is among the hottest debates in Sweden right now. an article that was published recently that is on the 3rd of June 2008 highlighted that Sweden has large percentage of an aging population. already by year 2011 a total of 124 000 people are going to be pensioners. Within 10 years over a million people will have retired which means that the labour force in Sweden will not be enough. The EU countries are in a more or less similar situation as us, making it only possible for Sweden to look to recruit labour outside EU.

One factor already is that there is shortage of 25 000 construction workers as it is right now and
labour from immigrants is more than welcome starting from the 15 December 2008. To be able to qualify as a labour immigrant there is a particular criteria one needs to fulfill and they are as follows:

• You must have a written offer of employment in Sweden, made out on a special form which your employer can obtain via the the Swedish Public Employment Service's web site www.arbetsformedlingen.se. After approval from the Public Employment Service your employer must send the form to you so that you can enclose it with your application.
• Your employer shall guarantee you pay, insurance coverage and other terms of employment equal to at least the collective agreement or Swedish practice in the profession or the branch of trade.
• Accommodation must have been arranged for you in Sweden
• You must be fully prepared to leave Sweden when your term of employment is over.

More information on where to apply, what it costs, to solve those double extra ,extra hustles follow this link believe me it helps Swedish Immigration

Guys I hope this post has been helpful. I will let you know how to apply for work in Sweden tomorrow!

Bye for now

Being black in Sweden

This week I will be featuring Sweden from an african/foregner´s perspective. It´s never easy moving to a new country where everything is new. The people, the culture and most of all the unwritten rules that can make one feel accepted or out of place and these are just among the changes that one has to deal with when moving.

The biggest change when one moves to Sweden though, I would say is the SWEDISH language. For anyone to really make it and to feel as a part of the swedish society one needs to know the language. Therefore the first thing that I usually recommend to anyone moving here on a permanent basis is that they redirect their resources into learning the language. Why I recommend learning swedish despite what your background is, is that it makes everything else easier and what I primarily mean is the practical part of life.

There is a language package at the universities or other education centers designed to help newly arrived foreigners called Swedish For Foreigners (SFI). Since all education is free in Sweden one does not need to fear the costs that come with the course.

Another thing is that as much as one is proud of their background it is most helpful to know how Swedes live their lives and why they live their lives the way they do. This gives one an overall veiw of the society and makes it easier to understand a number of things happening around one. The best way to understand Swedes is to associate with them. As hard as many claim this to be since swedes are are a bit closed on an initial contact, I still think that one should try as much as they can to get to know a number of swedes, as this helps in the long run.

There is also another aspect to sweden which a swede cannot help one with and that is when it comes to things like foreign food, hair and skin products for black people, african clothing, interior designing, music and so on... In this area it helps if you know someone with an african background. However lately there has been an increase in the range of shops providing african services. What I miss though from most of these african retailers is quality and exclusiveness in the presentation and the service provided. I do understand that since the whole country is predominantly white, many of the retailers don´t regard the foreign market as lucrative, therefore they are not investing in this area. However small scale companies owned by private people with little capital are opened. Naturally these partnership company owners are not willing to spend much on the extra details that give class and quality so in that case african servives are behind the rest. I ´m happy about one thing though and that is that these shops are there... otherwise where in this country would I be able to get my products.

In the near future, I will be taking you through Sweden and I hope you will get a veiw of the country from my angle. Write in and comment on what you think of the posts as well as what you would like to read about...

Enjoy your evening