NEW FACES OF SLOVENIA – 6. True story: “Slovenians can learn a lot about new cultures and other interesting things from cross-cultural experiences with foreigners. Socializing with immigrants is a chance to have different parts of the world right at our fingertips – how great can that be!” (Clevis from Albania, 28 years old)
The BODE project (#BrezOvirDoEnakosti) is committed to empowering people with a migrant background in the field of advocacy, as they often do not get the right opportunity to present their side of the story. This time, however, it is different – by sharing real stories, we are fighting against the prejudice that migrants are not educated or skilled enough to participate equally and qualitatively in the progress of Slovenian society.
In this context, we will share with you 10 true stories of people with migrant backgrounds in Slovenia.
6️⃣ This is Klevis’ story…
Clevis (28 years old) is from Albania. He did his mathematics degree at Bilecik Seyh Edebali University in Turkey. After graduating, he taught at a private school and then decided to complete his Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Security at the Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona, Spain. Today he is working as a young researcher at the University of Ljubljana, as part of the EU Horizon 2020 project.
“I decided to leave my country mainly because many things did not work as I expected. Corruption is extremely widespread in public administration, there are not enough opportunities for young people to work in their chosen sector, and Albania as a country is not doing much, in my opinion, to stop migration. However, I would like to be able to contribute to the development of my country one day,” said the young researcher, who is proud to be part of the Horizon 2020 EU project to create better and safer use of internet services.
Clevis’s experience in Slovenia has been mostly positive, and he finds working and living here full of opportunities: “I was surprised by how highly educated Slovenians are and how well everyone knows English. I believe that if I had more friends here to talk to, I would have learned Slovenian better.”
Clevis concludes by suggesting that immigrants should have more opportunities to integrate and socialize with the locals, to learn more about the culture, traditions, and food, but this is a process that both sides have to be ready for. Slovenians can learn a lot about new cultures and other attractions through intercultural experiences with foreigners. Socializing with immigrants is a chance to have different parts of the world right at our fingertips: “If we socialize more with each other, we will realize how much we have in common, we will respect and love each other more – how great that can be”.
We fight stereotypes, discrimination, and prejudice. It is important to stand together for social justice, equal treatment, and opportunities for all members of our society. Let us be tolerant, friendly, and open to new faces, new acquaintances, and opportunities for people to surprise us positively as great employees, talented individuals, or just loyal friends. Although different, we are all equal.
As a graduate engineer at a Slovenian university, I expect the residence and work permit regime to be easier for all those who work and can contribute even a little to improving the country. In addition, it would be excellent if the government would provide the family members of foreigners who have been in Slovenia for a long time with the possibility of free education, at least at the bachelor’s or master’s level.
For more on the stories and the project, see :
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Ministrstvo za notranje zadeve
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 “𝑩𝑶𝑫𝑬/𝑩𝒓𝒆𝒛 𝑶𝒗𝒊𝒓 𝑫𝒐 𝑬𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒊” 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝑭𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐 – 𝒕𝒐 𝑵𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐.
https://adra.si/bode/embed/#?secret=cGKlAbHLC2#?secret=z19dWz2UhG
