“We always have an open door!” say staff at Prague’s Integration Centre
Over the years of its operation, it has become clear that providing targeted assistance to migrants benefits not only the foreigners themselves but also the native population of the Czech Republic. However, as Radio Prague notes, many newcomers to the country are unaware of the existence of such a centre, and some are afraid to contact any organisations out of habit.
To overcome fear and foster friendship, as well as to inform everyone about how the Integration Centre works and what services are available, an Open Day was organised at the organisation’s head office in Prague on Žitná Street. Both regular visitors and those crossing the threshold for the first time were greeted at the entrance by Stanislav Buturin, head of the branch in Prague 14:
– Today we have an open day at our organisation, so we have prepared a special programme for all our guests. You can take a programme that includes a schedule of what and when will happen, as well as a floor plan of the building with notes on which rooms host individual events. We also ask everyone to register at the entrance: provide your first and last name, your status in the Czech Republic, and write which country you are from. I would like to emphasise that at 17:30 there will be a guided tour of the entire building, and our staff will tell you all about each office.
Right behind the registration desk is a large, bright room where centre staff greet guests. Here you can hear conversations in various languages: Czech, Russian, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, English, and others. The walls are decorated with bright photographs. Ekaterina Gazukina, intercultural worker for the Ukrainian community and assistant of the INTEGRA project, explained how these images relate to integration:
– We have prepared an exhibition “Photo Voice, or Integration of Foreigners through the Eyes of Prague Residents.” The exhibition is part of the INTEGRA project and was created using the social research method Photo Voice – where people tell stories through their photographs. In our case, the theme was integration: how they see integration in Prague, the pros and cons, what could be improved, what their integration experience was like. Both foreigners living in Prague and Czechs participated in the project. We received over 150 photographs from 20 participants, and for the exhibition we decided to showcase the stories of thirteen of them. These are people who came from Iraq, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Chile, and other countries. I think this exhibition is interesting both for Czechs, so they can understand what integration is, and for foreigners.
While talking about themselves, people suddenly realised things they sometimes didn’t think about while caught up in the constant cycle of work and household chores: how many years had passed since their move, how their perception of life abroad had changed, whether they themselves and the locals had become different. Therefore, the organisers emphasise that the INTEGRA project is useful for everyone: for those who came to the Czech Republic long ago, for those just settling in the country, and for the native population.
Ekaterina Gazukina provided more details about the project, which is taking place not only in the Czech Republic but also in other countries:
– INTEGRA is a two-year international project. A total of six organisations from partner cities are involved: two from Bulgaria, then from Croatia, Italy, Slovakia, and, accordingly, from the Czech Republic. It is important to note that this is a project at the city level, not the country level. In the first year, integration policies and experiences in these cities were analysed, based on which recommendations were created for city administrations and all those involved in the integration process. In the second year, a campaign will be organised to improve awareness of integration issues among both foreigners and Czechs. We are trying to break down stereotypes and barriers. As part of this programme, we are organising several events: we have already held an event at a nursing home, and we plan to hold events in schools. Our photo exhibition is also part of this large project.
In a corner of the hall where the exhibition is taking place, there is a small sofa and a table where several people are sitting, engrossed in a board game. And, as is well known, game-based learning methods are very effective. Mila Gasina, intercultural worker for the Russian-speaking diaspora, often accompanies migrants to various institutions, and the board game was created based on her professional experience:
– Together with a colleague, we decided to come up with something that would be interactive but at the same time extremely informative. We realised that board games are very popular right now, and we decided to gather all the questions and problems we had encountered, all the pitfalls we had ever stumbled upon. Putting it all together, we turned these questions into tasks for the game. All these tasks are related to a person’s stay in the Czech Republic, the problems they will have to face.
The idea of a board game clearly proved successful: more and more people approached the table to participate. What questions await players, what difficulties will they have to overcome, what tasks will they need to solve to reach the coveted “Finish”?
– If we talk about the most basic and simple questions, which are more for warming up and entertainment, these are linguistic riddles. For example, what is “drobáky” (in colloquial Czech – small change)? Answer options: money, children, and vegetables. A person who has recently moved to the Czech Republic does not yet know such linguistic nuances. So some tasks are amusing, while others are more informative, such as a question about the difference between various types of employment contracts. Many people get confused about this, and we explain the difference between these concepts. We would like people to protect themselves from making at least some mistakes.
A little further on the first floor of the Integration Center there is a small library – several shelves with publications in different languages. There are books on a wide range of topics, from legal reference books to children's fairy tales. However, on the day of the event, the center's staff created another library – a living one. We asked Ekaterina Gazukina to explain the idea of this project:
– A living library is a library where instead of books there are living people. Actually, they are the books, telling stories about life and integration in the Czech Republic. Our colleagues from different countries participate in the library, it is a very interesting mix of different nationalities and languages. Here you can talk to the manager of the main AMIF project, he is from Bosnia, or to an intercultural worker for the Vietnamese community, she is Czech. So each of our guests can come up, choose a “book” and learn something new by communicating in different languages.
In addition to general and professional questions about integration and the specifics of life in the Czech Republic, “living books” can tell many interesting stories – both from their own experience and those they have heard from other foreigners. What can a Russian-speaking “living book” by Ekaterina Shlygina tell about:
– I am an intercultural worker for the Russian-speaking community, I help people who have come not only from Russia, but also from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan. I often accompany them to hospitals, to schools, help those who do not yet speak Czech very well to negotiate. In addition, we organize various events, for example, we have intercultural meetings every week. Now very active migrants are coming. And they only need a little help, only at the very beginning: to explain the system, how everything works, maybe accompany them to school a couple of times. But they themselves are very active, they learn the language very quickly – it is clear that they are motivated, they want to integrate, they want to settle in.
In the next room, next to the living library, there is a completely different atmosphere – more restrained, more serious. A person dressed in a suit and white shirt is sitting at the table. A pile of papers and reference books suggests that a lawyer works here. This was confirmed by Ekaterina Gazukina:
– In this office we wanted to show how legal consultations take place. Here you can talk to a lawyer working in our organization. We will tell you what questions are most often asked, what problems migrants coming to the Czech Republic face. In addition, here you can discuss various myths that surround the stay of immigrants in the Czech Republic. If any of the guests have their own questions, our lawyer will give a competent answer.
Probably, every person living in the Czech Republic has at least once encountered myths about staying in this country. Most often they are spread via the Internet: many people, preparing to move abroad, try to find as much information as possible, but instead often receive disinformation, which can lead to embarrassment or even a visa refusal. Among the most common myths is the information that citizenship can be obtained through marriage or that a child born in the country automatically receives Czech citizenship. However, according to Ekaterina Gazukina, the information of local residents about immigrants is also often far from the truth.
– Most Czechs do not realize that coming here to earn money, getting a work permit is a very complicated procedure. No one can just come, for this you need the appropriate permits, very often it is an employee card, and it is not so easy to get. If someone works on an employee card, they cannot have a side job, and if they can, then under certain conditions. All this is very difficult both for the worker himself and for the employer. So the myth that they just come and take jobs away from Czechs is unfounded.
During the tour, many discovered that the Integration Center is much larger than they thought. And this is quite justified: every day several dozen migrants come here – some for social, some for legal help, and some attend Czech lessons or integration courses. You can learn about the history of the center and its achievements in one of the offices on the second floor:
– Now we are on the second floor, in the room where the information campaign of our organization is presented. I would like to emphasize that we have been providing assistance to foreigners who are not from EU countries, are legally in the Czech Republic and have a residence permit for more than 90 days for seven years. On the graph you can see our achievements over these years: how many people we have supported, to whom we have provided some help or service. Here you can also watch a video about the life of foreigners in the Czech Republic, which erases some stereotypes, or learn about the smartphone application that we invented. The application is called Praguer, and its main goal is to help foreigners navigate the capital, help them figure out, for example, in the social sphere: which organization they need to go to, which department they need to visit, – says Ekaterina Gazukina.
Also on the second floor there are several classrooms where Czech language lessons and meetings of the so-called “Communication Club” take place, which the Integration Center staff mentioned several times during the tour. How the meetings go and how they differ from regular language courses was described by Yulia Lapina, an intercultural worker for the Ukrainian diaspora:
– Now we are in a classroom where Czech language lessons usually take place, but today an intercultural meeting will be held here, which guests of our Open Day can participate in. Intercultural meetings are a kind of “conversational” or, simply put, “speaking club”. We always prepare certain topics in advance. Such a topic could be, for example, the education system of the Czech Republic – in that case we will explain the main points related to this area. After the introductory information, we teach certain phrases on this topic that will help to communicate with teachers at school or, for example, at a parent-teacher meeting. And then we usually play: we simulate a situation in which clients can use these phrases and overcome the barrier or fear that prevents them from speaking Czech.
The Integration Center was founded on March 14, 2012; at that time, the building located in the very center of the capital, within walking distance of Wenceslas Square, was the only office of the organization. Today, those interested can visit branches in six districts of Prague. In addition to the head office, there are branches in Pankrác, Modřany, Lužiny, Rajská Zahrada, and at the Sapa Vietnamese market. Legal consultations, Czech language lessons, and intercultural meetings are also held here.