Five of us left the (baffling) 1st May celebrations in Copenhagen behind last Wednesday as we left to visit Sjælsmark for another session of English learning with some of the young adults living there. It was another quiet week with just one student for the first hour or so. We talked through the past simple and past continuous tenses together, taking it in turns to create sentences using both and marvelling at just how many irregular verbs there are in the English language. Another student arrived after a little while, so James and Myrtle worked one on one with them using the textbooks we are lucky enough to have until they were both feeling more confident with the tenses.
Moving on from the focused grammar practice, things got exciting when we decided to play 'spoons', a card game with rules I'm still not quite sure of. The game involves having spoons (or similar inanimate object - we used coffee stirrers) in the middle of the table and being the first to grab a spoon, once you have collected four of the same cards. It's a bit like musical chairs, so there's always one less spoon than the number of players - if you don't grab a spoon in time you're out. This prompted a very lively hour or so as we played several rounds together. Another student joined us halfway through and although his English wasn't that strong, he recognised the game and got stuck in straight away, eventually winning a game!
Two of our more regular students, Abudi and Abira, who are brother and sister, didn't come to this session on Wednesday and also hadn't been at the previous couple of sessions. We began to wonder whether something had happened. Sadly, we learnt that the authorities had attempted to deport Abudi and his dad. After they declined returning to Somalia voluntarily, both were moved to Ellebæk prison. They had done nothing criminal. The two had a court hearing on Friday morning, and a few of us from ARE, along with other friends, family and supporters, went to show our solidarity with the family, peacefully demonstrating outside the court.
It was unlike anything I have ever experienced and it was truly heartbreaking. I can't help thinking that if more people could see the devastating lived reality of current political thinking and decisionmaking, things might be different.
You can donate to the family here: Mobilepay - Birgitte Jungløw Thessen 25672206 - mrk Abira's family
-- Tilly
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