Politikk

Språk skal redde branntjenesten

Et nytt mangfoldsprosjekt har sett dagens lys i Sverige: For at brannvesenet skal klare å gjøre jobben sin i innvandrerdominerte bydeler, der ungdom gjerne buker både stein og kraftigere lut når offentlige tjenestemenn entrer deres ”territorium”, skal brannvesenet aktivt rekruttere innvandrere. Da kan ungdommen snakkes til på deres eget språk. Det kan bli litt av en utfordring i et land med over 200 språkgrupper.

Hege Storhaug, HRS

Det nye mangfoldsprosjektet handler altså om å beskytte brannvesenets personell. Det skal rekrutteres bredt, slik at språkbarrierer elimineres, melder Thelocal.se. Ihland Demir forklarer hvorfor:

”At one point some kids were throwing rocks at us. I caught hold of a guy and spoke to him in his own language,” said Ilhan Demir of the South Stockholm fire service to SVT. The diversity project is meant to widen recruitment, according to SVT, not in the least when it comes to attracting staff with a different background than the traditional Swedish. It is hoped that it will overcome language barriers and increase security for fire personnel in the big city areas.

Prosjektet har en prislapp på 7,5 millioner kroner, og EU er sponsoren.

”We’re about 300 on active call-out duty, of which only 18 are of a different background than Swedish. There needs to be more,” said Christer Flodfält, union representative for the fire service to SVT. According to the broadcaster it has become more frequent that fire personnel are attacked with stones and other objects and it is hoped that the new initiative may bridge the gap between the fire fighters and the gangs of unruly kids. ”This is a very important project,” said fire fighter Nadia Jelili to SVT