Kristina with her friends at the Rema Reading Centre, Kingston.
Marie Gregory, Freelance Writer
WHEN Kristina Persson was a university student in Upsala, Sweden, she had the opportunity to spend a term in England. She studied African-American Literature with a Jamaican-born lecturer who impressed her with the warmth and vibrancy of her personality. This kindled in Kristina a desire to visit the island.
After two years of teaching English and German in a Swedish high school, the chance came. Kristina spent six weeks in the Mandeville area with Youth With Mission at a summer camp. According to her, after two minutes she felt at home, so much so that she returned for another year.
This time the challenge came through a Missionary Training Programme offered by the Pentecostal Church in Sweden. There was a choice of doing traditional missionary work or social work with an educational component.
Kristina chose the second option. Through the Christian Life Fellowship in Papine she helped to organise a homework centre where students of Papine High School can do their homework either early in the morning or in the afternoon, depending on their school shift. More than 30 students from the University of Technology assist with this programme.
The church also operates a literacy programme using JAMAL material and Kristina is involved in this project two nights a week. Around 17 students attend classes, the majority of whom are men.
Once a week, Kristina also visits the Rema Reading Centre in Trench Town to teach children.
The Swede usually travels by the "Ten dollar buses", or occasionally by route taxis. Kristina loves the life and is delighted her feet are never cold!
The life is very different from that in Sweden, a country inhabited by about nine million people. The capital city, Stockholm, is home to over one million and the University City of Upsala is a 45-minute train ride away.
Trains are the main mode of transport in Sweden, but tickets have to be booked and numbered seats issued three weeks before a journey. But Kristina prefers the informality of the Jamaican buses, which allow her to decide at the last moment where she wants to go.
Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and most Swedes are proud of their King Gustaf and Queen Silvia. The Queen is German and speaks Swedish with a strong accent! Germans flock to Sweden as tourists, pleased by the open landscape and closeness to nature.
Midsummer is appealing to visitors to Sweden who experience the 'midnight sun', especially in the north of the country. To the north, Sweden borders Lapland and the neighbour to the west is Norway. Over the sea to the south is Denmark, while Finland faces the northeastern region.
Recently the composition of the country's population has changed, as many migrants from Turkey; Eritrean and Kurd refugees from the former Yugoslavia, come to find new homes. Once there, they are entitled to a free language course, but because they tend to remain in their own language groups, they take a long time to meet the Swedes.
Once upon a time, most Swedish surnames ended with "son", but this is changing, with the 'new Swedes' having different names.
At one time Sweden had a great tradition of volunteerism especially in the area of sports. Fathers were the coaches of school and club teams and such steady influence kept the young people out of trouble. Now people expect to be paid and are less willing to volunteer services, so juvenile delinquency is on the rise in the cities.
It has become a habit for people to drink until they are drunk especially on a Friday night. And smoking has become a common practice among young people in that country, although in general Swedes are health conscious and smoking is banned in public places.
Wednesday night is referred to as 'Little Saturday' and is the one week night on which Swedes are likely to go out.
During the summer Swedes can be found mainly outdoors where the custom is to walk, hike, fish and barbecue hot dogs in the woods. In general, the food there is less spicy and perhaps more varied than in Jamaica.
Kristina has had to get used to 'Jamaica time' as in Sweden everything begins on time and everything is prepared well in advance.
Kristina is due back in Sweden this summer as she had a year's leave from school. But, if she has her way, she could well return to Jamaica soon.
