| dc.description.abstract | Summer 2015. While the beaches of Greek islands received boat after boat
of refugees, a large part of the space of the central station in Copenhagen
was occupied by young Danish volunteers who distributed sandwiches,
drinks, blankets, and second-hand clothes to crowds of people on the
move, most fleeing wars in Syria and Afghanistan. Locals bought train
and bus tickets so the travellers could continue their journey onwards to
Sweden and beyond. Across the strait forming the Swedish–Danish border,
the Sound (hereafter Öresund), in Malmö, Swedish volunteers were doing
the same as their Danish counterparts. Only a few weeks later did Malmö
municipality and the local branch of the Swedish Migration Agency send
some of their employees to meet those who were on the move. The asylum
seekers were slowly registered and accommodated by different authorities.
After their encounters with police and border patrol agents, they met case-
workers from the Migration Agency, healthcare professionals for medical
check-ups, employees and managers from refugee camps, schoolteachers
for their children, and many more representatives of the welfare state.
Those encounters were to shape and form their experiences from that point
onwards. | |
