Norway receives a large number of refugees, immigrants and other asylum seekers, like all other wealthy western european countries,.. from africa (somalia, morocco, sierra leone, etc), iran/iraq/kurds/etc, eastern europe (bosnia, kosovo, serbia, romania,etc) and also asia (tamil people ++). Basically all local counties have at least one reception centre for asylum seekers, where people have to live while they wait for the bureaucracy to process their applications. Some have to spend 5 years or more, just to "finally" get a rejection. Others are lucky and can enter the norwegian society after 1-2 years. (Fact is that more and more are rejected, and hostility towards immigrants is said to be increasing)

Because of that, plus the different backgrounds (sometimes war/persecution), different beliefs and different customs of the 100+ people living almost on top of eachother (usually the centres are old hotels, sometimes with families of 5 living in rooms for two and so on), those centres got a tense athmosphere. and norwegians got many prejudgements towards them.

one day i visited the local one and asked if they needed help. now i teach computers two nights every week, and even if i'm no professional teacher, the course is extremly popular.. There are more people who ask to join the lessons than there are people who i'm currently teaching (i cant teach more than 4 people per night, and there are perhaps 10-20 that want to join)

i understand the situation and people better now (many stereotypes and assumptions had to be erased!), considering that i am ethnic norwegian and the limitations that comes with it in such situations. ive gotten some friends (somalis, bellorussian and a kurd), even if it is purposely on a superficial and shallow level (because of the differences between an experienced norwegian and people who are "newbies". some even intend to stay here only for a short while, until the situation at home has settled and improved).

the manager of the reception centre is extremly grateful, because obviously there are very few who even think about getting close to one (ironically, most norwegians have a strong opinion about these centres). i dont get no pay, but the government will cover my traveling expenses.

now, because of my visit to the asylum centre one day, many girls from my college are going to be tutors for some of the 40+ children there (i asked one girl, and soon there were about 10 volunteers). my initiative also resurrected an ageold co-operation between the asylum centre and my college. they are inviting people from the centre to the college's "open day", and my college is also offering ceramics courses to women at the centre. They're even trying to let a 19 year old boy at the centre enter my college, working hard to get him a scholarship.

(im sure there must be similar things in USA)