Bjarne, Intern at Globe Aroma, Erasmus University Brussels

What is your name and position at Globe Aroma?

Today is the last day of my internship, so I’m an intern. I study Social Work at Erasmus.

Why do you choose Globe Aroma as your internship organization?

Because I’d like to experience the work field with a community of refugees and people who don’t have papers, and they come to an organization like Globe Aroma, and I feel that it can teach me a lot.

In your months with Globe Aroma, what is the most important learning experience that you have acquired?

I’ve learned a lot this month but the most needed thing is to be patience with people. Sometimes they don’t speak English or French but you still have to communicate so that’s difficult.

What do you think is the strength of Globe Aroma?

Globe Aroma is like coming home—there’s a lot of confidence in the relationship that people who come here and people who work here have, and that people feel safe here. I think that’s the most important thing for them.

Can you explain the concept of feeling ‘safe’?

A lot of organizations would ask the visitors whether they have papers—that’s not what we do here. We accept them for who they are, because there are musicians who can play, sometimes guitar, piano… so we don’t ask about papers.

For you, why is it so bad to ask about papers?

In my eyes, if you ask whether they have papers or not, it’s hard for them because they have been through a lot. Hard, as in, to tell us why they had to run from their country, they have to tell you the bad experiences.

So you agree with this policy? Why?

Yes, I agree. Some people don’t, some people do, but I agree because you have to take them as they are and papers are not going to change that, in my eyes.