Uncertainty, Existential Immobility and Well-Being: Experiences of Women Seeking Asylum in Norway
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Psychosocial Well-Being and Existential Immobility
1.2. Context and Background
2. Methodology
2.1. Uncertainty, Existential Immobility and Well-Being in the Asylum Centre
2.1.1. Long Waits and Uncertainty
“The worst thing in Norway is they do not tell you that you will get it (the answer to the asylum application) in three months, in one year or in one and half years. They just say: ‘Wait’. It is not something you can live with easily”.(Maryam)
“I have been here now for three years. I waited one year until I had the interview, after that they told me I would only wait a few months because I already waited a year. I waited six months. I waited more. One year and eight months afterwards they gave me an answer. Other refugees that had come after me, they left the asylum centre before me. This is bad for your mental health, it adds to your previous problem, this is very hard”.(Nayyat)
2.1.2. Limitations to Engage in Meaningful Activities
“Here, there is nothing else than to eat and sleep. (…) I became so exhausted, so tired, I have been so much time in this room [in the asylum centre]. I cried; I am alone. During a long time, I did not go to class, I had no one to talk to, I was depressed. I am also a human that has feelings … and I think too much. I began to think about my family, how they died, what happened. I did not have anything to do, so I began to remember things”.(Nousaiba)
“I don’t do anything, if I don’t have school (Norwegian lessons), there is nothing to do. I had school for example last week Tuesday. On Wednesday I have swimming. On Thursday I have also school but nothing else. Sometimes if I am busy, I have these things it will be a busy week, three things in three days, so many! (uses an ironic tone). But now I don’t have anything this week only Thursday, Tuesday I don’t have school, so nothing else”.(Maryam)
“I have been here for almost two years. I stopped dreaming for six months (…) six months ago or a year ago, if the country had given me a residence permit, I could have been a stronger person psychologically. I would have tried harder to learn the language”.(Pınar)
“I love studying and knitting but with time you say what is the point? You know? There is nothing. You don’t have an answer, you think all kind of thoughts, you don’t know what will happen to your future so what is the point of doing these things”.(Nayyat)
2.1.3. Financial Limitations and Forced Spatial (Im)mobility
“When I want to go to see my sibling (living in another part of Norway) I have to ask the office and they send the paper to UDI and they will think about why I have to go to see my sibling, if it’s not a good reason they say no, so you… (laughs nervously) you feel like a baby, like I have to take the answer from my father and mother…it’s difficult”.(Yara)
“While I was in class in the other asylum centre, we got the news that the camp was going to close. That is the worst thing you can do to asylum seekers. It is already hard enough to get used to one place. And they will tell you: ‘You will go away from here too’”.(Pınar)
2.1.4. Wasted Time
“Maybe it [the wasted time in the asylum centre] will affect [me in the future], because already you are older now, three years have passed, you could have been studying and finish your studies so many things I could have done, they are gone already, so maybe, you don’t know, this is the hard things in the mottak (asylum centre), you never forget it. I can’t forget it, ever”.(Nayyat)
3. Conclusions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Willmann-Robleda, Z. Uncertainty, Existential Immobility and Well-Being: Experiences of Women Seeking Asylum in Norway. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 15239. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215239
Willmann-Robleda Z. Uncertainty, Existential Immobility and Well-Being: Experiences of Women Seeking Asylum in Norway. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(22):15239. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215239
Chicago/Turabian StyleWillmann-Robleda, Zubia. 2022. "Uncertainty, Existential Immobility and Well-Being: Experiences of Women Seeking Asylum in Norway" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 22: 15239. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215239