Jeg var vred og chokeret og MEGET skuffet over ikke at blive informeret over tingenes tilstand, og jeg ville simpelthen slå de mennesker ihjel, eller dø i forsøget, på at stoppe dem hvis jeg havde været der, glæder mig at de gode drenge havde det på samme måde, sande Guds engle.

Jeg vil stoppe i Mjølnerparken, den egentlige grund – er det gået op for mig – er at det er for langt fra hvor jeg bor, og ikke kan passe det sammen med fuldtidsarbejde og et par ansatte i firmaet. Tilgengæld har jeg genoptaget samarbejdet med Lektier Online projektet, og Hjemmelektiehjælpen, hvor jeg rent faktisk har været koordinator siden i sommer

Jeg hjælper MEGET gerne med IT, og vil fortsat gerne være med i Netværksgruppen, og komme til bestyrelsesmøder og arrangementer.

Kærlig hilsen

Kim

En god veninde, gjorde mig opmærksom på at Undervisningsministeriet har opbygget en hjemmeside, Min Kompetencemappe, eller REALkompetencer.

Hun sendte mig faktisk bare et link i en mail med emnet “se her…” og uden nogen som helst forklaring på hvad det var for en størrelse. Det er sådan hun er, og det kan vi godt lide

Her er et klip fra hjemmesidens forside, som forklarer hvad det er der er tale om.

Min Kompetencemappe er et personligt redskab til alle, som ønsker at få overblik over hvad de kan og har lært gennem tidligere uddannelse, på jobbet og på højskole, aftenskole og i andre aktiviteter i fritiden. Mappen er udviklet af Undervisningsministeriet som en hjælp til, at du kan dokumentere og få anerkendt din realkompetence.

Jeg må indrømme at var skeptisk, kan en statsinstitution virkelig udvikle noget sådan, og findes der ikke masser af privatudviklede profilsider på Internettet?

Men jeg besluttede at prøve det, og jeg er virkelig positivt overrasket. Det er faktisk ret let og intuitivt opbygget, og det er egentlig befriende at der ikke fokuseres på om man faktisk har gennemført en uddannelse, bare at man rent faktisk har deltaget, og hvis man har lært noget, hvilket man næsten altid har, så har man opnået en real kompetence, og det er noget værd, også når man taler med en arbejdsgiver.

Kommende fra en statsinstitution er hjemmesiden også behageligt renset for reklamer og den slags.

Nå, men jeg prøvede det, og efter ret kort tid havde jeg opbygget en simpel kompetencemappe, og nu kom jeg til det jeg fandt sejest:

Udfra sin registrering kan man generere hvad der kaldes en præsentation, her kan man udvælge de områder der er relevante, og få genereret et dokument der indeholder kun disse ting.

D.v.s. at man hurtigt kan generere tilpassede CVer, som er målrettet det job man søger.

Jeg fattede ikke ideen først, men da jeg så resultatet synes jeg faktisk det så ret godt ud, det der kom ud af det.

At bruge Min Kompetencemappe, havde vakt min nysgerrighed, og da jeg havde ikke hørt om projektet før, googlede jeg det lidt (såmænd bare en “jeg føler mig heldig” på “min kompetencemappe” , og fik fat i et statusdokument fra Teknologisk Institut.

Heraf fremgår det, at hjemmesiden er udviklet af Teknologisk i samarbejde med faglige organisationer, kommunale organisationer og uddannelsesinstitutioner.

De uddyber også formålet lidt mere:

Projektets mål er at udvikle et værktøj, der kan understøtte den enkelte borger i afdækning og dokumentation af sine realkompetencer fra arbejdslivet med henblik på få dem vurderet og godkendt i en uddannelsessammenhæng. Værktøjet vil kunne styrke arbejdstageres adgang til uddannelsesmuligheder –især de, som ikke har papir på de formelle adgangskrav. I videnssamfundets og globaliseringens økonomiske konkurrence vil anerkendelse af realkompetence kunne mindske risikoen for marginaliseringen af de udsatte grupper: De lavest uddannede, ledige, indvandrere og nydanskere. Derudover vil værktøjet kunne styrke arbejdstageres mobilitet og karriereudvikling generelt.

Værktøjet vil være et frivilligt støtteredskab for den enkelte.

Se, det lyder jo straks vældig fornuftigt.

Fra mit virke som lærer i Sjakket, kan jeg oplyse at det er meget svært for den type unge netop at udfylde den slags, det er faktisk fantastisk svært at forestille sig hvor svært det er for dem, specielt når det selv falder en uendelig let.

Jeg har selv hjulpet denne type unge med at få udfyldt CVer, men med “Min Kompetencemappes” værktøj vurderer jeg at det, i tæt samarbejde med en vejleder, nu bliver meget lettere – ja faktisk muligt – for dem at sende professionelt udseende CVer i forbindelse med en job- eller uddannelsessøgnings situation.

Det betyder at det kan synliggøres for arbejdsgiveren, og mindst lige så vigtige for den unge selv, at den unge faktisk har nogle reelle kompetencer, på trods af manglende papirer

Jeg kan kun opfordre alle der arbejder med unge marginaliseringstruede til at hjælpe dem med at få udfyldt en Kompetencemappe, det er kun første gang det er besværligt, herefter har den unge et virkelig nyttigt værktøj i sin begrænsede værktøjskasse.

Tillykke til Undervisningsministeriet med et vel gennemført og relevant IT-projekt.

ps. Ikke helt styr på teknikken

Desværre oplevede jeg nogle stabilitetsproblemer, og det betyder desværre at jeg i skrivende stund ikke kan sende et link til en af mine færdige præsentationer , så i selv kan se at jeg rent faktisk har nogle reelle kompetencer, på trods af at jeg er en autodidakt drop-out , så i må tage mit ord for at jeg rent faktisk besidder nogle real kompetencer…

Hjemmesiden er nede på et ret så irriterende måde, hvilket betyder at der bare intet sker når man prøver at logge på – ingen fejlmeddelelse eller noget, man føres bare tilbage til startsiden.

Først troede jeg det var fordi mit password var forkert, så jeg bad om at få et tilsendt. Dette resulterede i at jeg fik et stack-dump fra en crashet .NET applikation.

Det var da ganske sjovt, fordi det hvoraf fremgik at “Min Kompetencemappe” benytter en Oracle Database.

Så vidt jeg kunne vurdere skyldes fejlen, som jeg ikke kan genskabe, en mistet forbindelse til Oracle Databasen, og den slags fejl opstår som regel når serveren eller applikationen har været genstartet, eller ikke været i brug i længere tid. Det kan også ske hvis man løber tør for ledige forbindelser til databasen, Oracle er lettere restriktiv på dette punkt, og det er ikke altid .NET udviklere er opmærksomme på dette, da de er vant til at arbejde med SQL Server.

Det gav mig også en indsigt i at der valgt en relativt fornuftig arkitektur, da forsiden kan vises selv om der ikke er adgang til databasen, det var først da jeg forsøgte at foretage login at der “intet skete”.

Undervisningsministeriet skal vist sætte deres IT folk til at kigge i logfiler

Jeg har brugt Firefox et par uger, det har været en sjov oplevelse, det kedelige var at jeg ikke kunne få mine faneblade tilbage, når jeg havde slukket for min computer. Men i mellemtiden hørte jeg at der var kommet en ny version af Firefox, og den har jeg lige hentet ned til min computer. Jeg har ikke haft lyst til at lukke mine faneblade, men så ved et uheld gik min strøm mens jeg sad og arbejdede med min midt i min arbejdstid, så jeg var helt ude af den, men heldigvis havde jeg husket at gemme dokumenterne, men hvad skete der med min Internet browser. Så startede jeg min computer årh heldigvis spurgte Firefox mig om jeg vil gendanne den gamle session eller starte en ny session, så kom smilet tilbage i mit ansigte.

Tak til Bilal fra http://www.bilalameen.info.

For andre eksempler på kreativ problemløsning kig her: Barometerhistorien.

YUMMY YUMMY I WANT WII IN MY TUMMY!!!

I’m ordering a classset!

en anden:
23.39

hva’

Kim Bach کیم پاک:
23.40

great prøv at udtale gr8 på engelsk!

en anden:
23.40

ok

42:29
er det også opensource

43:09
=?

Kim Bach کیم پاک:
23.47

nej det er et ord

47:41
LOL priceless

en anden:
23.47

ord=

47:44
`

Dansk Flygtningehjælp (The Danish Refugee Council), has just published the latest issue of Frivilligbladet (The Volunteer Post). This time they have a piece on our trip to Ringkøbing in the western part of Denmark, and I’m very proud to be featured in it.

Besides the fact that the article basically is an interview with yours truly, it’s also accompanied by pictures taken by me. I’m really, really proud and humbled by this.

Since the article is in Danish, I’m hereby publishing an English language translation.

FROM MJØLNERPARKEN TO WESTERN JUTLAND
Frivilligbladet Volume 3, 2006, written by Bente Bækgaard

It’s a long distance from Mjølnerparken in Copenhagen to Western Jutland (the main peninsula of Denmark). Despite that fact a group of volunteers from Mjølnerparken had success going on a trip with 21 children to Hee near Ringkøbing. The trip became a success, in part because it was planned in close co-operation with the volunteer group in Ringkøbing as well as local partners.

Sea, sun and blue skies. 42 brown legs from Mjølnerparken are streaking across the sandy dunes and into the roaring North Sea. In the background is a group of volunteers. They’re also from Mjølnerparken. They’re the organisers of the vacation trip to Western Jutland, aided by two consultants, the volunteers from Ringkøbing and local partners from Mjølnerparken.

Co-operation

“The idea behind the trip surfaced after the yearly assembly in April, where our volunteer consultant had talked to the volunteers in Ringkøbing about the possibility of arranging a vacation trip. We felt that that was a great idea, that we wanted to help realising.” says Kim Bach, who has acted as the co-ordinator of the trip.

Shortly after the yearly assembly of the volunteers in April, he and seven other volunteers from the group in Mjølnerparken contacted the group in Ringkøbing. And the planning of the vacation trip had started.

Aid from the group in Ringkøbing

The alliance with the group of volunteers from Ringkøbing turned out to be a huge asset for the volunteers from Mjølnerparken. The volunteers didn’t have much previous knowledge of the possibilities in the western part of Jutland, so at that point the local partner came to the rescue: “It was a great help having some locals to co-operate with. They have much more knowledge of the area than we do, and besides that, they also know our target group. This means that they quickly can point us in a direction that is interesting for us”, says Kim Bach.

The volunteers from Ringkøbing helped us locate a place to stay, and to find activities for the children. To top this, the volunteers from western Jutland arranged that the children from Mjølnerparken, got access to the control tower in the harbour in Hvide Sande, and they saw how the sluice that give boats access to the harbour is controlled. The local contacts seems to be able to open sluice gates as well.

Klub 36

One thing that the volunteers were aware of, after deciding to go through with the project: it will become a challenge to get the children to sign up for the trip.

In order to avoid the classical horror of volunteer work: that no one shows up, the volunteers chose to co-operate with Klub 36, a local club in Mjølnerparken: “We chose to work with Klub 36, because they have a strong network in Mjølnerparken and a good contact with the parents of the children, there’s no doubt that the many sign-ups also can be attributed to the fact that two workers from Klub 36 took part in the trip, and that the invitations were circulated in their network”, says Kim Bach. He adds that the group of volunteers also leveraged another offer from the group, the volunteers that offer private tutoring in the private homes of the children, “hjemmelektiehjælpen”. “The benefit of our private tutoring offer is that the volunteers have a close relationship with the parents of the children, and the parents are much more inclined to permit their children to take part, if they know the people behind”, Kim Bach adds.

The strategy of the volunteers paid off. The sign-ups poured in, and the volunteers had to create a waiting-list. The only drawback of the strategy was, according to Kim Bach, that the group of children weren’t as mixed as we originally had envisioned: “We would have like to have more children of Danish ethnicity to take part in the trip, but we didn’t succeed,” Kim Bach says and adds, that the volunteers next year will do more to gather a more ethnically mixed group.

Volunteer work in rural areas

It turned out that the trip to Western Jutland did more than open the eyes of the children. The volunteers that took part in the trip, also discovered how the volunteers in rural areas work: “Through the co-operation with the group of volunteers in Ringkøbing, we discovered the great differences between volunteer integration work in different parts of Denmark. It’s my impression that the volunteers in Ringkøbing spends a lot of time doing volunteer work. “Our” volunteers don’t have that much time. On top of that the volunteers in rural areas has a much closer co-operation with the local authorities. While we were in the Western Jutland, a number of Burmese refugees arrived, to be settled in Ringkøbing. It was interesting to hear, how the authorities involve the volunteers in that task. “We don’t do things like that at all” says Kim Bach.

This time she had to talk about “problems in society”, she had written cue-cards about pollution, and how bad it is that we’re polluting the oceans, but the empty cue-card had the headline “Religion” written on it.

“Do you think I know something about that subject” I asked? She nodded “Yes”.

She started out by acknowledging that there are more similarities than differences between Christianity and Islam, and once again the number one issue Muslims have with Christianity surfaced, the fact the Jesus, alav ha-shalom, is claimed to be the “son of God”, well since God or Allah, is “one”, this is blasphemy. My point was once again that we’re all children, and that our relationship with the Creator is much akin to the relationship we have with our parents, and that I believe that that was what Jesus meant (I feel that that is expressed by one of the names of God: Al-Wadud (الودود) The Loving, the Kind One).

We’ll after touching the subject of the prophet Muhammad “Salla Allahu ‘Alaihi Wa Sallam” cartoons, she ended up with two cue-cards, focusing on tolerance and understanding as ways to avoid problems due to religion. The “Nudansk Ordbog” actually lists “Understanding other cultures” as a way to create tolerance.

Part of the assignment was to describe an ideal party – the “happy” party. I should get the 10 misson statements she listed, but here’s some important ones I remember:

• Everybody should have a job
• People shouldn’t annoy each other
• It should not be allowed to beat children
• The Police shouldn’t beat on people

I think the “happy” party will get my vote.

Finally she had a Math problem, and it included triangulation: You know the length of one side, and the three angles, now the job was to determine the middle normal! I believe that it’s quite simple to calculate – even without knowledge of trigonometry, I just couldn’t remember the formula, so after some attempts at analysis, I decided to do a simple calculation of the fractions, by measuring the drawing in the textbook.

One side of the triangle was 12 meters, I measured it to be 2,7 centimetres, so the unit is 4,44 meters/centimetre. I then measured the middle normal and got 5,2 centimetres yielding 23,11 meters.

We do need Internet access in the “classroom”, Wikipedia has the solution, but it seems that you do need knowledge of trigonometry, which she doesn’t have as far as I know. It might be that my approach was the correct one!

The 13 year old boy had an assignment where he was supposed to put into context World-war 2, The Battle for Dybbøl Mølle, Christian the 4th and 9-11 none the less. Phew! THAT triggered me!

The context was “what can you learn from history, and how do you avoid history from repeating it self” (or “man bliver klog af skade – great to hear such a phrase from a 13-year old), so “past in relation to future”. The boy was interested in the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, Star Wars or Ronald Raygun’s wet dream), that’s the future! Well that wouldn’t have stopped Mohammad Atta was my point. And I also remembered the words (not literal) of Mikhail Gorbachew, “if they build it we’ll just throw a stone at it!”.

It actually turned out that the 4 historic event are more closely connected than you might expect. I didn’t discover this until I had made a history 101 (or 911) lecture, of history as I see it.

The US entered World-war 2 after Pearl Harbour, 9-11 was a new Pearl Harbour. 9-11 triggered the “war on terror” and that is somewhat akin to World-war 2, since it keeps provoking images of the “next Hitler”, learning from history eh’? Peace in our time?

Denmark lost Schleswig-Holstein after Dybbøl Mølle and it was the final nail in the coffin for the dreams of a Danish Empire, that Christian the 4 had.

Denmark regained some of the land lost after Dybbøl Mølle, as an indirect result of the peace treaty of Versailles, that eventually was a pivotal point in triggering World-war 2, since it left the German economy in shambles, resulting in the likes of Hitler coming out of the woodwork, some see the same happening today.

Everything is connected, as James Burke, one of my favourite authors, always points out.

Poor kid, he didn’t really get any homework done, but I ended up having a fantastic discussion with his mother. The view Muslims has of 9-11 is “somewhat different” from mine. They do seem to see a huge conspiracy, which is not as far fetched as it might seem. The truth has been a major casualty of the war on terror.

One of the children had to do an assignment on “Janteloven” (the “10 Commandments of Jante”), she’s attending a private school, and I’m not sure they’re using the same materials in public school.

She was asked to put the “Commandments” into a personal context, and also to formulate a list that is the opposite of the “Commandments”.

Like I wrote in a previous post (Missed the Alicia Keys concert), the “Commandments” are deeply rooted in Danish culture, and they’ve had a tremendous impact on my life. Basically “Jante” is stating that you’re “worthless” as an individual. It’s an extremely negative way of thinking.

The most impressive was that the child answered that she’d never personally experienced the Commandment #9: “You shall not believe that anyone cares about you!”. I told her, that if that’s true, please, please teach us! We can learn so much from You then. On the other hand: it was a bit “scary” that she actually had personal experiences with most of the commandments.

We also agreed that we could teach each other a lot. She taught me some Arabic, and told me that my Arabic sounded Egyptian, true true, I’m using “Dr. Pimsleurs: Egyptian Arabic” language lessons to learn Arabic. Shokoron anise.

BTW she started out by asking “do you know who formulated the “commandments” of Jante”. My comment was that everybody knows that, it’s common knowledge…Well obviously not, my co-tutor, she’s in her late 30ies, didn’t!

But I’m impressed by the quality of the teaching this child is receiving, makes my heart jump with joy. I’m, however, once again not impressed by the quality of some of the educational materials used in the lower grades in public school, some of the children had to do “iconic” cross-words, and some of the pictures were of such a low quality that even I couldn’t make out what it was. And some of the pictures are of things no one hardly uses anymore, like suspenders!

But what a rewarding day!