Who am I?

Hello my name is Edith from Rwanda living in Austria since 1997. I’m a sociologist and journeyed to Austria in 1997.

For me the big challenge was to learn and understand the foreign language, to understand the people and how they deal with each other. It made me curious!For me the big challenge was to learn and understand the foreign language, to understand the people and how they deal with each other. It made me curious!

Invest in education

I was born in Rwanda. Due to the civil war in 1994 the whole family had to flee. It took us three years to find a new secure place. I came to Austria, where my sister lived, on a student visa and started to study Sociology. My strategy to overcome the difficulties I faced, which included homesickness, was to be curious, to invest in building friendships and to get to know people from my home country. I suggest that other migrant women looking to integrate should try to learn the language, invest in their education, use available opportunities, use their networks, seek out new information and connect with people from outside of their community. Today, I lead the Woman's Cafe of Frauenservice, which holds many different events for (migrant) women, and I coach migrant women in single sessions.

To know how the school system, the healthsystem and social system in the new country are working is the most important thing.