Thread by @AndreiaSaveSwe

Today was the day I left Sweden. It has been a day full of emotions, both positive ones and negative ones. It is, for me, the end of an era.

(Thread) nrk.no/urix/koronakti…

When I came to Sweden 4 and a half years ago, the only things I knew about that country were the stereotypes. I now understand that I was fooled by Sverigebilden (the image of Sweden). I went there with all the hopes & dreams of a 22 year old wanting to build a good life...

In the beginning I was very satisfied. Stockholm is beautiful, the nature is amazing, the Swedish summers and even the winters were very exotic for me. I learned the language, found jobs & tried my best to get integrated.

It wasn't always easy, since I was used to the portuguese culture where people are more open. I felt the swedes were too reserved & even somehow scared of each other. But I saw the positive sides: they were respectful, good citizens, calm & non-dramatic.

When Covid came, everything changed for me. From one day to another, the country that I was so proud to call my new home, was taking unexplainable decisions related to Covid19. First I felt maybe the problem was just that the reaction was slow. I thought maybe it would get better

But it didn't. Everywhere I looked, dangerous things were being done. People were required to work even though they lived with someone infected. Ppl in elderly care homes were working without PPE. Schools weren't taking nearly enough preventive measures.

People were supposed to keep distance & stay home when sick. But every single day I saw people not keeping any distance whatsoever & going around coughing all over the place. Every time I took the bus to go to work, it felt like another punch in the stomach.

I was the only one wearing a mask (during the first wave) and all I wanted to do was scream out to people: "wake up, protect yourselves!". I felt like I was taking a zombie bus every day. All I could think about the people around me was how much they were being fooled.

Every day at work at the preschool, I met dozens of people, without any protection. Masks were the biggest taboo you can think of. No one dared to even talk about it. We were forced to take care of kids who had parents with Covid symptoms or even had confirmed infection.

One day I had enough & quit. I have never regretted that decision. But I think constantly about my colleagues & everyone else in Sweden, who puts their health & life at risk every single day at workplaces that are not safe, purely because some people refuse to change guidelines.

I have been planning to move away from Sweden for a long time. I didn't feel safe or happy there. But things take time & especially during a pandemic, problems kept preventing me from taking the step to move.

Little did I know that I would be in Sweden long enough to start receiving threatening letters in the mail.
I was used to hate speech online, I developed a thick skin to it, but seeing envelopes adressed to you is a different story.

I thought I was moving away from Sweden because I didn't feel happy & satisfied with my life there anymore, but unfortunately it turned into more than that. After Sveriges Radio article about MEWAS, threats & hate both by mail & other ways started to come.

If someone would tell me that this would happen, when I moved to Sweden, I wouldn't believe it at all. That is not the image I had of Sweden. I never thought that there was such a silence culture & oppression of people who have different opinions.

I now understand much more about the Swedish culture. It has positive sides but, for me personally, it doesn't compensate the negative sides of it.

There is very little fighting spirit, people are scared of speaking up & there is a real danger for people who dare to be inconvenient. It's a perfect country for people ready to agree on everything without questioning it. But for others, I wouldn't recommend it.

I am only halfway home and I already feel like a world apart from Sweden. It feels like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. Getting tears in my eyes when I lifted off Swedish soil made me understand just how much the past year has affected me

To all of you amazing people who have been fighting alongside me against Sweden's Covid strategy, I wanna say that I keep you all in my heart. I might have left Sweden but I won't leave you and the fight we have started. Not until there is justice.