Swiss African Forum

There are about 30'000 Africans living in Switzerland, from more than 50 nationalities of origin, speaking several official languages including English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic, in addition to indigenious African languages like Hausa, Swahili, Bambara, Wollof etc, about 1000 different kinds from all over the African continent. Africans in Switzerland live in scattered groups all over the country. Some of them have grouped themselves in various unrecognized Unions and associations, to take care of their immediate needs. No matter where you come from, all Africans here have common problems but lack a common voice. They have common problems, but no lobby, or strong Association or group, which is taking care of uprisings and difficult situations. Some of the problems include the issue of drugs and prostitution, subjective and biased media reports about Africans. These issues are now dominating the political and social spectrum of Switzerland today. There is basically no single day without a debate on various negative topics about Africans. The unfortunate thing in all these is that the Africans themselves are not given chance to contribute in such debates or do I say they pay less attention to them, each person thinking of his own personal problems rather than the general ones affecting all. These boils down to the fact that integration in the society is still one big stumbling block. A lot needs to be done to bring the Africans and their hosts, the Swiss community much closer.