 Helsingin perhehoidon työntekijät Anu Turri ja Niina Marjoniemi pyysivät meitä kuvaamaan, millaista on olla monikulttuurinen sijaisperhe. Tässä meidän ajatuksia:
Olemme helsinkiläinen, monikulttuurinen sijaisperhe. Meillä on omia biologisia lapsia ja sen lisäksi Helsingin lastensuojelu on sijoittanut meille lapsen, joka tarvitsee turvallisen kodin. Meidän perheessä toinen vanhempi puhuu kaikille lapsille suomea ja toinen englantia. Lapset oppivat luonnostaan arjen tiimellyksessä puhumaan molempien vanhempien käyttämiä kieliä. Meidän mielestämme se on suuri rikkaus yhä kansainvälistyvässä maailmassa. Se on lahja, jonka voimme antaa lapsille heidän tulevaisuuttaan varten.
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 Tänään vietetään Euroopan kielten päivää, jota on vietetty 26. syyskuuta vuodesta 2001 lähtien jokainen vuosi. Tavoitteena on kiinnittää huomiota kielten opiskelun arvoon ja Euroopan suureen kulttuuriseen ja kielelliseen monimuotoisuuteen.
Euroopassa ei ole koskaan aiemmin ollut näin paljon vaihtoehtoja työllistyä tai opiskella. Valitettavasti monella kielitaidon puute estää tarttumasta näihin mahdollisuuksiin. Globalisaation ja liiketoiminnan kansainvälistymisen vaikutuksesta ihmiset tarvitsevat yhä enemmän kielitaitoa, digitaalisista käännöspalveluista huolimatta eikä englantikaan ei enää yksinään riitä, vaikka onkin EU:n virallinen kieli. Euroopan mantereella puhutaan satoja eri kieliä. Tämän faktan tunnistaminen, hyödyntäminen ja vaaliminen on elintärkeää.  Finland is becoming a popular immigrant-moving country. It has been declared as the happiest country in the world for the last 5 years, and without a shadow doubt with the quality of life and facilities. Many foreigners moved here from their countries, some are looking for improvement of life, finding a job or to live with their spouse. I came to Finland in 2019 from Pakistan because my husband is a Finnish citizen, so I had to move here. In the first look I liked this country, its beautiful scenery was fascinating. My goal was to find a suitable job for me in this competitive market. I had my master’s degree in social work, and I was expecting that I could find the job easily. However, I was wrong when I tried to find a job, because I found that the main obstacle and problem is language. In other words, I cannot perform a job without learning the Finnish language. I speak only Urdu and English. But how to get into a workplace to practice Finnish language in first place, if Finnish work culture finds resistance to trust immigrants and their lack of fluency when it is not native level?  Finland holds a special place in my and my family’s hearts, probably more so in the past 10 years since my partner started to travel more frequently here for his work. Over this time, we have spent a few short summer breaks in Finland and all three of our son’s when younger have experienced international summer camps here through my partners' employer. We love the outdoor life that Finland has to offer, its people, the quality of life, the wonderful surroundings of its nature and of course being so close to the ocean it’s our heaven! My partner has worked for the same Finnish employer for the past 24 years now, (22 of those spent in the UK). So when at the end of 2019 the opportunity through his new role came to relocate to Finland we knew this was one we could not turn down. Fast-forward to 5th September 2020 and where our rescheduled July flights were suddenly now allowed to go ahead, we finally made it to our new home here in Finland just before the borders closed again a few days later. My partner and I are British, we are classed as immigrants or as an intercultural couple here in Finland. After completing all the required administration for our right of residency permit and myself applying day after day for numerous jobs, I was finally offered a fixed term contract starting January 2021. I was super happy, and suddenly I felt sense of acceptance at least at the time. Now I don’t speak fluent Finnish, have a Finnish name nor do I have a Finnish qualification, but I do know my own worth. I have many transferable skills, valuable experience, and other vocational qualifications to offer. I am honest, loyal, and hardworking, and I was going to make sure that the life I led before entering Finland counted for something.  Moi Kaikille! I am Azra from Malaysia, and this is my story. I was born in Malaysia in an intercultural family. My father was born in Malaysia to a family originating from India and my mother was a Malay with mixed parentage of Indian and Indonesian. I grew up with intercultural dynamics within my family among the three major race groups in Malaysia (Malay, Chinese and Indian). I was well aware of the mixed culture we adopted as part of our family lifestyle. We would dress in Malay traditional clothes and watch and listen to Indian movies and songs, while enjoying sumptuous Chinese food for dinner. My understanding and realization of culture, identity and relationships were enhanced further in my adulthood. Prior to Finland, I had lived in Australia, Vietnam and Ukraine for work reasons and have met many intercultural families among friends and colleagues. I loved making friends with people from all over the world within my work circle, learning usually something new about their culture, heritage and traditions. I visited Finland for the first time in 2014 during the summer and then again in 2018. I was captivated by the beautiful nature and the flexibility of the lifestyle in Finland. I travelled to Rovaniemi and even met with Joulupukki in his hometown. I remember I told Joulupukki what I wished for Christmas, “something special from Finland”. Little did I know, I would meet a really special man from Finland after that. Moving to a new country brings about a multitude of issues, often centred on navigating basic everyday life and integrating into a new environment. Off the top of my head – upon moving to Finland – I had to jump new and confusing bureaucratic hurdles; learn a new language (still in progress!); seek to understand Finnish society and social norms; and, to develop social and work-related networks from the ground-up, to name but a few challenges.
From personal experience and through discussions with other international migrants, there is one thing that benefits the above more than anything else – employment. Though it is not a silver bullet, employment contributes significantly to addressing issues concerning integration. Since swapping my remote working role for regular employment at a Finnish organisation, I have felt more integrated and independent in Finland than ever before. We immigrants want to work. The Finnish government wants us to work. Yet over 25 % of immigrants in Finland are unemployed. Meanwhile, of those that are employed, many are in roles that are not in line with their qualifications or experience. There appears to be a fundamental belief that immigrants are unskilled or that their qualifications or experiences do not translate, or worse, are simply not accepted in the Finnish market.  In Finland, we talk a lot about freedom and human rights, but in increasing multiculturalization, I have experienced narrowed understanding of them. Freedom of speech, or the right to expression, is really something so basic but the understanding of the concept of those issues is complicated from time to time. Also, racism is still a part of our world which is sad to acknowledge.
In my intercultural family we really have many cultures mixed, and we all have many colours. For example, I am lighter skinned, and my husband, on the other hand, is a darker skinned person. We are both Muslims. I am a Muslim woman that prefers to wear a hijab and I made that decision a long time ago, even before considering the possibility of marriage with my husband. Recently, I faced an uncomfortable situation. I was in a market with my husband, and we were in a queue for the cashier. While I was paying for our groceries, I heard a man in the queue after us saying to my husband: “Here in Finland we have women walking around freely.” I felt anger boiling up inside me. I replied: “I walk freely and just as I want to.”  Hello, I’m French, with physical disability since 2009. My French partner and I decided to leave France and come to Finland in March 2019. As we’re both French, living abroad, we’re considered as an intercultural couple. I’d like to share with you my experience as a disabled newcomer to Finland, without speaking Finnish. To begin with, I’m going to talk a bit about the situation before leaving. I was anxious about leaving the country without having information on disability, because I knew how difficult the French procedures related to this subject were. Indeed, in France, it was complicated to be recognized, receive an allowance, and make my right as a disabled person respected. So, what will it be in Finland? Before leaving, we started my information quest. We tried to find information by myself, and one useful website was InfoFinland. We also contacted the French consulate in Finland and the Finnish consulate in France. We didn’t receive a lot of information from both places, but at the Finnish consulate, the person we met really tried to help. She recommended us to go on Invalidiliito website. We didn’t contact them at first, because they were not really answering my questions. As France and Finland belong to E.U., we wanted to know if the documents stating my disability were valid in Finland, because they’re done in respect of European rules. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any information on that before leaving. Of course, doctors and administrations are not the whole life of a disabled person. From a personal perspective, my partner is my main moral support. He helps me with everyday tasks, and I thank him a lot for all he does. He’s not a Finn and doesn’t speak Finnish, so he feels powerless regarding my struggles with administrations, doctors, etc.  When I first moved here, I found some similarities between Finland and my home country of Canada. I felt some sense of familiarity with nature, which makes me feel like I could be in Canada, and the attitude of surviving winter - that all one needs is the proper clothing to get outside. In the summers, people in both Canada and Finland flock to a cabin near a lake, and in winter many people do winter activities like skiing or playing ice hockey. Canadians are stereotypically very polite, and Finns are stereotypically very reserved, but for some reason, the aggressive and physical game of ice hockey attracts players from both countries. Usually, when I travel internationally, people have not heard of my hometown, it’s not a big city and not a tourist destination. However, when I moved to Finland, I realized that people had actually heard of my hometown of Winnipeg! One of Finland’s most famous hockey players, Teemu Selänne made his start in Winnipeg, and more recently, Patrik Laine was drafted to Winnipeg and played there for a few years. There are many things about our personalities that are similar, but we have also discovered many differences as we have gotten to know each other better. So, while we appreciate and enjoy the same things, like watching ice hockey, there are still differences, such as cheering for different teams or our opinion of salmiakki.  If my spouse and I talk about music or movies, cultural references often have to be explained because we did not grow up watching and listening to the same things. Cultural and religious festivals also need to be agreed upon in advance since we both celebrate different ones in our family of origin. Today, May 21st is the International Day for Cultural Diversity, a day on which all kinds of cultures and families are celebrated — especially those that do not resemble typical families in which there is one mom, one dad and everyone shares the same cultural and linguistic backgrounds. When we navigate the realm of families, International Day for Cultural Diversity acknowledges that families can look very different, with family members speaking different languages, sharing different backgrounds, and sometimes having just one parent, or two moms or two dads.
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blogi - blogAjatuksia ja kokemuksia elämästä kahden kulttuurin keskellä.
Reflections and experiences from the life of intercultural families. kategoriat
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Anyone who lives and works in the world of intercultural families and is interested in the topic is welcome to contribute. The threshold for writing should not be too high, and you can write either under your own name or under a pseudonym. Keep in mind that the views and opinions expressed in the blog are those of the authors and do not represent the position of Familia. The everyday life of intercultural families is interesting and writing about it can also open new perspectives for you! Your story matters and helps to raise awareness about the opportunities and challenges within intercultural families. Blog contributions can be submitted by e-mail (info@ familiary.fi) or via our contact form. Final selection and edition of the stories to be published will be conducted by our staff. Welcome to join us! |
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