Hello everybody! I’m Melis, a graphic designer from Istanbul, Turkey. I started volunteering for Familia last year soon after I joined the Finnish language course of the organization. I love how Familia supports and helps us to get to know about diverse families and cultures in Finland. I myself like Finnish culture and Finland a lot. Even though I only visited Helsinki once, It felt very welcoming with the multi-cultural structure and comfort that I saw in peoples face. I’m still learning a lot about Finnish culture; and hearing from the diverse people living in Finland, I understand more and more everyday. That’s why I feel very lucky to be a part of this community as a foreigner myself:) ​

It is holiday season, and this time of the year is a perfect occasion to put into practice the intercultural richness of our family. My husband is from Finland, and I am from Nicaragua. Together we are raising a trilingual 4-year-old girl who has big expectations for Christmas. But how do we reconcile two cultures in a festive tone? Christmas is not always nice and fun, but this blog is a photography of our life situation in December 2022, and if you relate to it, you might also be in an intercultural family.
              
Christmas started early with a generous amount of snow that fell and never went away. Back home there is no snow ever, so I find amusing to see my daughter play and eat the snow that announces that Christmas is near. A Christmas calendar with little chocolates to open day by day is a new experience for me: this time my daughter chose herself the type of calendar she wanted to have.

Our family playlist includes songs such as “El burrito Sabanero”, “Last Christmas” and “Tonttujen jouluyö Tip Tap (Soihdut sammuu)”. My daughter makes her own version of the lyrics in Spanish, Finnish and English, mixing all the songs. Yes, Christmas carols are part of our repertoire and that is where things get a bit intercultural.

Have you heard about children's rights on November20th? No?  Then let me tell you a little about it! 

Their very origins go back to the US in 1857, from a pastor who appreciated children a lot, and facilitated the first “rose day”. This tradition later changed to children's day. In December 1954, the United Nations General Assembly invited all countries of the world to establish the Children’s Day, to make the rights of children visible, to exchange and promote understanding towards children, the need of their welfare, and start actions to promote the vision and goals of the UN Charter.

In Familia, one of the many things we do to honor this day is promoting the rights of multilingual families and their children.​

This year the world mental health day falls on the 10.10.22 and the theme is “Make mental health and well-being a priority for all”. What does it mean to all of us, especially intercultural families who have challenges integrating to a new society?  Mental health issues are on the rise especially during and after the Covid-19 pandemic crisis which affected many people globally where they had to be confined to homes, lost their main source of incomes, lost their loved ones and a complete shutdown in their everyday lives. When Covid-19 struck, we had to learn to fast track to deal with mental health and wellbeing issues all of a sudden , unprepared like a bunch of kindergarten children on the first day of school. I am no exception to them. Here is my transition story moving from a big city, Kuala Lumpur to a quiet town of Sipoo, 30 km east of Helsinki a year ago.

I come from an intercultural family where my Finnish husband speaks Swedish and Finnish; and on my side, my mother tongue is Cantonese and I learned Bahasa Malay, English and Mandarin in my formative school years. Our common household language is English with our children.

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.
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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. 

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. 
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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.  

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. 
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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. 
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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.
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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.”