Familia 35V

​ 
Volunteering has been a part of my life since childhood. Back then though, most “volunteering” was done because it was a requirement, through school, church, club scouts, etc. However, the more I volunteered, the more I enjoyed it and saw the value it brought to myself and others. When I began my professional life after school, I became involved in many different organizations where I volunteered in teaching, advocacy, outreach, and various fundraising events. I was meeting lots of new friends and acquaintances at these events and often invited others to join; spreading the joy of volunteering as much as I could.
 
When I moved to Finland, I approached the move with optimism and like it was an adventure. As I embarked on this new chapter in my life, I had many ideas about how I would try to build a new existence. I honestly intended to simplify things as much as possible and focus on just a few interests (in particular, music and sharing about my experiences in Finland through social media). But as they say, life is what happens when you’re busy making plans, and the reality of my situation did not go as intended… 

To Noora Hammar, Rovaniemi was the place where she gained her first real exposure to diversity. She grew up in Salo- a busy small city located in the Southwest Finland region.  

Her interest in Public Law and Human Rights motivated her to apply for an internship at the European Parliament in Brussels. “This internship rendered me with the skills to develop an intercultural competence first hand” she said of her first working experience abroad. She completed her bachelor’s degree in public law from University of Lapland while interning in Brussels.  When her internship ended, Noora continued as a Parliamentary Assistant for the Vice-Chair of the Development Committee in the European Parliament, where she focused on sexual rights, women and children’s rights, and migration. In 2015, she left her position in the European parliament to focus on her master’s thesis for University of Lapland, where she graduated in 2016.

My name is Paola, I was born in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico in 1979, a birth that was somewhat chaotic for my beautiful mother since she had to be hospitalized three months before because I already wanted to be born to see the world, although my mother says that in the end, it was like a much-needed calm and quiet vacation. I currently live in Somero, a small city situated in Southwest Finland coastal area.

​I never had in mind to make a home outside of Mexico, despite the problems that are happening today in my country. However, the chosen path has led me on an adventure where I live with migration and the experience of being an immigrant in a country very different from mine; an adventure that I took with my eyes closed and without prior research. I had no idea how challenging it could be, but in August 2019 my daughter and I moved to Finland. 

​Back in the 1980s, integration and cross-cultural interaction were promoted in a remarkably different reality than today. There were about 20,000 foreigners in Finland who had come to Finland for marriage, study, work, and later also as refugees. In Finland, the state or municipalities had not yet organized the readiness to receive people from different cultures, whose contacts with Finns were almost non-existent. At that time, the unique richness that that group of people brought to Finland or their need to participate in Finnish everyday life was rarely understood. Overall, society did not understand the importance of integration. The desire to do something about the situation and enable natural coexistence between Finns and those who moved to Finland was initially born in the circle of private people.