"We can divide people in thousands of ways, or not divide them at all"

Last autumn I started a new journey studying social services and community development work at Diaconia University of Applied Sciences. At the first day in Järvenpää campus I drove to school with my bike and was anxious to meet all my new classmates. When I stepped inside our classroom in time I found seven Finnish students, one guy organizing his laptop and a few other students who looked like African and Asian. I went to sit next to Finnish girls because that felt safe and said hi to them. I remember to be very aware of every move I make and not to smile any guys from abroad. They might think I’m flirting. In the next 15minutes half of the class was present and half still missing. I was thinking “this is the african time”. Three teachers were at the front, one white woman, white man and a black man. We started with creating a world map into the classroom and moving in that map to places where we come from, where we love to be and where we would like to travel.  Our study path together had started and after one month the whole group of 15 nationalities was together. 

Some of our group DSS-C33 students..

Very soon I got to know that our foreign teacher was Dennis from Tanzania. I also learned that there is no African time, but individuals who some come late some in time. Well, not all men from abroad flirt either. New Years I spent with some of my classmates eating Nepalese food and building snow giraffs, llamas and hulks, also we end up partying with some other students. Few weeks ago I took my Ugandan friend to ice-skate for his first time. I had fun and by the time my toes were freezing he still asked me to give some more minutes. Later Julius and I taught Finnish to our Nepalese classmate Laxmi. 

Ice-skating with my Ugandan fellow Yasin.

Joint seminar with Diak, Metropolia and Laurea.

During the first term I have learned much about different cultures, politics, religions, Finnish society and social policies, but I have also learned that no matter where we come from, we always find some similarities in our behavior and no matter 
where we go we will always adjust the new environment and make it our own one way or another. I have been privileged to follow how my immigrant classmates have been adopting the Finnish mentality and weather. I underestimated them. Asmara wakes up in a morning and goes out for an hour walk. Subash and Abdi puts on ice-skates and go around the rink falling and getting up again. Laxmi translated an article about my grandmother from Finnish to English. Shilpa and Amy wake up every morning 5am to go for work before school. Alejandro drives around the lake with a bicycle at winter time. Raju was just chosen to become the youth leader in multicultural Rinki program, which purpose is to bring Finnish and immigrant youth together. Despite they all face many problems here, they still keep on going and trying their best. This is first winter when I have learned to live and have fun and respect what we have here. I couldn’t have done it without my schoolmates. They have made me to see my home country with a new eyes and an open-minded attitude.

One group made a superfunny song about Finland and after we had a crazy party in classroom at 4pm @Joint seminar, Diak

Beautiful frozen lake Tuusula and crazy-amazing girls Milli & Miriam from my class.

Our second semester started a week ago. On Tuesday we had a lecture from Kathy Gau, who was born in Minnesota but ended up staying in Swaziland permanent. During the lecture Kathy taught us many important things what it comes to community development. But most important message she gave us through a simple game. She asked ten students to come in front and started to divide us. First she divided us to girls and boys, then to tall and short ones, finally to students wearing white and students not wearing white. Then she asked if we understood her idea: “We can divide people in thousands of ways, or not divide them at all.”

My classmate Isaac and me.

Umayya Abu-Hanna wrote an article three weeks ago in which she was criticizing the life of an immigrant in Finland from her point of view. Iltalehti responded with an article where they listed all things that Abu-Hanna has got from Finland and how Finland, in paper, has been helping her and letting her to climb stairs in society. Both articles raised a lot of discussion about the relationship between Finns and immigrants. It is very true that Finnish society has given many opportunities for Abu-Hanna, but it does not remove the fact that she was unhappy here and felt this environment unpleasant for her daughter.  When talking about life of an immigrant in Finland, it is not about what Finland offers for free, like education and health services. It is the everyday life when person is walking at streets and being stared at, asking for a job opportunities and being rejected without an honest reason or doing something familiar to his/her own culture and being told it is wrong. 

Yasin(Uganda) making Kikomando from chappaties and chicken.

Corey(California) trying to have a diet from coke and pizza.

Cindy(Canada) bringing candy for us in a costume on Halloween.

In Finland there seems to be this unwritten rule for immigrants: as long as you respect Finnish culture more than your own and want to become like Finns and start behaving like Finns, you are accepted. That is where we go wrong. Globalization and multiculturalism do not only mean that some people are free to move, it also means that countries are becoming more various in cultures. And through that many cultures mix with each other and become one. That is calling for a change in people’s attitudes and indifference and acceptance towards differences between people. Out from our cultural habits, race, gender, age, we are all the same and should not be categorized by any scale. We are all part of one group called human race.

Me, Shilpa and Asmara exploring Kerava. (photo by: Subash)

Cultural evening @ multicultural Rinki, Kalliolan Setlementti.

Issues with immigration will never become simple, but recommend people to learn from one another. There is much that immigrants can learn from Finnish mentality, but there is also very interesting package of cultural habits, stories and experiences that immigrants could share with locals. Finland is a great country, but no country is perfect. A simple manner like greeting seems to be forgotten and turn into a long stare. When a Zambian student then gives back a smile and breezy “moi”, person either gets confused or smiles back shyly. 

Kathy Gau gave us a paper with 25 tips for Peace Corps volunteers who go to Swaziland and work for her organization. Because I’m now planning to do my placement there, I’ll end with few of my favorite tips. Though these tips are meant for volunteers, they might as well work in a process of learning how to communicate between two cultures unknown to each other. 

*If you want to change the world, change yourself.

*Don’t expect a smooth ride.

*There is no “us and them”.

*It doesn’t matter how right you think you are.

*Pay attention to the way you feel when you spend time judging.

*Build open, sincere dialogue. Be sincere.

*Understand that your frustration is about you.

*Do not give up and do not give in.

The magnificent surreal landscape at Lake Tuusula, Järvenpää.

Peace and Happiness, Niina Namaganda