What do the volunteers experience while volunteering abroad – in Finland and elsewhere? Here are a few greetings from Maailmanvaihto’s volunteers!
The video is a part of the project ”Calling Youth to Action in a Global Visibility Drive” (Erasmus+ Key Action 2) which aims to promote the value of volunteering in terms of benefits to the volunteers and host organisations: www.icye.org/calling-youth
Would you like to practice speaking in Spanish or Finnish...
Hey, are you living in Finland, between 18 and 30...
Pick a word, share a memory! Volunteers and voluntary workplaces of Maailmanvaihto share their memories on volunteering in Finland for for 6–12 months.
”While working in a primary school I have discovered how easily one can use the powers of smiling. Just this helps to make the atmosphere more comfortable and increases the motivation of everyone.” – Leonard Willen from Germany volunteers in a school in Finland
”When I started volunteering I had many questions in my mind about the Finnish culture and people. During the voluntary year I have learned many things about living in Finland. Some of them I have found surprising. I have got to know sauna, rye bread, winter, summer, the Northern lights, Lapland, food habits, the Finnish societal system, schools and working life.” – Venkateswarlu Banda from India volunteers in a vocational college in Finland
”I have learned about a different culture and the behavior of people. I have grown stronger and more confident and also learned to be more flexible. I have learned activities and ways to survive in different weathers: skiing, skating, cutting firewood and making fences for horses, for instance. I have learned how to help myself with what I have learned during the year.” – Suen Jie Ji from Taiwan volunteers in a folk high school in Finland
”I am learning about the Finnish language, traditions, culture and education system. Through working with people with different kinds of cultural backgrounds and behaviors I am learning also patience and communication skills. I see a change in myself. I am exchanging my views with the Finnish people. – Jibran Hussain Mohammad from India volunteers in a folk high school in Finland
”By getting to know new people and building friendships during my volunteering year abroad I have discovered many new things that I’m actually interested in and that I really like. These new interests have inspired me to start a new hobby as soon as I’m back home.” – Michelle Brockmann from Germany volunteers in a school in Finland
”It has been good to learn how to teach and support disabled people. It has also been good to learn about the Finnish cultural environment and teach my culture to the students as well as to give my solidarity to people who really need it.” – Sheila Daude from Mozambique volunteers in a folk high school in Finland
”I got my first volunteer three years ago. The volunteers have given me and my students so many opportunities to understand different cultures and ways of life. Nowadays the volunteer is a very important part of my class, and the co-operation has changed my perspective on how to teach. Now I have a friend in India, Japan and Mozambique and I am looking forward to making friends with the future volunteers, too!” – special education teacher Matias Hynynen mentors volunteers at folk high school Laajasalon opisto
”Volunteering in Finland has somehow helped me to find my inner peace by working with animals, spending a lot of time outside and living a life without too many stressful situations and responsibilities.” – Isabel Naumann from Germany volunteers in a domestic farm and youth center.
”Finnish language has a very special pronunciation and sounds such as y, ö and ä. In the beginning I concentrated in saying the words carefully and repeated them many times. I tried to learn complicated words very well. Finnish language skills are often emphasized as a key factor in adapting into the Finnish society, so now I’m trying hard to learn the language.” – Ganesh Mahato from Nepal volunteers in a school in Finland.
”Working together with foreign volunteers has given our community courage as well as openness to meet and co-operate with people with different kinds of cultural backgrounds. We also have gained interest to get to know different cultures more deeply. On the other hand, the co-operation has deepened our understanding on people being the same in many aspects regardless of their cultural background. We all have joys and sorrows, often quite similar ones.” – Tuija Lindberg, director of Sippola Residential School
“I am so grateful for being in such a beautiful country with all this incredible nature and people. ICYE voluntary work program has been so nice with so many different experiences. Thank you.” – Tiago Lemos from Brazil volunteers in a folk high school in Finland
”Volunteering has been a good opportunity to get to know cultures. I have learned about Finland and my home country as well as Afghanistan since I worked among students with an immigrant background. It has been an opportunity to make a lot of friends. They’re like a family to me. Volunteering has also been a good opportunity to find myself.” – Emika Fuchigami from Japan volunteers in a folk high school in Finland.
“I met Outi on my first day at the playschool. Her smile was the best welcome! She has taught me a lot of things, above all that my mobility experience has been successful thanks to our mutual understanding! I have learned from her that teaching children is based on listening to them and acting in the best way to help them. We have understood each other even without speaking the same language. We have also laughed a lot talking about our experiences abroad: sometimes cultural differences have made understanding more challenging but much more rewarding, though! I hope we will keep on learning in the future! Kiitos paljon Outi!” – Elena Frías Migueláñez from Spain volunteers in the English playschool of Kangasala
“Communication has been very easy with Elena. She is super positive and very open to new experiences and has a sense of humor. We deeply trust each other and we have shared our experiences together – these kinds of experiences abroad really open your eyes! Elena has made me more aware of my own culture and has made me think about education even more deeply. She has helped me a lot, and I think it is amazing how well you can understand each other even without a common language! I have learned so much during this year. I owe you really big thanks Elena, I will never forget you.” – Outi Lehtonen mentors Elena in the English playschool of Kangasala
“Olin vapaaehtoinen ’92-’93. I worked as a volunteer at Ilmatieteen laitos in Helsinki and on a farm further north in Tuusniemi. My year was amazing. I made lifelong friendships, expanded my family (two brothers, three sisters, two different families), expanded my understanding of the world around me, expanded my cultural experiences, expanded my language abilities, expanded my empathy, expanded my interest in travel. 24 years later and I still think about that year and how it affected me. To date, that has been the most impactful year of my life. Kiitos!” – John Evans from the United States
“Our foreign volunteers have enriched our working environment by bringing into it their cultural experiences and views. It has been especially motivating to get to know the Spanish and Italian food culture and to prepare meals together with our students.” – Mikko Salmi and Leena Tiitinen work at Seurakuntaopisto (The Church Training College)
“Hello and greetings to all volunteers! My word is passion. Passion leads you to volunteer in a good and high level as well as to develop yourself – on the one hand as a person and on the other hand as a professional or a future professional. Passion also combines so many words as learning, respect, discovering and many others words which can describe your dedication to be a volunteer and a good person. Passion of doing work well leaded me to develop further my open-mindedness and flexibility, and now I am happy to share the nicest and biggest experiences of my life! Join in a volunteer community where you will build friendships, partnerships and many other good things!” – Masha Gurcova from Moldova volunteered in 2010–11 in a nursing home for mentally disabled people and a workshop called which provides art and work therapy for disabled people in Finland.
The photo campaign is a part of the project ”Calling Youth to Action in a Global Visibility Drive” (Erasmus+ Key Action 2) which aims to promote the value of volunteering in terms of benefits to the volunteers and host organisations: www.icye.org/calling-youth
Would you be interested in volunteering in Finland for 6–12 months? Learn about the volunteering possibilities from here. All the voluntary work periods aim at advancing intercultural understanding.
Would you like to practice speaking in Spanish or Finnish...
Hey, are you living in Finland, between 18 and 30...
My name is Catriona Christina Dinnegan. I am from County Westmeath in Ireland. My EVS journey began when I found the organisation Maailmanvaihto – ICYE Finland. I became very interested in becoming a part of their voluntary opportunities.
In order to be able to join in the EVS, I needed to have a sending organization in Ireland. Thus, I joined in the organisation VSI Ireland and agreed with them that they would be my sending organisation. I really admire both organisations and I am very proud to be one of their EVS volunteers.
My interest in Finland is because I have always dreamed of spending time learning here and also next year I will become an Author of Finnish Children’s books. The reason that I applied for the EVS opportunity at Vanhamaki Activity Centre is because it is such a special place in the community. The centre is situated in Suonenjoki, a rural town of some 7 500 inhabitants.
Vanhamäki Activity Centre
Vanhamäki provides activities for its visitors and runs an organic farm, horse stables and a foster home. When I was selected to be a part this project I was so happy that I was in tears because It is such a wonderful opportunity.
“On this project there is a team of four of us volunteers, and when we arrived nearly a month ago we were greeted with open arms and kindness by everybody in our community here at Vanhamaki, and it feels like our new home.”
Vanhamäki has welcomed EVS volunteers already several years, but I am the first Irish EVS volunteer there. My tasks include helping out with organic farming which is very enjoyable and a valuable learning experience. In the centre’s Syke-talo building there are events for schools and local community of Suonenjoki, and I help out at these events. I really enjoy doing this. Everyday is a chance to learn and enjoy being a part of a community.
On this project there is a team of four of us volunteers, and when we arrived nearly a month ago we were greeted with open arms and kindness by everybody in our community here at Vanhamäki, and it feels like our new home. I am enjoying spending time with everybody here and of course the animals that live here.
I have noticed my confidence growing more everyday. I feel I am already becoming a better version of myself and I am becoming the person I have always aspired to be. My time here has already changed my life and is a chapter of my life I will always be so proud of.
“I feel volunteering in a community helps both the volunteer and the community, which is why the European voluntary service is so important to further learn and grow together.”
I feel volunteering in a community helps both the volunteer and the community, which is why the European voluntary service is so important to further learn and grow together. The EVS is such an amazing opportunity for young people to learn new skills and spend time learning in another country. Another important part of being involved the EVS projects is that it helps to build friendships and teaches us more understanding of each other across Europe.
I feel that because of this wonderful opportunity I now have more of an understanding of my European citizenship, and of course Finland will always have a special place in my heart.
Catriona Dinnegan
Catriona participates in Finland in the European Voluntary Service (EVS). Maailmanvaihto receives EVS volunteers for volunteer periods of 6–12 months. Would you be interested in participating? Read more about the EVS and apply!
Hello Kerubo! Could you briefly introduce yourself?
My name is Kerubo Nyaribo and I am the Programme Director for ICYE Kenya. I hold a Bachelor in Science in Botany and Zoology and a post graduate diploma in education and I have taken several short courses in different disciplines. I am a Christian, a wife to one man and a mother to three beautiful girls. I have been involved in ICYE in different capacities since 1986. Right now I am the director and I supervise the other staff in the office running the programmes and I am in charge of the European Voluntary Service. I work half time in the ICYE office and half time in my fashion design shop.
What attracted you to work for an international voluntary work organization?
I started ICYE Kenya with a few others and at the time we just wanted to make sure we could get young people from other countries to come to Kenya and send our youth to other countries. Thinking of what has kept me working for ICYE: Meeting these youth and training them has been very interesting for me, having been a teacher for many years. Also engaging with staff from other national committees of the ICYE network has been very enriching – especially the discussions we have and the different ways we view things because of our different cultural backgrounds.
Which have been the most inspiring aspects in your work lately?
This probably has not changed during the years, but seeing the volunteers connect with their host families and projects and seeing the changes that the volunteers’ presence can make in a community makes me want to continue to see it happening with different people in different ways!
ICYE Kenya participated in “the volunteer activist” project in which young citizen in 17 ICYE countries seeked to raise awareness through campaigns of the social concerns of our time. What motivated ICYE Kenya to take part in the project?
Volunteerism is not very highly rated in current Kenya, and we wanted to sensitize more people about what we do and have people appreciate our local and international volunteers. To have people stop and listen, see and get involved.
Could you tell a bit about the campaign actions you had in Kenya?
Our campaigning happened around a football tournament involving volunteers and youth in Sindo, one of our rural towns in Homabay County. As a campaing action there was also painting Msekwa Border Primary school classrooms. We will still have another activity on the 7th of December to commemorate the International Volunteer Day which is on the 5th of December.
Which of the “the volunteer activist” actions in other countries did you find the most interesting ones?
Activities in Nepal on waste management and in Vietnam on reducing plastic paper bags seemed the most interesting ones to me.
Which are the main sectors in which foreign long-term volunteers work in Kenya this season?
Most of them are working in primary schools and children’s homes
Your greetings for those Finnish young people thinking of volunteering in Kenya?
KARIBU KENYA! Welcome to Kenya! There are lots of places to volunteer, we are quite friendly as a people, and ICYE Kenya’s aim is to make sure you have the experience of your life! We care and appreciate our volunteers and look forward to hosting you.
The interview has been published in Volunteers’ Voices 4/2014 magazine.
ITEI is a Bolivian interdisciplinary organization working in the fields of human rights and mental health. It has hosted many foreign volunteers. Andrés Gautier, a Bolivian worker of ITEI, tells about the organization’s activities and the collaboration with ICYE.
“The goal of ITEI (Instituto de Terapia e Investigación) is to help people who have suffered torture or other kind of violence from the part of the state during the decades of dictatorship in Bolivia. Our activities consist in facilitating the recovery of the victims, spreading knowledge of their experiences and preventing such actions by creating a culture of non-violence. We offer psychological and legislative support to the victims and organize trainings about human rights, psycho-traumatology and leadership for young people. ITEI also does research”, tells Andrés Gautier. “The employees are experts from different fields: psychologists, nurses, physiotherapists, professionals of education and administrative workers.”
The tasks taken care by ITEI are actually responsibilities the Bolivian state should carry. Working to help the victims of state violence, the organization has also encountered problems. For example, the doctors of ITEI were forbidden to visit state prisons for a period of time. Another problem is money: the amount of activities has increased, while the funding is decreasing. ITEI collaborates with the human rights representative and has lodged complaints to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Structures protecting state violence still exist: “If we want to fight against torture, we have fight against not punishing the crimes committed by the authorities.”
The first foreign volunteers arrived to ITEI just after its foundation in August 2001. Even though the activities are strongly connected with Bolivian society and history, the volunteers have managed to fit in and to find their place in the organization. ”If we want to fight against torture, we have to fight against impunity and make the authorities responsible for their actions.” Andrés states. “Many volunteers have managed to apply their knowledge into our activities. They’ve participated in translating documents and building websites. There was an anthropologist who made important research on racism in Sucre”, he describes. “Currently we’re hosting three volunteers from Finland, Germany and Britain. They are making a documentary using interviews of activists that were persecuted during the dictatorship. They’ve also opened a website to spread the experiences of people who have suffered violence or persecution. Their work is important for both the organization and the victims.”
“It is true that with volunteers who already have an education it may be easier to find a way of using their skills, but younger volunteers can bring just as much inspiration and fresh ideas. In our organization, teamwork is very important, and also the volunteers can learn a lot from that”, Andrés says.
“It is true that with volunteers who already have an education it may be easier to find a way of using their skills, but younger volunteers can bring just as much inspiration and fresh ideas. In our organization, teamwork is very important, and also the volunteers can learn a lot from that”, Andrés says. He points out that the volunteering period is an agreement between the volunteer and the organization, and that the relationship between them is being built upon a longer time. “Receiving a volunteer requires responsibility and commitment from both sides.” The organization is satisfied with the collaboration with ICYE and wishes volunteering to continue: “We hope ICYE to continue its activities, so that this kind of cultural exchange would be possible also in the future.”
Text: Mirjami Ylinen
The article has been published in Volunteers’ Voices 4/2014.
The theme of this magazine in front of you, is cultural identity. While I was in Peru, I discovered some new dimensions of the love I feel for my country, Finland. Every time I watched a certain documentary about Finnish men going to sauna, I cried like a baby because I was so proud of them. On the other hand I was so excited when I saw a Finnish ensemble singing on television at the airport of one Peruvian city in the mountains. The same happened, when I found a chocolate figure wearing a typical Lappish hat in a local supermarket, and didn’t forget to tell everybody about Finland’s Independence Day on the sixth of December. Things that reminded me of my background and my roots gave me both the feeling of safety but also the feeling of irritation. Once when I was eating with Peruvian people, they told me I was very quiet. I got confused – I just had nothing to say!
When I was back in Finland, no one gave me cheek kisses and I honestly felt like I lacked something. Even though it’s been two years since my return, there’s still certain things that remind me of Peru, but that other people around me wouldn’t understand.
Already during half a year, a piece of the country one is volunteering in, can find a place in the volunteer’s heart. When I was back in Finland, no one gave me cheek kisses and I honestly felt like I lacked something. Even though it’s been two years since my return, there’s still certain things that remind me of Peru, but that other people around me wouldn’t understand. The chance to get to know one culture a little bit deeper has enriched my life in many, many ways, but at the same time taught me to know my own roots better.
International activities in one’s own country can also give a chance to get to know new cultures better. Next time when you have the chance to get to know people from abroad in your own country, go ahead and take the chance! By doing that you can really open new doors to the world.
I wish you beautiful spring days!
Kaisa Rahko
The writer volunteered in a Peruvian kindergarten in 2014–15 and has just started working as the other editor-in-chief of the magazine.
5 Kutsu kevätkokoukseen
6 Ajankohtaista
9 Against Discrimination
10 Lagos – Moderni afrikkalainen metropoli
12 koulutuskuulumisia Itävallasta
Teema: Kulttuuri-identiteetti | Theme: Cultural Identity
— 14 Juurista se kulttuuri-identiteettikin kasvaa
— 20 Muukalaislegioonassa
22 Friends of Various Ages
24 Cultural Learning and Spicy Cookery
26 Vaikuttavaa yhteistyötä
28 Welcoming Volunteers to a School in Kumasi
30 Vapaaehtoistyötä Kaukomailla
32 Tule mukaan toimintaan!
33 Lehden parissa
34 Toiminnan lähtökohtia
35 Tapahtumakalenteri
ISSN 2342-2629 (Printed)
ISSN 2342-2637 (Online version)
