Posted on my Jacob's Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.
Many of you have addressed me as to what exactly CHAFF (Chamber for assistance of Finns and Foreigners) Participants have been doing during the past two years. You may be in the dark as many of our participants have not asked for publicity. Also we have wished to not violate the privacy of those who have received some form of assistance from CHAFF Participants.
At this point of time it is important for me to tell you some of what we have done so that you know what has been happening over the last two years and also to understand how Ildikó Hámos-Sohlo and her team have their work cut out to help people and communities in different problematic situations.
Kasia Mazur was a trainee teacher from Poland who spent some time here in Oulu. When she needed help with her work of teaching children in a Finnish school, several CHAFF Participants stretched out their helping hands.
I had this very emotional COMMENT from our Kasia , who is now back in Poland after her short stint in Oulu, on the CHAFF Blog:
Dear Jacob,
It's Kasia.
I have just read about the last chaff sunday and although I'm not in Finland any more and I don't take part in the meetings, this is one of the saddest infos recently.
I can not imagine my stay in Finalnd without CHAFF, without help I received from all of the participants and great friends.
I kept on entering your blog site almost every week here in Poland because even if I'm not with you there, I still think about all the good times back in Finland.
Hopefully your great idea of connecting people and all the good things that came with it will be continued, and as far as I know Ildi, CHAFF is in good hands :)
So now again I want to say thank you to all my CHAFF friends and hopefully when I visit Oulu some day again, CHAFF will be still there.
With all my love,
Kasia
Is this is what Kasia remembers of a very regular CHAFF meeting?
The photograph shows some of our younger CHAFF participants: Benjamin from Australia, Andy for Venezuela, Pailin from Thailand, Kasia from Poland, Ulf from Germany, Tingting from China and Kerstin from Germany.
Or was it this of the Indian Evening organised by CHAFF participants:
Here we have Kasia, Mona's Finnish friend from Helsinki, Mona from Finland, Benjamin, Andy, and Ildikó from Hungary dressed in Indian clothes brought to the evening by the Indian members of our community.
Dressing in national coustunes was great fun for the ladies as was when they dressed and danced with Thai costumes.
Here we see Kerstin and Kasia in Thai clothes with Pailin and Mona.
But CHAFF was not just about social events like these.
Kazutaza Temboa graphic designer from Zambia, one of the founding members of CHAFF, designed the award winning posters for the International Anti Racism Week in which CHAFF joined the Oulu Divisions of United Nations, Finnish Red Cross, Amnesty International and the Oulu International School as a major organiser of this event.
The main poster designed by Kamu was symbolic and was designed to show the importance of integration.
But CHAFF Participants were not just active on the sidelines in organising the events. Ildikó and Lauri Gardner, along with Anne Rännäli, International Affairs Manager of the City of Oulu, were part of the panel chaired by Markku Heikkinen, a senior editor of the local newspaper, Kaleva, which discussed the issues of racism faced by foreigners in Oulu.
Among the participants who attended CHAFF meetings were many people of note, some famous and some not so famous, from various parts of the world.
Here, one of our regular Finnish Participants, Pentti Paakki, bids farewell to Subramaniam Paneer, from Tamilnadu, India, who had worked tireless moving the dead bodies along the Tamil Coast after the devasting tsunami.
We had Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Arpad Hámos, attending our meeting. He said that many in the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Association) in Austria were regular readers of the CHAFF Blog.
Unnop Khungrai, Ilari Sohlo, Arpad Hámos, Ildikó Hámos-Sohlo, Julista Hámos and Pailin at our CHAFF meeting.
But the reach of CHAFF has stretched far beyond the Finnish shores.
When CHAFF Participant Kannan Balaram asked me to help a group of Rotarians who were visiting India, we extended our helping hand to them to meet our friends and relatives there and organise things which were outside of their normal programme.
Kannan Balaram with another CHAFF Founding Member, Saikou Marong from Gambia.
Here Ville Suomi (second from right) and fellow Rotarians from the Oulu Region with my cousin, Satish Abraham (far left), at the Sailing Club in Kottayam, India.
Our CHAFF population grew as, for example, Ville's Japanese wife, Fumi, a biochemist researcher in Oulu University, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Mari. CHAFF participants were there to greet a new addition to our CHAFF Culture.
None of the work has been done for either profit, personal recognition or reward of any form. These have all been acts of self-giving. Some people have misunderstood that someone has been trying to gain publicity or monetary benefit in executing these tasks. Nothing could be further from the truth. All acts of assistance have had no ulterior motives.
I have to say to most of the 300 or more people who have been active in CHAFF, that some amazing things, some mundane things and some very responsible things, have been done by them.
As I do not wish to violate the privacy of many people who have been helped by CHAFF, I can only outline a FEW of the things done in the most general terms.
1. CHAFF Participants have been visiting foreigners and Finns in psychiatric institutions in Oulu to help them find themselves. This has included attending meetings with psychiatrists and the staff in rehabilitation centres.
2. CHAFF Participants have been rescuing helpless persons (especially foreigners) who have been violated by their partners and ensuring that they are guided to the appropriate shelters and, if necessary, legal help organised.
3. CHAFF Participants have been helping persons who have been stranded without a roof over their head and providing the temporary relief while they rebuild their status and lives.
4, CHAFF Participants have been helping persons who have been cheated by unscrupulous businessmen either in violation of contracts or in their inability to collect their legal dues.
5. CHAFF Participants have been helping those who have language difficulties during their settling period in Finland.
6. CHAFF Participants have been helping persons with accountancy and other business services.
7. CHAFF Participants have been helping those who have alcohol related problems.
8. CHAFF Participants have been helping those not to enter into job contracts where they could be exploited.
9. CHAFF Participants have been helping people move their business or residence premises.
10. CHAFF Participants have been helping people move their furniture between homes or to the rubbish dump.
11. CHAFF Participants have been helping people to start small businesses.
12. CHAFF Participants have been providing counselling to people with severe illnesses.
13. CHAFF Participants have been helping to organise cultural events.
14. CHAFF Participants have been helping to organise events related to removing discrimination.
15. CHAFF Participants have been providing short term financial help in emergency situations.
16. CHAFF Participants have been helping people with transport in difficult circumstances.
17. CHAFF Participants have been helping to organise cultural groups and associations.
18. CHAFF Participants have been introducing newcomers to Oulu to the life in this city.
19. CHAFF Participants have been sponsoring young sportsmen from ethnic minorities.
20. CHAFF Participants have been sponsoring young musicians and artists for ethnic minorities.
It was a proud moment for CHAFF Participants when a young sportsman sponsored by CHAFF, in his very first year in Finland won gold medals for both football and basketball. Here Soda proudly shows off one of his medals.
What I have shown above is nowhere near an exhaustive list of things we have done.
Some of the events were large public ones.
CHAFF helped the Oulu Divisions of the United Nations, Amnesty International and the Finnish Red Cross to organise the week long Anti Discrimination events in Oulu.
CHAFF has helped the Thai Association and Thai Community in Northern Finland to organise several exciting cultural events and also organise educational and cultural classes in Oulu. (eg., Thai Water Festival. Thai Mother's Day, Thai King's Birthday, International Festival featuring Thai culture, Thai dance Classes, Thai Cooking Classes, Thai Language Classes.)
CHAFF helped organise a wonderful Indian evening in Oulu.
CHAFF helped in organising the International Day for ethnic minorities organised by the Youth Centre in Oulu.
Bill Zhang, a brilliant Chinese Engineer was one of the Founding Members of CHAFF.
Me, another founding member, with two young CHAFF Participants, Kwan from Thailand and Veikka from Raahe, Finland.
The number of nationalities who have taken part in CHAFF activities is well over 40.
It started with just four people - Bill, a Chinese engineer, Saikou, a business man from Gambia, Kamu, a Zambian graphic designer and me, Jacob, a retired Indian living a life of leisure here in Oulu.
Some of the nationalities that I can remember, besides Finns, that passed through the portals of CHAFF during the last two years included Americans, Australians, Austrians, Bangladeshis, Canadians, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, Gambians, Germans, Ghanaians, Greeks, Hungarians, Indians, Iranians, Iraqis, Irish, Italians, Ivorians, Japanese, Kenyans, Liberians, Malaysians, Nicaraguans, Nigerians, Pakistanis, Poland, Peruvians, Portuguese, Russians, Sierra Leonians, Slovakians, South Africans, Spaniards, Sri Lankans, Sudanese, Thais, Turks, Vietnamese, Zambians. (Sorry if I have missed any nationalities!)
Isaac Sundarajan, CEO of Codenomicon OY with Tingting from China.
Indian researchers who were attendees of an International Conference on Microelectronics were happy to meet with CHAFF Participants.
We have had several notable personalities, besides the Nobel Prize winner, including several professors (eg., Fulbright lecturer, the professor from Washington D. C., Kenneth Kolson), and senior researchers from the US, India, Russia, etc., CEO's from small, medium and large Finnish and international companies, attending and taking part in the CHAFF Meetings.
But CHAFF is not about the rich and famous. It is for the humble, poor and weak, the lonely and disraught.
In this, may I ask you all to extend your hand of help to Ildikó to run CHAFF in a manner which we have done together for the last few years.
As I have said, time and time again, CHAFF is not ME or any particular individual, but it is YOU. It is not Ildikó, but it is YOU.
Without YOUR participation, CHAFF ceases to exist. It is your camaraderie and hand of friendship which is needed for CHAFF to continue in it glorious path helping especially those in desperate need.
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