CHAFF meeting explodes

(Cross-posted on my Jacob's Blog.)

It looks as if Chaff has restarted with a bang after the summer recess.

Last Sunday was when we welcomed back many to the regular Sunday Chaff get togethers.

We had 7 cameras clicking and little Samu did a job with all except mine, which was unfortunately tucked away in my coat.

Here are pictures provided by Matti and Unnop.

We had 2 new Japanese, 3 new Findian, 3 new Finn, 2 new German and 4 visiting USA/Indian participants (14).

Our usual crowd was also great with 1 Findian, 5 Finns, 1 German, 1 Hungarian, 3 Indians, 1 Japanese, 1 Indian/USA, 4 Thais, 1 Venezulean and 1 Zambian (19).

3 Chinese, 4 Hungarians, 2 Finns, and 4 Indians who had promised to get to the meeting unfortunately could not get there.

Our young Findian participant, Daniel.


Our hostess Pailin.


Unnop, our host talks with young Kim (Thailand),
whose help to organise this event was truly great - Thanks Kim!


Unnop with our new Japanese participant who surprised us
with her knowledge of the Thai language!


Three of our beautiful visitors from the USA
with Kerstin (Germany), Andi (Venezuela) and our hostess Pailin.


Matti, Isaac and wife, Nalla.


Mervi chats with me.


Ildi (Hungary) and Fumi (Japan) with our new participants
from Japan and Germany listen to my short talk.


Ildi, Ville (Finland) and wife, Fumi,
with our new Japanese and German participants


Beautiful Sheeba from the USA.


Fumi looks good.


Tony and Isaac.


Kamu (Zambia) and Matti.


Beautiful Sareena.


Pennti Paakki.


Andreana (Venezuela) is in a deep and thoughtful mood!


Joanna at her first Chaff meeting.
Isaac in the background.



Ilari with Nalla, Kiran and Tony in the background.


Andi, Kerstin and our two new German participants.

Our next meeting will be on Sunday 6th August at the usual time of 13:00 hours.

The following week we will have our get together on Saturday August 12th as part of the Thai festival which is being held at the Pailin Restaurant starting at 12:00 hours. The Thai Buddhist Monk from Helsinki is especially attending this event which has the blessing of the Thai Royal Embassy, Helsinki, Finland and the Tourism Authority of Thailand located in Stockholm, Sweden.

There will be Thai danceing, Thai kick boxing, Thai music and singing, various displays of Thai art, demonstration of Thai cooking, a special discount offer for tickets to Thailand (thanks to Finn matkat who will have a stand at the festival), and much more.

Everyone is welcome - no entrance fee.

Indian Government starts blocking blogs!

(Cross-posted on all my major blogs.)

Freedom, democracy and freedom of speech have been thrown to the winds by the irrational action of the Government of India when they told Indian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access to various blogs. This can only be done by blocking access to the entire blog service provider and my blogs are, therefore, not accessible by my readers in India.

I also learnt that most, if not all, Indian ISPs have followed the directive.

Economic Times, India Tuesday July 19th 2006:

DoT casts a cloud on bloggers' paradise

Cathedralite 56er HS Uberoi, one of my faithful readers of my "Seventh Heaven" blog alerted me to this when he emailed me with this:'

Dear Jacob,

I don't know whether you are aware that effective today the Government of India has blocked access to ALL blogsites.

I cannot believe that even your nostalgic Cathedral School and St.Stephen's College sites cannot be accessed by us in India!!

I am at a total loss for words!!

Yours in shock.

Ubi

If you have friends in India who want to continue to access my blogs, even occasionally, please email them and ask them to contact me by email and I will give then the surefire way to continue access.

No Government can stop the internet - as there are many many ways round any censorship, many not known to the stupid politicians who think they are being clever by imposing such foolish bans!!

I will not publish all the methods here for reasons which are obvious.

Chaff Meetings in July

Despite the fact that I amnnounced that there would not be any Chaff Meetings in July, as most people who attend are on holidays in many distant places, many of you have emailed me saying that they would like to be at the meeting all through summer as that has been their highlight of the week as they share ideas and emotions with their friends.

As a result, we will be meeting as usual every Sunday, but not as Chaff. The Pailin Restaurant will continuue to offer the hospitality that they offer at the Chaff Meetings - free coffee and tea and the specially priced lunch menu.

But it would be unfair to ask therm to produce a buffet for such a small group. All the items will be available from their standard menu and they will continue to charge the special Chaff prices only.

So if you are in town and have nothing to do on Sundays, do join us at the restaurant as usual.

I would like to say that when Isaac Sundarajan is here in the last week of July, accompanied by his wife and his two children, we will hold a special event in their honour . We are very proud of the work that Isaac has done to encourage Chaff to grow. And many of you are waiting to meet up with his family.

Details of the event will be published on the blog. So stay tuned!

Midsummer Day

(Cross-posted on my Jacob's Blog.)

True to form, the Midsummer Rose has bloomed in the Kampitie Garden.





Yesterday, Annikki and I went on a stone collecting trip invited by Matti (Masa) Moisa to his special place on the beach in Martiniemi. It was a fascinating experience as we had to go through quite unspoilt forest to reach the small rocky beach that Matti has converted into a rock museum.

Annikki was wild with excitement as she saw the wild flowers including the Lily of the Valley and many more that I do not know the names for. But she knew them all, bringing to the fore the immense valuable knowledge in my better half's brain.





Matti has constructed one small stone castle on the beach, which is his morning sunbathing castle. He is busy creating his second castle which will serve as his evening sunbathing castle!



Here are a couple of pictures of the stones in his stone museum.







This copper coloured stone took my fancy.



Matti has developed his own rudimentary, but obviously very effective, technique of moving enormous stones to their resting place on the beach.

The scenery from the beach was truly breathtaking.





One of the beauties of Matti's collection is the stone-age computer keyboard!



Here is the haul of stones that Annikki and Matti made yesterday. It appears to be the start of a beautiful friendship!



On our way home after a most enjoyable evening on the beach I saw my first ant-hill in Finland. I just had to stop and take a photograph of it.



Thank you Matti for such a wonderful evening in the wilds of Finnish nature just half an hour from the centre of Oulu!

This Sunday's CHAFF meeting will be very small as most people are out of town for Midsummer, but do join us at the Pailin Restaurant (Kenttätoe 9, Kasarmi Area, 90100 Oulu) at 13:00 hours, as some of us will be there, as usual!

More on Oulu Artist Ann Pöllänen

(Cross-posted in my Jacob's Blog.)

Yesterday I featured the carving skill of an Oulu artist from Thailand, Rakchanok Pöllänen (née Phunsawat) from Kanchanaburi, wife of Petri Pöllanen, who is making history here in Oulu. Ann is not just a soap carver. She is a crochet expert as well as a designer of beautiful dried floral gifts, just as exquisitely beautiful as the artist herself.

Ann with one of her crocheted designs
on display in Oulu at the Thai Pailin Restaurant.

I have pleasure in bring you, here, a couple of her dried floral designs.





I hope to, in the future, feature several top artists from Oulu, Finland who are from the ethnic minorities. If you can give me information about them, please let me know.

I wish that there is one important forum for them to show their work from this Arctic town in the world, something the City of Oulu should do, but fails to.

Thai Artists - Made in Finland

(Cross-posted on my Jacob's Blog.)

The other day Annikki was given a present which really was unique - a carved soap.



I wonder whether she will ever use this work of art!

It was the creation of a Thai artist, Ann, Rakchanok Pöllänen (née Phunsawat) from Kanchanaburi, Thailand, who resides in Oulu, Finland with her Finnish husband, Petri Pöllänen (whom we call Patrick), who amongst other things is a volleyball referee.



Ann is truly unique in that she carves a special soap with the most intricate of floral designs. A special soap has to be used as normal soaps are too waxy and crumble under the delicate touch of the artist's carving knife.





Now Ann is launching sales in Finland of her specially carved soaps under a "Designed and Made in Finland" label.

Each of these designs takes more than a couple of hours of patient work to complete. The beautiful boxes in which they are packed also add much to their value as a presentation item.

They are indeed a valuable gift for Mother's Day, Weddings, Anniversaries, Christmas and other gift giving occasions.

A few weeks ago you may remember that I blogged a picture of intricately carved fruits and vegetables, which is also a fine Thai tradition brought to Finland by yet another Thai artist residing in Oulu, Unnop Khungrai.

Carved Watermelon

These carvings make for great show on a dining table and is yet another wonderful addition of Thai Culture into their new Finnish abode.

I do wish Oulu, which claims to want to be an "International City" will abduct these great Thai art traditions into its own and help these marvellous Thai artists living here to pass it on to Finnish children through the education system. ( :-) I can always dream! "Dialogue Today, Action Tomorrow" - The TOMORROW THAT NEVER COMES?)

Do contact me as to how you can get your hands on these creations directly from the artists or how to contact them personally.

These are valuable additions to Finnish culture.

Chaff Meeting on 4th June

I was truly astounded by the turnout and the positive tone of the CHAFF Meeting last Sunday.

Feroz at the head of the table

Besides me from India, Tingting (China), Kerstin (Germany), Ildikó (Hungary), Michaela (Slovakia), Unnop (Thailand), Pailin (Thailand), Isaac (USA / India), Andreana (Venezuela), Kamu (Zambia), Ilari (Finland), Matti (Finland), Pentti (Finland) and Virpi (Finland), were old timers who were present.


Isaac and Tingting


Kerstin and Ilari


Andreana and Ildikó

Feroz was a newcomer, hailing fromn India.

I am sorry I cannot bring you pictures of Virpi's new motorbike as she joined the Harley Davidson exclusive club in Oulu. The revved up engine sure made it noisy at Pailin Restaurant!

Many subjects were discussed at the meeting, but above all everyone enjoyed the great food dished up by Pailin. Others coming to the restaurant were also tempted to partake of the Thai buffet, and they loved it.

David was away in Helsinki and sent his regrets through Pentti. Dr. Sebastian was in the final stages of organising the internation conference in Oulu and sent his apologies.

The next meeting will be on Sunday 11th June at 13:00 hours at the Thai Pailin Restaurant, Kenttätie 9, Kasarmi Area, 90100 Oulu.

Extraordinary CHAFF Meeting

Over the months those taking part in CHAFF has been growing steadily and the weekly turnout ranges from maybe 8 to 15, usually a different bunch each week. This week we had an extraordinary turnout, even with many of the regulars missing.

It it was a meeting which was full of hub hub as we welcomed many new and lively people.

Andreina (Venezuela), Pailin (Thailand) and Virpi (Finland)
while Dr. Sebastian (India), Pentti and Matti (Finland) look in

We welcomed Andreina Moreno from Venezuela who has just moved to Oulu to take up her new job. She is a chemist who has completed her Master's Degree in Catalyst Chemistry. A fascinating personality, I certainly look forward to her attending the meetings as she has so much to tell us about what is really happening in Venezuela, where the focus of much of the world is now directed as the Bush Administration tries top create another Iraq in South and Central America to gain control of the enormous oil resources of that region. With Andreina was Virpi was a great friend of CHAFF, the Oulu Pinkcats motorcyclist. Andreina and Virpi are now workmates. Hopefully the next time Virpi will bring her husband, Jari, who is another great character.

We were also able to welcome Dr. Mailadil Sebastian from Kerala to the meeting and he saw what a lively crowd we are. Also present were our regulars, Pentti and Matti from Finland.


Festo and family (Sudan) and Jormo (Finland)

We welcomed Malish Festo and his wife and daughter from Sudan. Malish is settled in Oulu and besides being an Arabic scholar has much to teach us about one of the trouble hotspots of the world.

We also welcomed Jorma Suomela, a Finn, who has travelled and lived in Thailand for some time. He works for an Advertising and Novelty marketing company and represents them in northern Finland. Matti Rautiola, who is a regular CHAFF participant, showed us some of his fascinating hobby products, decorative metal castings. I hope that the two of them will come to some sort of business agreement. Matti is also a leading computer animation expert in Oulu.


Students Anup (Nepal) and David (Kenya) with CHAFF Founder Kamu (Zambia)

Anup from Nepal, David from Kenya and Kamu from Zambia had much to talk about. Tingting had just returned from China, and despite the jetlag could not be without attending the CHAFF meeting.

I conveyed a message from Anais (from France) who wanted a huge group hug to all the CHAFF participants as she emailed she was missing all of us terribly. We also missed Michaela (Slovakia) as she has lost her mobile phone and Pentti did not find her at the usual place when he went to pick her up. There was no way to contact her!

Although Niina (Finland, organiser of Oulu Amnesty International groups) and husband Mark (England) were at the restaurant, as their baby was sleeping, they took turns to have a great food served up by Pailin while the other babysat by pushing the pram outside the restaurant. Being their first visit at the time of our CHAFF meeting, they were able to see how we function at CHAFF. We hope they will take the time to visit us more often.

Kannan was here from Rauma and leant all his charm and effervesence to the proceedings.

Isaac Sunderajan and his daughter, Anita, were suffering from jetlag and asked to be excused, so we greatly missed their presence.

Our meeting next week will be at 13:00 hours at the Thai Pailin Restaurant, Kenttätie 9, Kasarmi Area, Oulu 90100. See you there when we expect another full house! Hopefully we will have some great weather and can meet out-of-doors in the sit-out area.

Traditional Irish Dancing Weekend Course

The dancers amongst you may be interested in this email I had from Brent Cassidy.

Irish Dancing from the US!

Greetings,

I wanted to inform you all and your contacts of our traditional Irish dance weekend course coming in October. It will be a lot of fun.....;)

There are only 60 places available and already, 25 people have signed up. I wanted to inform you before we start to advertise to the general public. Sign up for the course by sending me, Brent Cassidy, an email with the Subject Line: Dance Course.

You can also sign your friends up.

Please note, those who sign up will recieve an email from me once the list is full explaining the payment deadline and where to pay.

-------------------------------------
The Irish Music Society of Oulu

Presents:
The Irish Festival of Oulu
October 5th-8th, 2006

Including the first ever…

Traditional Irish Dancing Weekend Course
by Damhsa Irish Dancing Group

Friday, October 6th -to- Sunday, October 8th at NUKU Youth and Culture Center for EVERYONE.

The course will be an Introduction basic level course with a total of 10 hours of instruction. The cost for the course is 45eur per person and 35eur for students. There are only 60 places available, so sign up is first come first serve. The course will be in the dance studios in NUKU Youth and Culture Center.

Courses will be taught in English and Suomeksi! The teachers are Matthew Fitzsimons and Piia-Maria Vidgren of Damhsa Dance Group.

Sign up now by sending an email with your name and contact information to Brent Cassidy. Your spot will be reserved and you will be given payment instructions later.

Join us in what will be a fun weekend of Irish dancing.

Damhsa (Irish for Dancing) is an Irish Dance group performing in Finland for private and public audiences. Matthew Fitzsimons, a Dublin native with a deep tradition of traditional dancing passed on by his parents and many years of training, started the group in January 2005 and have performed in various parts of Finland ever since. Matthew teaches traditional Irish Dancecourses in Helsinki, which keep him very busy.

"My parents encouraged all their 10 children to dance. My mother was an Irish dancer in her youth and both my mother and father were ballroom dancers when the time was in," states Matthew. The group consists of Finnish and Irish dancers.

-------------------------------------

For more information or if you have questions, contact Brent Cassidy at 050 380 1908.

(Please contact me for Brent's email address as I do not want to put it on the internet as it could create spam for him.)

How to survive a Heart Attack when ALONE

(Cross-posted on the Jacob's Blog, the Cathedralite Seventh Heaven Blog and the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog.)

I must thank Naval patel, a 49er from my old school, me being a 59er, having passed out in 1959, for this important post.

USEFUL TO EVERY ONE AND MAY BE FOR OTHERS AS HELP EVERYONE MUST KNOW THIS

Let's say it's 6.15 pm and you're going home (alone of course), after an unusually hard day on the job. You are really tired, upset and frustrated.

Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw.

You are about five miles from the hospital nearest your home. Unfortunately, you don't know if you will be able to make it that far.

You have been trained in CPR, but the guy that taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself.

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE

Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.

However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.

Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm.

In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.

Tell as many other people as possible about this. It could save their lives!!

A cardiologist says If everyone who gets this information and then sends it to 10 people, you can bet that we will save at least one life.

Please pass on this information to all your contacts.

Dare to think the unthought known?

(Cross-posted on the Jacob's Blog, the Cathedralite Seventh Heaven Blog and the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog.)


Prof Ajeet Mathur has been a friend for over the 10 years he has been in Finland. Ajeet is like a younger brother to Annikki and me, and we love him dearly. Like me, although considerably younger to me, he is a Cathedralite from Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, and also a graduate from St. Stephen's College, Delhi. Like me, he married a Finn, and ended up in Finland. We are the Alumni in Finland for both those institutions, so we have 100% attendance at our reunions.

However, the similarity ends there.

Ajeet is a brilliant professor with immense industrial hands-on experience. He is a prolific writer and his philosophical mind can analyse any situation down to, not just the ground, but deep into the roots. His education skills are seen to be believed as he holds his students in rapt attention. We jointly authored a paper on e-Governance a couple of years ago where he took my mundane and boring facts and turned it into a paper that even had the Indian President, Abdul Kalam, look at "us" in awe!

Many years ago Annikki and friends started a small venture called Aivoairut Oy. Annikki was one of the Board Members. Because of the involvement of members of the Board in many other creative pursuits, the company has been doing just enough to stay alive during the intervening period.


Arne Nystedt, Managing Director of Aivoairut Oy,
Annikki and Ajeet in Kampitie

Arriving in last Friday's post was the first major publishing effort of this company, a book edited by Ajeet called "Dare to think the unthought unknown?"

Dare to think the unthought known?

International Perspectives on Group Relations
Edited by Ajeet N. Mathur
Price: EUR 38 + postage
Publisher: Airoairut Oy, PL 836, FIN-33101 TAMPERE, FINLAND,

This volume, a collective international endeavour, brings together twelve influential scholars and practitioners in group relations. New ways are presented of managing oneself in groups and for the design of management processes. Developments in group dynamics and social innovations are explored at the cutting edge of practices in a variety of settings: families, schools, local governance councils, factories, hospitals, trade unions, prisons, business enterprises, research institutions, religious organisations, higher education institutions, voluntary work and international organisations. Issues are raised for consideration and interpretation about the hidden life of organisations and institutional processes. Novel ideas include suggestions for educators and consultants on group relations training and experiential learning methods. Problems that arise in teams relevant for persons in expert roles or management, administrative or governance responsibilities in private and public systems are discussed. New approaches for working with groups address unique challenges and opportunities that individuals face in stressful roles during turbulent times. This is an important book for anyone trying to understand small and large group behaviour to engage effectively with the politics of relatedness.

Whether you be an individual living in isolation or a person in constant contact with a huge cross-section of people, this book is one for you. Once I picked it up I could not put it down. It is 250+ pages of sheer ecstasy, as Ajeet, along with 11 other brilliant minds take apart the words of the scholar Gouranga P. Chattopadhyay (M.Sc., D.Phil, (Calcutta University), FRAI (London), FASC & T (West Bengal), FAISA (Melbourne), Professor Emeritus of Academy of HRD & CEO, Chattopadhyay Associates: Organisation Consultants &Personal Counsellors.) who proposed a few years ago that spirituality may be used to overcome hate and to understand our lives better. The other contributors are Alaistair Bain, Allan Shafer, Anil K. Sen Gupta, Bruce Irvine, Colin Quine, Jane Chapman, John Bazalgette, Sally Eastoe, Sari Joustimäki, Susan Long and Shelley Ostroff.

Approaching group relations from a series of different angles with a series of conversations, never before published, this book is historic in that every sentence is deep in meaning. It is impossible to review this book without virtually quoting every printed line.

The authors differ from each other on various dimensions. Seven men, five women, six nationalities, from five continents, twelve professions. But two things are in common - all have been students of group relations and they have all known and worked with Gouranga Chattopdhyay.

In the first chapter written by Ajeet, he says

"Groups are created, sustained and accepted not because they are necessary evil residues of the group mentality. Without groups, complex transactions of society that require open systems, porous boundaries and the bridging of frictions of space, time, technology, task and sentinece to enable flows of goods, services, capital, people and ideas would not be possible."

Ajeet is explaining what life and after-life could be all about. Whether it be a pack of wolves or a flock of sheep, these principles hold good, although this book is limited to homo sapiens!

May I suggest you get hold of this book as it will not only change your life but it will open up an entirely new world to you that you never knew existed.

Ajeet will be chairing a group discusssion in Oulu next week geared for foreign business owners and investors to share their experiences. His skill in group discussions will become obvious to all attending. (Contact me if you want to take part in this event.)

Thank you, Ajeet, for giving birth to this book, which Annikki and I will treasure.

Chaff Meeting on 28th May

We go back to the usual schedule of our CHAFF meeting on Sunday 28th May at 13:00 hours at the Thai Pailin Restaurant in the Kasarmi area.

Kannan is driving in from Rauma and will be attending the meeting.

Please let me know who needs transport on Sunday as I have to activate the car drivers.

As Thursday is a holiday (Helatorstai / Ascension day), many people in Finnish companies will take Friday off work to get an extra long weekend.

It will be difficult to reach many of the participants after today.

So please inform me your requirements.

Please act - It is your future.....

Now that Annikki and I are retired, we now past the hump of fighting for the rights of the ethnic inorities in Oulu and Finland. It is now your turn to take action along with others, especially CHAFF Participants, as it is YOUR future in Finland that is at stake.

I post here the message I received from Ildikó who is doing a great job for all of us in her capacities in SINNI and Monika. She desperately needs the support of all of you so that she is not seen to be standing alone and crying in the wilderness.

Both Annikki and I know how it is to be in that situation.

Dear fellow immigrants and the like ;-)

This just to remind you: we will meet again on Tue, 30.5. at 15.00 at Isokatu 30, 3rd floor to discuss the future of immigrants in the region together with Ilpo Tapaninen from the Regional Council.

Please look through the attached suggestions and the Council´s focus points and send me your
ideas until Fri, May 26!

See you!

Ildikó

This was the attachment (in English) that she sent:

Suggestions for the Regional Council´s Policy Plan

* Integration of immigrants into Finnish work life:

o Extensive use of immigrants for acquiring foreign contacts:

approaching foreign markets to build a contacts network, research on foreign partners, combining tolerance (trusting immigrants´ expertise) and common sense (financial benefit)

* Kansainvälisyys vs. monikulttuurisuus:

Stark difference between internationalism and multiculturalism:
o International society: bringing high-profile labor force to Oulun
o Multicultural society: often refugees, whose know-how is not used, regarded as a problem-group that needs financial input
o Internationals “turn” into multicultural community members if they are unemployed, never the other way around.
o Suggestions:

+ Mapping the community of unemployed immigrants in Oulu – what is their know-how, how can Oulu labor market use their work force? Use results of labor market analyses and prognosis and compare results. Use immigrants to do this work
+ Use terms of kansainvälisyys and monikulttuurisuus in educational curriculums and in city/regional council releases (ads, posters etc.) to explain difference and problem.

* Immigrant vs. Expat:

o Explain difference between these terms in policies and releases, make them into public to help them develop into common understanding (Brent)

* “Becoming visible”:

o Use immigrants in nurseries, schools and other educational institutes to “tell stories”: make the contact with immigrants as “real” as possible. Use immigrant nurses, kindergarten teachers, teachers etc. Make immigrants a part of the curriculum. Not talking about them – talking with them.
o Immigrants´ Committee:
Advisory/evaluative board of immigrants within the structure of the city of Oulu and the Regional Council. Board (paid duties!) is in charge of internationalization strategy and immigration policy. Permanent cooperation with city authorities on internationalization and improvements of the foreign policy of Oulu instead of few separate projects which end soon and work only for some selected groups of foreigners.
o Best practices:
Let immigrants disseminate their stories to come up with a guide of what works and what not in integration in Oulu and the region. Don´t rely on what´s being done in Helsinki – that´s too far away and the situation is different. Arrange cultural events, release books etc. with the aim of dissemination the best practices.
o Immigrants´ own supporting organizations in Oulu:

o Monika – supporting immigrant women with problems of domestic violence
o SINNI – supporting empowerment of immigrant women
o Setlementti – cultural mentor/cultural mediator

* Language barrier:

o Abolishing Finnish language certificate for (permanent!) jobs in the service of the City of Oulu and in other regional authorities (all of public sector). Permanent jobs are practically non-existent anymore. Positive discrimination to the benefit of foreigners to get jobs with the city/in regional authorities
o No overly exaggeration of language skills in the private sector: more learning by doing! Circle: unemployment continues & language skills don't develop
o Language barrier is very often only excuse for lack of trust in immigrant´s abilities à positive discrimination of immigrants as introduced by city/regional council regulations would help this problem (Yhdenvertaisuuslaki says: “eriarvoinen kohtelu on sallittua silloin, kun sillä pyritään korjaamaan maahanmuuttajien perusteetonta ja merkittävää aliedustusta”)
o Using immigrants´ English skills, which are often better than Finns´
o Russian language is in high demand: there are many skilled Russians in Oulu and the region, but the prejudices are very prevalent à positive discrimination (affirmative action) for native speakers to get jobs where language knowledge is demanded!

* Education:

o Kotoutumiskoulutus:

+ precise inquiries on the educational background of each immigrant in order to be able to divide people into different leveled groups
+ more flexibility in moving between different courses, taking into account every persons own wishes, abilities and situations
+ use immigrants with a long-time background in Finland as examples of “integration success stories”
+ 3 years of immigration course makes a return to the labor market very difficult. Flexibility and the idea, that the best integration course is given in active work life

o Recognizing degrees and skills acquired abroad
o Quality vs. quantity: looking at the person and school, not at the amount of degrees/years studied and all the different possible obstacles that are still set by law

There is a lot of matter in the above - but unless you apply it to your own circumstances and see your problems in the context of the larger issues, you will not fully understand that the problems are endemic in Finland and needs strong concerted action BY YOU!

PLEASE ACT.

Still a month to Midsummer?

(Cross-posted on Jacob's Blog.)

The sun shone brightly today. As I stepped out into the garden, Annikki's flowers on those old steps were truly magnificent.



As I drove through the city, a pony and buggy parked, with children buzzing around, certainly told me that there was a feeling of summer here.

Anyone for a Buggy ride?

And as I went further, the Doggy offering sweets and a balloon to an old lady outside of the Fleamarket run by the Red Cross set the atmosphere for a great day.


Doggy with sweets and balloons

I picked up Dr. Sebastian and Tingting from the University. Tingting cooked us a great Chinese meal at the Pailin Restaurant as she continues to teach Pailin how to make good Chinese grub. Tingting had to rush off as she was flying to China in the afternoon, but not before she picked my brains clean to sort out the next stage of her fast upwardly mobile career!

I took Dr. Sebastian around the City Centre which was alive with activities. It was the day of the Oulu Marathon which was run around the City starting and ending near the Market Place at the City Library. Thousands of watchers lined the route. The car parks were all full, and I was very lucky to get a parking place right in the city centre.


Oulu Marathon in progress.
Running past the Oulu City Library.

There was an event organised in the Youth House in Oulu called NUKU. It was called "Marketing of Possibilities" and several Non-Governmental Agencies (NGOs) had small stands to explain what there goals were to the public.


Amnesty International stand manned by friends.
Fumi is the tall Japanese lady on the left of the picture.

The Amnesty International table was well manned and of great interest to many. I met several friends around the table including Ville and Fumi. Dr. Sebastian was taken aback to know that he was well known as so many people who met him knew him as he had been featutred on this blog.

As we walked around we met several friends, but sadly, with each of the NGOs cramped together in such a small space, it was certainly not very possible for them to be demonstrative of their work and their achievements. I was happy to note that the Women's Empowerment group had a large and well organised and captivating show and I had the chance to meet Mervi Heikkinen, something which should have happened many many months ago!


Dr. Sebastian plastered against a World Comics poster.

World Comics of India is having an exhibition at the NUKU, but with all the NGOs stands plastered against the walls, it was not possible to have a view of what was on display, although we did see some Hindi comics splattered around. I managed to paste Dr. Sebastian against a poster of the Indian Express newspaper!

There was so much going on. It seemed totally confused with all the hubbub. I hope that future events will have more order so that visitors, like me, can get more out of the event.

From there we went to the CHAFF meeting at Pailin Restaurant and met with Kerstin.

Soda was there and he had just learnt a very serious lesson to listen to what his parents tell him. His cycle had been robbed - because, despite their several warnings, he had not bothered to lock it. His mother was very distraught. I reassured her that Soda would have learnt a lesson through this incident. I told Soda that now he had no cycle, he would now have no option but to jog to his training sessions and around the town.

Soda is certainly going to miss his cycle, but then, as they say you live and, hopefully, you learn!


Dr. Sebastian and me enjoying the sunshine at the Pailin Restaurant

Soda managed to catch this picture of Dr. Sebastian and me relaxing in the great sunshine which crowned most of this day. Although, the minute the sun went behind the clouds, we were all rudely reminded that summer was not quite here, as all had to rush to don their coats to keep warm!

As I drove Dr. Sebastian back to the University, after Pailin had armed him with a special Thai Sweet Chilli Wrap for his dinner, coming out of the Oulu Cathedral were finely togged people. They had just finished taking part in the convocation for Doctorates. They were certainly dressed in a lot of finery!


End of the Convocation for Doctorates in Oulu

And so ended another great pre-summer day!

Saturday Meeting at Haukipudas Postponed

Dear friends,

It is 4 am on Friday morning and I have not consulted with Sisko and Pentti as yet before releasing this, but my email Inbox was filled with requests to postpone this Saturday's Chaff meeting:

Isaac will be in London
Tingting will be in China
Ralf's wife's birthday is on Saturday
Matti is attending a wedding at Ylivieska
Ville will be in a course
Ilari and Ildikó have an City engagement
Anna-Liisa had committed too another engagement,
There is a big event "Marketing of Possibilities" in the Nuku in Oulu on Saturday (11:00 - 16:00 hours) where several Chaff participants are taking part,

etc. etc. etc.

and so on.

With so many of our dear friends and active supporters otherwise engaged, I felt that the event would not do justice to the hospitality being shown by Sisko and Pentti and the requests for postponement.

So I decided that those who were planning to go to Haukipudas will meet as a truncated CHAFF meeting on Saturday afternoon at The Pailin Restaurant at 14:30 and not at Haukipudas. We will plan the Haukipudas meeting for a more suitable time for all our many friends, as well as Sisko and Pentti.

Please note I have been also informed that Kannan will visit Oulu next weekend (27th - 29th May). He will drive in from Rauma.

I am extremely sorry for this last minute change of plans.

Have a great weekend.

--
Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland

Next CHAFF meeting in Haukipudas?

It has been proposed by one of our very regular CHAFF participants, Pentti Paakki, that we hold the next CHAFF Meeting at his residence in Haukipudas, which is about 25 km from Oulu.

Sisko and Pentti Paakki
Torvelantie 10 A 1
Haukipudas 90830

Sisko & Pentti Paakki

The suggestion is that we should have it there on Saturday 20th May 2006.

As the Amnesty International programme (Programme on Saturday 20.5. Market of Possibilities at 11.00-16.00 at NUKU) is on all day that day, where several CHAFF participants will be very active, it has been suggested that we start for Haukipudas after 16:30 so that everybody can attend.

Because of the distance, we will have to organise transport too and from the meeting.

If you would like to attend, in what I know will be a very traditional show of wonderful Finnish hospitality, I would like confirmation and also whether you would require transport.

I will then let those who are coming know the pick up points and the times.

It promises to be a very interesting evening, so get back to me quick!

Next Regional Policy Plan Development Session

I received this message from Ildikó late last week:

Dear friends,

First of all, big thanks to Ata for organizing such an interesting and successful seminar yesterday. I think we all feel, that now we can really continue the dialogue. One possibility for this is introducing ideas and demands of us, immigrants, into the regional policy plan, a plan that gives the direction (and funding sources) for regional immigrant policy for the next four years. Therefore, I would like to ask and beg you all to join our next meeting on

Tue, May 30 2006, 15.00
at the SINNI-office,
Isokatu 30, 3rd floor

This meeting is already the fourth so far and now it is time to get more and more concrete about our ideas. Therefore, I am sending you the ideas and demands that I have so far received from you and summarized. Please look through them and comment them and send me your ideas via email until Friday, May 26. I will again implement them into the paper and we will continue their discussion on May 30.

I am also sending you the Regional Council´s focus points, that they plan to incorporate into the policy plan. Attention: this very paper is the one that we have to expand according to our wishes. So look at it with this knowledge. Unfortunately this paper is not available in
English.

It is important that you all show up on May 30! Ilpo Tapaninen from the Regional Council will be around again to comment our ideas and listen to our demands. We have to finish this development process by the end of June and come up with suggestions and demands for the Council. So there is not much time left - don´t let it go by unused!

Please forward this message to as many immigrants as you know. See you on May 30!

Have a nice weekend!

Ildikó

I am not giving the contents of the two attachments that Ildikó sent me, so please contact me or her if you want to get hold of them.

Although we at CHAFF have no unified stand on the issues that will be discussed, may I personally ask all of you CHAFF participants to take an active position on this as YOUR FUTURE LIES IN YOUR HANDS!

Amnesty International Meeting

I was fortunate to be able to take part in the first meeting of the Amnesty International, Oulu, English Language Group, on Wednesday 10th May 2006 at Toppelius House on Torikatu. I found the proceedings very interesting.

Besides me, Cagri Akgul, Annika Nyström, Eija Isoviita, Sandrine Boumard, Ahmed Akbar Feroz, Riku Baas, Florence Naillat, Johanna Leppänen and Niina Kuokkanen, the Organiser of this group, were present.

Niina and Johanna ran the show.


Newcomer from India to Oulu, Ahmed Akbar Feroz and
longtime Oulu resident, Florence Naillat.


Longtime Finnish Amnesty activist Riku Baas

Among the subjects discussed were:

1. Would it be possible to offer help to the Finnish Section to translate some of their material into English?

2. Programme on Wednesday (this week) 17.5. at 17.30, in Toppelius: Briefing about the yet not publicised EU-Campaign. This campaign is the primary focus of the Finnish section this year, so this is useful not only for Saturday's event, but also for many others. (The main topic is EU's politics on asylum seekers)

3. Programme on Saturday 20.5. Market of Possibilities at 11.00-16.00 at NUKU. Help is required for tasks such as:

a. Someone with a car to get stuff and Niina from Niina's place and get them and take stuff away in the afternoon.
b. Help is needed at NUKU to set up the table before the event starts (10.15 am).
c. Help is also needed at the event in general, e.g. to set up all the tables inside for the different organisations.
d. About 5 Amnesty International people are needed top be present there at one time, it would be best if most of them could speak both languages, Finnish and English.
e. 1 or 2 people walking around getting petitions signed.
f. Maximum 2 persons at a time behind the table
g. One person who will look around the other tables, help in providing breaks, so that people can eat, etc.

4. Programme on Monday 22.5. Main Oulu Library Cafe at 17.00 Oulu group members share ideas and plan for Book Fair -event during 9. - 11.6. Finnish language would probably be necessary.

5. Programme on 9. - 11.-6. BOOK FAIR in the Oulu City Main Library and Theatre area: fri and sat 10 am - 6 pm, sun 10 am - 4 pm. Finnish speaking volunteers welcome. The theme is "freedom of speech" and selling Amnesty International publications. Some human rights related books may be on display.

6. Programme of the next meeting of Amnesty English Language Group will be on Monday 12.6., at 6 pm. in Ainola Park, meet in front of the Cafe. If it's raining or below 15 degrees or "danger" of flooding or other force majeure, then same time same place at Toppelius. Cagri will talk about the Human Rights situation in Turkey, especially with reference to article 301 in Turkish law.

Why not join us on Wednesday at Toppelius House and meet an interesting set of people?

I would like to thank Niina for providing me with the background material so as to set up this blog entry. (Bad quality photographs are MINE, so do not blame Niina for that.)