Building bridges, meeting friends and relatives!

(As more pictures come in, I will blog the nice ones - so please do send them to me. Those below were provided by Unnop and Pailin. For an entire web page of the event go to Indian Evening in Oulu 2007)

I must confess I have borrowed the term "Building Bridges" from the International School of Oulu which has a group of staff and students termed as Bridge Builders. They have the responsibility of making sure that the unison between all the ethnic groups is achieved.

The "Indian Evening", which was held this Saturday evening, was truly a historic occasion. We had to cut off registrations on Wednesday due to limitations of the number of people we could accommodate at the location, the dining hall of the Myllytulli School in the centre of Oulu.

It was sad to inform several CHAFF participants that registration had closed.

We took on a special responsibility this evening of linking people, especially new CHAFF participants needing some form of assistance to those who could help them. It was 100% successful, as both sides of the equation found the CHAFF event to be especially motivating to go out of their way to establish the important first step of a link - communication.

As the evening drew to a close and we were cleaning up, Annikki was talking to a young German student who has become a regular CHAFF participant. As they were talking in English, Annikki inquired her name. Finding she had a Finnish one (as she is half German and half Finnish), they dropped into talking in Finnish. Annikki took a shot in the dark when she queried Julia's Väisänen's ancestry and whether she knew a Väisänen who was linked to her own Reinikka family. When Julia checked with her aunt, whom she woke up late in the evening, she found that this half German, half Finnish person had family links to Annikki! Truly building a bridge!

Before I go on to describe a wonderful evening, I must especially thank a couple of people without whose help this evening would not have been possible, but yet, they could not attend.

Tero Raiskio had to go to Helsinki to take part in a television quiz programme. His selfless help in organising the projector from his school friend in Raahe, Lauri, was crucial to the success of the evening. He rang me from Helsinki as soon as he was free to check how the evening had gone. Although he was away, his heart and soul were with us here.

Unnop with his partner, Pailin,
who attended the India Evening
wearing the beautiful silk sari of my late mother.

The second person who could not attend, as he was busy manning his restaurant, was Unnop Khungrai. Unnop set up the entire system to make the music and computer presentations possible. Not only did he spend time before the event, but after everyone had gone home, he came to dismantle the entire system, clean up the premises and make sure that we left the premises as we had found it.

Thank you Tero and Unnop. Your absence was deeply felt.

The setting was the occasion was created by Kasia Mazur and Mona who along with Ildiko Hamos, Kannan Balaram, Padma Ojala and a few others. Kasia set up the room with an exhibition of Indian artifacts including modern and ancient and modern Indian coins, postcards and literature from around India, a large map of the country, a chess set made of sandalwood with the pieces hand carved people from the Ramayana, a snake and snake charmers flute batik and plenty of other Indian motif batiks and Indian art miniatures. The visitors were greeted by a couple of ancient hanging parrot lamps and a traditional temple lamp burning wicks doused with coconut oil.

The tone for the Indian Evening was set by a decision for each Indian lady attending to bring a couple of Indian saris so that the non-Indian ladies could try to wear this garb. This was absolutely a success. Not only did these ladies wear the unfamiliar dress with grace but they did normal tasks and also dancing to Bollywood and Bhangra music wearing six yards of fabric draped around them.

The food was brought by all those attending. As the theme was India, many of the non-Indians attempted to make Indian dishes. The fare was varied and scrumptious. Even some of the Indian boys attending, who normally do not even try their hand at cooking, put their efforts together and produced some sensational dishes. The chicken soup and the Chettianad curry were truly superb. Every single rendition was worth more than just the taste, as it gave a flavour of participation.


June and Pailin of the large Thai contingent
who attended the evening.

The Thai group headed by June Koskela, turned out a special Thai/Indian chicken and rice combination which also proved a great hit.

Hilmi Oral, a Turkish friend, who won this year's award for the best Man in Finland, along with his daughter, brought a delicious sweet, which was Turkish in-origin but was totally Indian in flavour.

The two bulk submissions were a Madras Curry from the soon to be opened Indian cuisine wing of the Royal Garden Restaurant and the Kashmiri Vegetarian Curry from the established Indian Restaurant in Oulu, The New Bombay. Our special thanks to the owners for helping us out on this evening.

It would be wrong to single out anyone, but the spirit of India was brought through this food not only by the Findian/Indian couples - Helena and Atul Mahajan, Aruna and Mahesh Somani, Aruna and Vamsi Paluguru, Pooja and Mani Kakkar-Bhowmik, and Lathalakshmi and Subramaniam Muragan, but also by the efforts of Ildiko (Hungary), Brent Cassidy (US), Benjamin Hayes (Australia), Kasia (Poland), Mona (Finland), Andreina Moreno (Venezuela), Hilmi (Turkey) and several others - too long a list to be named individually. Confidently, we can say that there was no shortage of food an drink, even delicious cool lassi and the almond flavoured milk that we in India so love.


Padma and Kannan with me.


Kannan and me.

The people attending came from far and wide. Kannan Balaram and Padma Ojala came from Rauma, 550 km south of Oulu. Ranjeet Singh came from Kajaani about 200 km East of Oulu. Pooja and Mani kakkar-Bhowmik with their 10 month old baby and Rita, Sauli and little 2 year old Veikka came from Raahe about 80 km west of Oulu. I had asked Rita to attend as I wanted them to meet this Indian couple living in the same town as them.


Veikka shares my lap with Kwan, a little Thai girl,
who has become my fast friend from the time I picked her up
with her parents from Oulu airport 2 months ago.

Veikka decided he wanted to sit in Joanna's father's lap when Rita told him that I was Joanna's dad. Rita and Joanna are childhood friends having been to school together from the time Joanna came to Finland in 1984.


Pailin wearing Annikki's sari with Annikki.
(The sari was given to Annikki by my late mother
many tens of years ago.)

We had a large contingent from AIESEC, an international student organisation which organises exchange of graduates to companies, joined us in making this event a broad based event as the Indian exchange trainee, Kanchan Gupta, gave a talk about India.

>
Kanchan Gupta,
the Indian trainee in Oulu, Finland, through AIESEC.

This was followed by a CD presentation that Kasia had made for her school students when she talked about India to them a few weeks ago.


Pailin with Pupe and Kwan,
who performed a special dance at the Evening.

Two young Thai girls, Pupe and Kwan, performed a dance for the audience. This was followed by a group of international girls trying to dance a traditional Indian dance with all the movements which they had been taught by the Indian ladies present. They performed flawlessly getting many of the head and finger movements perfectly. Many thanks to newcomer to Oulu, Aruna Paluguru, for this coaching.

After the meal, instead of the intended showing of Bollywood films, the lively Indian music started and the younger crowd thought that it was more fun dancing to the music - and boy oh boy, did they dance. Many of us did not´t know we have such great talent in our Indian residents here.

Then, the non-Indian ladies in Saris took over. As a symbol of their affection to Annikki and me, they wanted us to join them on the dance floor to bridge the generation gap. Annikki was not in the mood, so I ended up dancing with a bevy of beautiful girls from all around the world, such as Hungary, Poland, Venezuela, Finland! The bones did creak a bit!

The wonderful atmosphere created lasted till the very last moment when the people all joined together to clear up the premises and leave it exactly as we had found it 6 hours earlier. The general opinion was that a Bridge was built between the dormant but lively Indian community in Oulu and all the different nationalities (over 30) who have made CHAFF a household word in the community of Oulu.

Many try to pin this success on me. This, I solemnly deny, as without this group of young people so dedicated to the cause of building a beautiful bridge, such a success would never be possible.

We missed Isaac Sundarajan, Indian CEO of Finnish IT company, Codenomicon Oy, who sent us a message from San Francisco, expressing his deep regret of not being able to join us. We also missed Veli-Matti Jäskeläinen, CEO of the Indian owned Finnish wind energy company, WinWind OY, as he had, unfortunately, committed to a another engagement.

But Ashesh Kumar, the Indian represntative of the new owners of the Biotechnology facility in Medipolis, his charming wife, Indu and 3-year old live-wire son, Karthik, graced the occasion. It is important these industrial leaders recognise the existence of CHAFF and its work, as they could play a very important role in building the bridge in the most important gap today - unemployment of ethnic minorities in Oulu and the whole of Finland.

The opposite of BEST BUY

(Cross posted on our Jacob's Blog and the Oulu Best Buy Blog.)

It is not often that we get angry or are deeply disturbed by an experience which will radically cause us to publish a very negative entry in the Best Buy Blog. However, during the last few weeks two things have deeply disturbed us. We felt we should let you know and add these shops and companies to a Oulu Best Not Buy list.

If you have a similar experience, please let us know.



The incident reported here is our experience with a large and well known organisation known as Instrumentarium. It sells medical equipment and also many consumer products including spectacles. Annikki and I have been so-called preferred customers in the shop and also our son Mika and Annikki's mother, Hilja, has been given this status. It was not our choosing but when we bought our glasses from them many years ago the shop added us to this list.

Last week the frames of the spectacles of both Mika and Hilja broke, resulting in us having to order new spectacles for them. As both are invalids in my care, Jacob, who handles all the outside work for them, took the spectacles to Instrumentarium to get them repaired, or failing which, to get new glasses for them. The latter turned out to be true.

The pleasant lady who took the order took all the details, and Jacob found that out would take a few days before the glasses would be ready. So she gave him a note saying that the company would intimate him when they were ready.

As glasses are quite expensive and since the financial matters of Hilja are not controlled by us but a Public Guardian, Jacob thought it would be best to get the bill for the glasses and give them to the Guardian well before the glasses arrive, so that it could be paid directly by the Guardian. Jacob's life is so hectic, he likes to get things done well in advance so as not to be rushing around at the last minutes sorting out issues.

He visited the shop and gave a notification to the store clerk of the details of the Public Guardian asking them to send the bill for Hilja's glasses to the Guardian. The store clerk tried to ring through to the 3 phone numbers provided but she could not get through. So, Jacob asked the clerk to make out the Proforma Invoice for the glasses so that he could take it to the Guardian so that they could pay the amount before the glasses arrived.

Strangely, he was told that this was not possible. The computer could not produce a bill unless he was willing to pay 30% of the amount.

This was a stupid demand, as an invoice is not a binding document. All Jacob was asking was for a document so as to pay the dues before the glasses were even available or taken from the shop. They were due several days later.

Jacob was met with an absolute blanket statement that this was store policy. The refusal was so ridiculous and illogical and there was no way that it could be explained why it had to be.

We handle the purchasing of many items for Hilja and we deal with many shops. In most cases we just have to give the Public Guardian's name and address and show Hilja's Social Security card. The shops take all the steps to ensure that the bill is sent to the Public Guardian. In one case, for her sanitary supplies, we just order it by email and request the bill to be sent directly to the Public Guardian. It has never been a problem.

But this totally illogical, customer-repellent attitude of Instrumentarium suddenly set our memory cells working.

We recalled that almost 6 years ago when we went and ordered glasses for Hilja, we were told that we could not pay the bill through the bank, but had to pay by cash. We had to drag my half-invalid then 81 year old mother to the bank to draw cash from her account and then return to the shop with the cash to collect the glasses. (At that time Hilja did not have a Public Guardian.)

The store clerk refused to listen to reason as the policy seems to be universally applied in Finland by Instrumentarium.

I have told the store clerk that she tell her management that this story would be publicised broadly on the internet through our blogs, that we would put them on our NEW BEST NOT BUY list and also inform the top management of the company of this incident.

If Instrumentaroum does not tender a public apology, inform us that this policy has been rescinded and we are not compensated for the waste of our time and money in this matter, Instrumentarium stay firmly posted on this list!

Further, this will be the last purchase we will make from this company.

We can all be proud of Isaac and his team

I just received information that the company where our CHAFF participant Isaac Sundarajan is CEO, Codenomicon Oy, has been awarded the IT Achievement Award for 2006. We can all be proud of this.

Codenomicon CEO, Isaac Sundarajan

Codenomicon awarded IT Achievement 2006 in Finland

February 13, 2007 - Finnish Codenomicon Ltd's Defensics test solutions have been awarded as IT Achievement 2006. Finnish Information Processing Association, (FIPA) assigned the yearly recognition for an IT company in security seminar held today. The yearly recognition has been given since 1986. The awarded candidates have been chosen by the board of FIPA based on the work done to develop the IT industry.

"We are very pleased to receive this recognition for our long term work in the security field. The way we have combined Finnish technology know-how and international business know-how makes Codenomicon operations very unique", tells Tuija Postari-Kivistö, Chief Operating Officer at Codenomicon.

"Codenomicon is a model example of a company, where research started at a university has been successfully commercialized and created international business activities. Codenomicon Defensics state-of-art software testing solutions enable the testing of different network elements from mobile devices to Internet Infrastructure devices and next generation networks. The test tools are based on long term top research in a co-operation with the University of Oulu", justifies the choice Robert Serén, Executive Director at FIPA.

Codenomicon Ltd. established 2001 develops, manufactures and markets the state-of-art software testing solutions for proactive elimination and prevention of security vulnerabilities in IP, wireless and digital media systems. Codenomicon's customer base includes several leading companies from international telecommunications and Internet fields. The Defensics test solutions are used for automating the testing of systems and software components for their tolerance of anomalous inputs, including the malicious attacks from network. Defensics can be used for software quality assurance, supporting the product evaluations, certification and acceptance testing.

For more information about Codenomicon and its products, visit the company's web site at www.codenomicon.com.

About Codenomicon Ltd.

Codenomicon develops and markets state-of-art software testing solutions for proactive elimination and prevention of security vulnerabilities for IP, wireless and digital media systems. The company serves industry-leading international telecom and internet companies. Codenomicon's DEFENSICS test solutions are available for a wide range of protocols and file formats. Codenomicon, the leader in security and robustness testing, is headquartered in Oulu, Finland, with offices in California and Hong Kong.

Unfortunately Isaac cannot be here for our Indian Evening but has sent his special greetings to us and offered to sponsor any event we want. I do not have to take him up on sponsorship just now, but will certainly do so when we have something important and worthwhile on our CHAFF agenda.

INDIAN EVENING IN OULU

INDIAN EVENING IN OULU
organised by
CHAFF participants
(based on an idea by Lena Viskari)

REPLY US ONLY IF YOU INTEND TO TAKE PART


Annikki and Jacob at the first Indian Evening
organised by the English Club of Oulu in 1984.


I have been inundated by requests for more information about the CHAFF Indian Evening on

Saturday 17th February 2007, 20:00 - ??:?? hours.

To be able to finalise this event as well as the location, IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND, kindly fill up the questionnaire below and send it back to ud by email at jmatthana@gmail.com :

1. Will you come with a friend / friends?
Yes / No (If yes: Number)

2. Will any children (older than 5 years) be also with you?
Yes / No. (If yes: Number)

3. Are you a vegetarian or vegan?
Yes / No

4a. What Indian dish would you like to bring with you?
Name (eg. Dosai, Samosa, Baji, Vada, Biryani, Bombay Mix, etc)

OR

4b. What Indian drink would you like to bring with you?
Name (Sweet or Sour Lassi, Mango Phool, Nimbupani, Indian Beer, Indian Rum, etc.)

5. If you cannot bring an indian Dish or an Indian drink, would you like to contribute to a fund to bring in some special dish of Indian origin?
Yes / No (If yes: Maximum Contribution Euro 10 per head)

6. Will you be dressed in Indian attire ?
Yes / No ( If yes: Name: Sari, Dhoti, Jubba, Mundu, Salwar kameez, etc.)

7. Can you bring some Indian Music?
Yes / No (If yes: Classical, Carnatic, Bollywood Pop, Tape, CD, ?)

8. Can you bring an Indian Movie?
Yes / No (If yes: Bollywood, Art, Nature, Video, CD, ?)

9. Will you need transport to and from the Indian Evening?
Yes / No (If yes: From and to WHERE?)

Would you like to make any suggestions to make the evening a memorable event!

Best regards

ANNIKKI & JACOB
jmatthana@gmail.com
Founders of the world-wide FINDIANS movement

Did you switch OFF?

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

How many of you switched off all your lights and power units between 19:55 and 20:00 hours on 1st February 2007. (As was pointed out to us by 59er Peter Miovic.)

We did and sat in darkness with our living room flooded by the light of a full moon just behind us.

We did it not only to focus on the Climate Change issue but also as a protest to the "Oil Wars" being carried out by the US in Iraq and being planned in Iran!

As we looked around our small colony of 27 houses, we noted that one young couple with two small children had also followed the instructions, but 25 other families had been either oblivious or insensitive to the situation.


Eiffel Tower at sunrise.

The local newspapers did not cover the issue. It was only the television channels, as BBC World, which covered it by showing the switching off of the lights on the Eiffel Tower.

Today, there was much greater TV coverage of the report released today on climate change which stresses that there is 90% certainty that human beings were "very likely" to have been responsible for this.

We wonder why they stopped at saying "very likely" when it is absolutely certain and every scientist in the world studying this has no doubt whatsoever?

Hilmi Oral wins prize

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

This morning when I opened the newspaper, I read with great joy that Hilmi Oral had won the prize for his work in helping Men.


Hilmi teaching a class of kids.

Hilmi Oral is a Turk who has lived in Oulu for the last 15 odd years. He has contributed to the well-being of the lives of many the foreigners who have come to live in this town. His work has not been restricted to men alone. He is regarded as the "BEST" teacher of the Finnish language! Hilmi does not waste time teaching the language based on the complexity of the grammar. He concentrates on helping people to communicate from day 1, just as a small child learns language.

Hilmi is an accomplished singer. He presently works as a Cultural Mediator for the organisation which runs the Oulu Settlement’s Friendship House. He has been working to integrate foreigners into Oulu life. He is soft-spoken and is loved by all of us in Oulu.

There is no one more deserving to have received the prize for this work. Hilmi deserves more than just this prize as he toils some 15 to 16 hours a day for the cause of furthering the life of foreigners in Oulu.

Just last Friday I took four new foreigners to Oulu to his office where he had organised an evening for men. He was so welcoming and humble of his accomplishments.

I feel proud to know a person such as Hilmi who lives in the same city as me!

Today and 40 years ago

The CHAFF meeting today had a few new faces. The food was great.

Finns Jukka Kokko and Tero Haaraniemi with his Thai wife "Monday-cats", plus Ashesh Kumar's wife, Indu and their 3 year old son, Karthik, were our new attendees.

Benjamin (Australia), Kasia (Poland), Ashesh (India), Tony (Finland) and Lauri (Finland) were also in attendance with Unnop, Pailin, Soda, Yut (all Thai) and myself. Tero was late and hence missed all of us!

Next week we will have some new attendees. The meeting on Sunday 4th February 2007 will start at the Pailin Restaurant, Kenttätie 9, Kasarmi Area, at 13:00 hours.

(The following was cross-posted on my Jacob's Blog.)



It was 40 years ago that in a small but picturesque town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire, England, that we were joined together in "Holy Matrimony".









Today we celebrated our 40th Wedding Anniversary. Pailin and Unnop carved us a beautiful honey melon.

We received greetings from all corners of the globe which made us feel so humbled that so many of you remembered us on this very auspicious day.

Next target - our 50 years anniversary.

I refer you to my tribute to my dearest girlfriend, wife, mother of our children and a great grandmother of our grandchildren, which I created for her 60th birthday.

Special action on 1st February 2007

(Cross-posted on all my major blogs.)

This message was sent to me by my friend 59er Peter Miovic for the widest possible circulation. Since I believe in this cause, I am posting this on all my blogs and groups.

Hope you will take heed and spread it within your circle.

Send this message to as many people as you know!

---

An action to bring climate change to the notice of Politicians and World Leaders

On February 1st 2007 take part in one of the biggest actions against climate change organised by the people.

L'Alliance pour la Planète (a group of environmental activists) send this call to all civilians:

Make our planet rest for five minutes!

Everybody is requested to dim his/her lights for five minutes between 7.55 pm and 8.00 pm on February 1st 2007.

This not only to save engergy for five minutes, but to bring this message in a way that will attract the attention of politicians and leaders.

It is time for them to take action and avoid the waste of energy.

During the 5 minutes we'll give the planet rest: it doesn't take long and it won't cost you a thing.

And it will make a statement before the Belgian federal elections that we as citizens want climate on the agenda.

And why February 1st 2007?

Because on that day a new file from the climatologic experts of the United Nations will be published in Paris.

Because it is with our Belgian neigbours, it is impossible to let this opportunity slip!

We have to get attention to the urgent matter of the worlds climatological situation. If everybody takes part in this action it will have an effect on media and politics that might have a real influence, this would be good on such short notice before the (Belgian) elections!

---

Make this message go around the globe, send it to friends, family and local politicians. Put it in your newsletter and your blogs.

Welcome to new CHAFF participants

Chaff this week was flowing over with a few new participants and many regular ones, especially to welcome our new Oulu resident, Ashesh Kumar (India), who will represent the new owner of the Biotechnology pharma manufacturing facility in Medipolis.

Overview of some of those present.


Anup, JM, Pailin, Tero, Päivi, Ashesh, Nadja.

Among the many regular Chaff participants present this week were Tony Manninen (Finland), Pentti and Sisko Paakki (Finland), Tero Raiskio (Finland), Lauri Gardner (Finland), Mona (Finland), Kasia Mazur (Poland), Lena Viskari (Poland), Tingting (China), Ken (China), Anup (Nepal), Shahnaz (Iran), Yrjö (Finland) and Nadja (Iran & Finland) Mikkonen, Isaac Sundarajen (USA/India), Feroze (India), Nageshwari and Kiran Kumar (India), Vamsi Palukuru (India), Kanchan Gupta (India), Pailin and Unnop (Thailand) and yours truly, a world citizen.


Lena at the center of a discussion,
while Päivi engages with students Anup and Ken.


Mona, Julie, Brad and Kasia,
with Lauri with his back to the camera.

Also new to the Chaff meetings were Paivi Kyötömaki (Finland), the Head of the Oulu University Library, who loves India, Julia Väisäen (Germany/Finland/Holland), a cosmopilitan young girl who is an exchange student to Finland from Germany, Brad Sharek (USA), who is involved with marketing of Codenomicon, Aruna (India), the wife of Vamsi, who were married last August in India,


Pailin and Shahnaz.

The atmosphere could be judged by the decibels coming out from the restaurant.

Pailin and Unnop dished up a fabulous buffet, a great spiced vegetarian noodle salad, and a vegetarian dry curry, a chicken, a beef and a pork dish. The meal was relished by all, and that is more than half the success of CHAFF, as the ambiance and food suits this crowd.

We are especially grateful to them for allowing us to monopolise the restaurant on Sunday afternoons, much to the detriment of their regular customers, many of whom have a problem with the noise we generate.

Thank you Pailin and Unnop.

Attending a funeral

The CHAFF Meeting on Sunday 14th January will be at 13:00 hours at the Pailin Restaurant, Kenttätie 9, Kasarmi Area.)

>The following is cross-posted from Jacob's Blog.)

Raija Pojhanpalo

Today at 12 noon we attended the funeral of Raija Pohjanpalo at the Old Chapel in Oulu.

We took flowers and a card with us from Bill, Tingting, Unnop and Pailin and from the two of us.

Jacob read the message which said:

"The sun sets on a golden personality,
But the brightness will linger in our hearts forever."


The photograph was a beautiful sunset in Oulu, Finland
recorded by our elder daughter Susanna in 1990.

After the service, which was very emotional for all of us who attended, we joined the family and friends at the Kaukovainio Chapel for a get-together to celebrate the life of Raija.


Patrick and Leena.
Nephew Jari, who lived with Raija,
can be seen between the two.

Patrick Dickson, the South African priest in Oulu who has known Raija from 1976, organised the event.

His wife, Leena read a message from Pirkko Böhm, who ran the English Club as Secretary for many years with Raija as Treasurer, also when Annikki was Chairperson for the Club.

It is difficult in one's heart to let go of someone whom one loves very much. And it was evident that from the emotions we saw displayed, every single person present expressed their love and admiration with tears for the gentle personality of Raija.

Tears to shed

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

In 1984, when we moved to Finland, Annikki was looking for something to do. She saw an advertisement in the local newspaper calling on children of Finns who had lived abroad who wanted to continue to study English to register with the English Club of Oulu.

Two of our oldest friends in Oulu,
Pirkko Böhm and Raija Pohjanpalo.

Annikki contacted the Club and volunteered her services to teach English to the children. She met two people, Pirkko Böhm, the Secretary and Raija Pohjanpalo, the Treasurer.

A few months later, we were asked to give a lecture about India by the English Club. Annikki prepared some beautiful paintings of Indian birds and scenery and one of Mother Teressa for an exhibition of India. Jacob, dressed in a "mundu and jubba" and Annikki in a sari, presented a well attended lecture. Also present were many members of the English Club, including Raija.

Our friendship with Raija has lasted these 22 years.

When Annikki was the Chairperson of the English Club, Raija was at her side through quite difficult days as we tried to make the Club a really active entity.

Raija had a difficult life as she had to care for her invalid mother till she had died. Raija lived with her nephew, Jari, and they had some rough times. (Raija was the sister of Jari's father.)

But Raija was always smiling.

A couple of years ago, when she was really in financial trouble because of her illness, cancer, she asked Jacob for help. This was rendered. There was no consideration of it having to be repaid. But Raija, despite her ill health, worked and repaid that amount in full.

Raija helped many many foreigners including a few CHAFF participants with their accounts. Her ill health made it difficult, but she wanted to help all those who came to her.

A couple of months ago, Patrick Dickson sent a message to all English Club members through its Chairperson, Anna-Liisa Hirvenoja, saying that Raija was very seriously ill and advising those who knew her to pay her a visit to say their goodbyes.

Jacob had met Raija just a few days before this. Raija had been so optimistic that she did not give him any inkling of the terrible pain and suffering she was going through.

This week, Jacob received a call from Jari telling him that Raija had passed away last Wednesday, the 3rd of January 2007. Jacob broke down and cried, for this was someone that both of us loved very much.

Today, Annikki spoke to Jari when we visited him in their home where they had lived, two invalids taking care of each other.

Jari was very bitter with the medical system. He had advised Raija not to take the new medication that she was being offered. On Wednesday, Raija had rung Jari from the hospital where she had admitted herself saying that she was feeling much better and she hoped to be home by Thursday.

On Thursday, Jari had a call from the hospital saying that Raija had passed away.

Medical malpractice in Finland cost Jari his leg which had been amputated. The treatment on his back by Finnish doctors has made him an invalid.

Jari is no stranger to the incompetence of the Finnish medical profession and the depth to which they cover up the mistakes of their brotherhood in the profession. In one instance the lawyer had told him that his compensation file would vanish - which it had!

Jari had begged Raija not to follow what the doctors advised her in the treatment of her cancer.

But Raija was the trusting type, and today, Raija is no more.

There was never a time when we met that Raija would not ask after all our children and grandschildren. And we knew that it was not just social chit chat, as she was really interested to know about them.

When she had a problem installing her new computer, it was our son-in-law, Tony, that went to help her out.

Raija was one of our family.

We are going to miss her very much.

The funeral service will take place at the Old Chapel in the Oulu Cemetery Grounds at 12 noon on Saturday 13th January 2007. There will be a gathering of the family and friends to pay tributes to the wonderful personality, at the Kaukkovainio Parish Premises immediately thereafter.

The cremation of the body will take place privately next Monday, as that was what Raija wanted.

May her tired loving soul rest in peace.

Nobel Laureate attends CHAFF

The first meeting CHAFF for 2007 was an event which showed that we are going to have an outstandingly great year. This first meeting was attended by persons from Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, Kenya, Liberia, Poland, Thailand, Zambia, and many many Finns.

The Restaurant Pailin went to no end to make sure the even was a success. Unnop is a master carver, but this time he allowed Pailin to carve her first water melon.

Carving in progress

Completed work of fruit art

An admirer


As is said, behind every successful man is a lady. In this case there are two ladies, mother and daughter. The watermelon was made as a gift to two of them behind the Nobel Laureate, Julista and her daughter Ildiko, who is one of our earliest CHAFF participants.


Ildiko and Pailin

Unnop, Nobel Laureate Arpad Hamos and Pailin


Unnop, Ilari, Arpad, Ildiko, Julista and Pailin

The meeting celebrated not only the visit of Nobel Laureate Arpad Hamos and his wife, Julista, to CHAFF, but also the marriage of Ilari Sohlo to Ildiko, the daughter of the Nobel Laureate, week before last. Ildiko and Ilari are the celebrated authors of the book "Culture Shock Finland" which has been published in German.

Arpad is an expert on the safe transportation of hazardous materials, especially nuclear stuff. Although now just retired from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he is so young at heart and is eager to continue his work as a Consultant. With enormous projects like the Olkiluoto expansion of the nuclear power plant, there will be no shortage of takers for his knowledge!

The meeting was very much a family affair as besides Leena (Poland) and her husband, and two children, we had Ville and his wife, Fumi (Japan) and her baby daughter, Mari, at the meeting.


Prasad from Chennai, India, and
Ilari gets two thumbs up from me.

Besides Leena and her family, who were attending for the first time, we had three new Indian engineers working in Oulu also attending their first CHAFF meeting. Two are from Chennai and the third from Bihar.


Japanese formula soap - Made in Finland.
(Photograph from Ville's site.)

Fumi has just started an experimental project to make soap which is based on olive oil, palm oil and coconut oil. As was described by her, it is matured in the cold process, which lets the saponification reaction go slowly at room temperature. As a side product, the soap contains glycerol, which is good to keep the moisture in the skin and which is usually removed in commercial soap. The reason why Fumi has started this soap making project is this point.

This soap is good for the skin and also good for shampooing. After washing the hair with this soap, simply rinse the hair with vinegar water. (Approximately 2-3 shot glasses of any kind of vinegar for eating in a bucket of water).

Let us hope Fumi gets this soap into a production scale fast, as having tested her soap last night, I can say it certainly was a great experience as my dry skin was tingling with freshness!


Fumi, daughter Mari and Pailin.
Fumi is a biochemist doing research at Oulu University. But at the moment she is enjoying her first throes of motherhood looking after her beautiful daughter, Mari.

There was much work executed at the meeting behind the scenes. Connections were made to help those in trouble, and contributions were received to the CHAFF Help Fund.

We especially missed those who were ill, still away of holiday, those who were out of town, or those who could not make it to the meeting for reasons beyond their control! But the spirit of Tero, although feeling sick, made it to the meeting. Those who missed this meeting certainly missed an event which truly represents the enormous people power of CHAFF.

See you, as usual, next week on Sunday 14th January 2007 at 1300 hours at the Pailin Restaurant, Kenttätie 9, Kasarmi Area.

2007 vs. 2006

(Cross-posted on all our major blogs.)

2006 was a wonderful year, better than 2005; 2005 was a wonderful year, better than 2004, and.......

So what lies ahead in 2007?

Our Symbol for 2007 - The White Orchid.

Judging by the first 6 days, it is going to be a hectic year ahead, far more exciting than the previous few years.

We can see several changes ahead.

Already, the blogging world has changed. We have started something different in that we have, besides the blogs, started our own Google Groups.

The first two Groups that we started are the Oulu CHAFF Group and the Seventh Heaven for Cathedralite 59ers.

In a matter of just a few hours, the 40+ people of the Class of 1959 from the Cathedral and John Connon School, both the Boys and Girls, were aboard the Group. In a matter of a couple of days the list of persons grew by over 10 so that we have now identified over 70 members of our years at school. All our Group members are scouring the world to locate the missing persons so that we can hold a great 50th year reunion in November 2009.

This 3-year project which has excited everyone from the Arctic (Jacob) across the globe!

The Oulu CHAFF Group is only slowly taking off the ground. But the restart of the meetings in 2007 have started with a real coup with a 2005 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Arpad Hamos and his wonderful wife, from Hungary, gracing the first meeting on Sunday.

It is obvious that the Oulu CHAFF Group will have its work cut out for it during this coming year as there are literally hundreds of issues hanging over the fire. The amazing part is that those that once received help are now making significant contributions in helping others, taking the burden off the few that were origially involved in setting up this Assistance Forum. Much more ways of helping those in distress are becoming available and it is going to be an exciting year as CHAFF consolidates itself.

The main Jacob's Blog will remain intact and present a more focused look at the lives of two individuals, Annikki and Jacob, as it takes another major direction during 2007.

Important changes are just being discussed. But they are causing huge waves across the city of Oulu.

Several, we are sure, who will be quite happy to see the likes of us out of this City. But, there are an equal number who are appalled that we may make some move away from Oulu after the 23 years we have been here.

What is important to understand is that with the new power to the people of the internet, wherever we may be, in Oulu or in Newcastle, England or in Kerala, India, we will still be able to handle the problems, be parts of Groups, take part in the action in different parts of the world, without the need of the physical presence in any location.

In the computer world it is probably refered to as "virtual reality". Annikki and Jacob will be part of that virtual reality not only in Oulu, but in several locations around the world, throughout the year.

With that, both of us would like to wish each and every one of you a Happy and Prosperous New Year and let good health and vitality follow you wherever you are.

In that we share a greeting which was sent to us by Thomas Grorge from Helsinki:

May this 2007,
Blessings harrass you,
Happiness attack you wherever you go,
May misery be hijacked from you, and
May thieves pickpocket all your worries.

CHAFF: 2005 Nobel Peace Prize Winner will attend

I sent out this email a few minutes ago to those CHAFF participants whose email addresses I have.

Please reply as soon as possible.

Dear CHAFF Participants,

Welcome back after the season's holidays.

We wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year.

2007 Sunday Meetings START with an Atomic Explosion!



This Sunday's CHAFF meeting will be graced by a 2005 Nobel Peace Prize Winner.

Hungarian Arpad Hamos, and his wife, will join us for the buffet at the Pailin Restaurant, Kenttätie 9, Kasarmi Area.

He, and his colleagues, at the IAEA in Vienna, have been readers of our CHAFF blog for a long time. Many of them have been keenly interested in our work, especially as Arpad's daughter, Ildiko, has been one of the key CHAFF case workers.

We first thought we would move the buffet to another location.

There has been much objection to that. Everyone loves the ambience at Pailin, as well as the buffet.

We decided to have the meeting as two groups:

First group: 13:00 hours to 14:00 hours
Second group: 14:00 hours to 15:00 hours.

This way we can accommodate all our current CHAFF participants to meet and discuss with this outstanding family in our usual surroundings.

Please let me know, by return email to

jmatthan@gmail.com

which group you will be joining.

I hope it will divide it roughly on a 50:50 basis. If not I will intervene!

On the CHAFF Blog

http://OuluChaff.blogspot.com

you will now see a box at the top of the page.

This is for you to join the NEW Google CHAFF Group, where most of our interesting discussions will in future take place.

Join this Group to be part of this fast moving action taking place within CHAFF.

Looking forward to seeing you all this Sunday.


Jacob Matthan
Chaff Participant
Oulu, Finland

Busy day, yet...

(Cross-posted on Jacob's Blog.)

I had a very busy schedule yesterday. Even so, just before noon, I had a sudden urge to ring Ilari and Ildiko.



I chose Ildi's number. She answered immediately, her voice bubbling with excitement.

She told me that she and Ilari were waiting outside the Oulu Magistrate's Court room so that they could be married according to Finnish Civil Law. Her family from Hungary and Ilari's family from Oulu were present at this very private occasion.

I conveyed all the best from Annikki and me.

Later in the evening Ildi rang me to tell me all the details. Both Annikki and I were so happy that they have tied that knot which says the union is "for better or for worse" and "till death do them part". We wish them a happy comfortable journey.

Both Ildi and Ilari have become a loved part of our famiy. They are respected members of CHAFF. Ildi, in particular, has taken a large part of my load in helping Finns and foreigners in Oulu.

We will restart of CHAFF meetings on January 7th 2007 as most of the participants who have gone out for Christmas will be back.

This meeting is a special one asd it will be attended by Ildi's family, including her Nobel Peace Prize winning father - a wonderful personality, and her truly beautiful mother.

I am sure that many of you will want to attend to meet this wonderful couple who have raised such a fine character as Ildi.

Let me know, by return, if you are attending. The Pailin Restaurant may be too small for this event.

We may have to organise the location as soon as I know exactly how many of you intend to join us for the restart of CHAFF next Sunday, 7th January 2007 at 13:00 hours.

Merry Christmas to all our friends

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

It is Christmas morn. Annikki and my email Inboxes are filled with greetings from all corners of the globe.

63er Stephanian Ajay called me on a Skype video link from his farmhouse in Lund, Sweden. (I was able to see him, but as I am still having a problem finding an economic web camera for my Apple Mac, he could not see me!)

Chaff participant Kannan, who is taking his mother on a pilgrimage called us from Kashi, Varnasi, India.

Chaff participant Tingting checked in from her home town in Northeast China where she reported all the shops were open and brimming with customers.

63er Stephanian Aftab Seth (the twin brother of Roshan Seth who acted as Nehru in the movie "Gandhi") from Japan, 66er NCRTer Christie Robert from Malaysia, 60er Cathedralite Mehfooz Ahmed from Saudi Arabia, 62er Ranko Ivancevic from Cerbia, 95er Oulu University Ramesh Devu from Silicone Valley, California, USA; from India - 57er Cathedralite and 61er Stephanian Ashok (Tony) Jaitly (retired Chief Commissioner in Kashmir) from New Delhi, Cathedralite 59ers Viney Sethi and Vijay Shivdasani from Mumbai, cousin Satish Abraham from Kerala, Catheralites 43er Naval and 54er Armaity Patel from Mysore, etc...., from Finland Rotarian Ville Suomi, Women's Empowerist Ildiko Hamos, Chaff participant Pekka Keranen and family, on and on.... were among those who shared their greetings with both Annikki and me.

This made us feel profoundly humble that so many hundreds of you, of every age group, took the time to share your thoughts of the season with us.

On our part, we have made it a tradition to ask a couple of young foreigners who have no family here in Oulu, to join us for our very simple Christmas meal.

Year-before-last it was a young Tanzanian lady, Christine. Last year it was Kannan. This year we called two youngsters, Benjamen Hayes and Kanchan Gupta.



Benjamin is from Australia. He has been here for a few months. He is all what I call Australian, friendly, outgoing, understanding and a lovely human being.

We have a rule in our home that no gifts are exchanged at Christmas. For us, the time for giving is not one day, but the whole year.

Despite this, Benjamin brought me a CD which he cut of some of really best jazz tunes he has collected. Even as I write this I am listening to the CD "Jazz for Jacob". Forever-lasting melodiies, oldies rendered by many great artistes, as George Benson (Eternally) and Diana Krall's "Cry Me A River".

There is beautiful message on the back cover:

"And promise will come
To those whose kindness,
Leaves you without debt,
And bends the shape
Of things to come,
That haven't happened yet."

These are words of the New Zealand pop star Neil Finn, whose career from 1976 till today has been an inspiration to many, including me.

We had also asked Indian newcomer to Oulu, Bihari Kanchan Gupta, to join us. Unfortunately, he went for a walk on the previous day, fell and hurt his hand. He obviously consumed an overdose of pain-killers, which put him to sleep.

When I rang his doorbell to pick him up, and also rang his mobile several times during the course of the evening, he was in deep sleep and dead to the world.

He woke up after our meal was over, just about midnight, telephoned us, apologetic, but sadly, he missed a feast!



Annikki's mother, now 86, was also in a festive mood wearing the elf's hat, as she enjoyed what delicacies that were on offer.

I prepared the turkey. As I was thinking what filling to make, Annikki, as usual, came up with a most humourous and unusal suggestion. We had a box of chicken wings on the shelf. She suggested I stuff the turkey with that.

We laughed our guts out.

I had fun making a new Christmas dish, roast turkey stuffed with chicken wings beautifully flavoured with herbs and light spices carried in plenty of onions!

The meal was fully traditional Finnish in other ways.

The menu: Apple juice and orange juice to accompany Christmas brown bread made with a trace of molasses syrup, pickled herring, salted salmon slices, freshly tossed salad, potato salad, mushroom salad, turnip casserole, carrot casserole, roast potatoes, and, of course, the roast turkey stuffed with chicken wings! Afters were whipped cream with chocolate swiss roll and Annikki's own Christmas cake, full of all the rich dry fruits. Coffee to end the evening.

Mika, had his fill as well. Annikki's brother, who lives as a hermit in the forest, also landed up on the doorstep. Annikki put him to sleep in the cellar. He slept through the meal but enjoyed it later!

It was a true Christmas spirit as Benjamin had a tour around Annikki's garden and enjoyed the humour and simplistic creativity and beauty of what makes us so happy, day-in and day-out!

We finally thanked our Creator and Maker for all the simple things in life which make us so happy.

But, this year we dearly missed our grandchildren, Daniel, Asha and Samuel, who are holidaying in Florida with their parents!

We go unofficial for winter

The farewell meeting for Kerstin was a blast. It was well attended and those who could not come sent their best wishes to a very popular member of CHAFF.

CHAFF Farewell meeting for Kerstin in progress.

Pailin turned out a beautiful buffet and top of the charts was Kerstin's favourite dish - a spicy glass noodle salad. I saw her taking the secret recipe from Pailin at the end of the do.


Kerstin's favourite - Spicy Glass Noodle Salad.

Kerstin made a lot of friends during her short stay in Finland. Among them was this lively beauty from Poland, Kasia, who now graces our meetings.


Kerstin and Kasia.

We had a new participant at Chaff, a lovely Finnish student, Mona, who is Kasia's room-mate.


Mona and Kasia.

As a special part of the program, Pailin led Kerstin, Kasia and Mona in a graceful Thai dance performance for us Chaff participants. A truly great spectacle which is why our CHAFF meetings are so popular.


Kerstin, Kasia, Pailin and Mona.

It was suggested that the regular CHAFF meetings would not be held from now till mid-January as most of our group are pushing off for holidays around the world.

There were cries of despair when this was announced, so we decided that the Sunday get-togethers would continue for those who are still in Oulu. But, we would not have the regular Thai buffet UNLESS we were expecting MORE THAN 10 people. So do let me know if you are planning to come so I can organise the menu accordingly.

This Sunday is going to have some new and also some important participants. If you are still in Oulu, do get there.

Pailin Ravintola, Kenttätie 9, 13:00 hours, Sunday 3rd December 2006.

As a final farewell to Kerstin, I picked her up at 4.45 am today morning and dropped her off at the airport to catch her flight home to Germany. Kerstin was happy to be going back home. She said to me, finally, it ends as it started when I picked her up from the airport way back in March (?) 2006.

I have been driving the SAAB for a couple of days. I am getting very attached to it. I am seriously considering selling of the "RABBIT", which today has been the best car that I have ever owned. With new pistons, new gasket, new heating system, new this, new that, etc. etc. this 1985 car is really a gem. In the 5 years that I have used this car it has never given me any trouble whatsoever. Last year this little RABBIT came to the rescue of a Volvo, a SAAB, a Ford Modeo, a Toyota, a BMW.... . And the rescue work this year has already begun.

When I mentioned this news to grandson Samuel in Newcastle this evening, he was aghast. He finally reconciled to the idea that maybe the bigger car would be a little more useful to slow me down.

If someone wants this FORD, which is a great one - but is not concerned with "looks" or age, call me and make a reasonable offer.

Here is another really good car on offer - Tony's car, which is on reasonable terms. The 2 year old car has less than 35000 km on the clock. That is because both Joanna and Tony have been in England for most of the time and only used the car during summertime.

You can find the details on NettiAuto. Tony left for England yesterday, but call me if you feel that this is of interest to you. (Euro 18000 range with easy payment terms Just 241 Euro per month!)

A really good Volvo Diesel belonging to Petri is also on offer, so contact me if you feel that car is of interest. (Euro 15000 range.)

The story about the fungus infested houses in Intiö is sweeping around Oulu and Helsinki. A large picture of our CHAFF hostess, Pailin, was plastered across Kaleva.

Another story is due out shortly. If any of the areas of the story remain uncovered, I will blast the lid of the corruption behind this story. So stay tuned as we at CHAFF fight for justice for those poor people affected - Finns and Foreigners alike.

See you on Sunday.