Here’s an edited original of the Heili article that has got a lot of positive feedback. Enjoy!
A New Beginning in a New Country
I came to Finland from Tanzania with my parents in 2007. I am now 13 years old so back then I was only a 9-year-old boy. My father was already studying in Finland and I remember how me and my brother were told that now our mother had been accepted as a student in far away Joensuu. Moving to Finland sounded like a good idea because I had already been missing my father for a year and traveling to the other side of the world sounded really exciting. A few weeks later my mother told me that our school affairs had also been settled: my brother would start in the seventh grade at Pataluodon koulu and I would be studying in the third grade at Rantakylän koulu. She was determined about the fact that we were to do our studies in Finnish which was quite a shock to me.
My parents accompanied me on my first day in the new school and we went to meet my new teacher. She told me that I would not be the only one in a new situation because there were other foreign students in the school as well. I should not also worry too much about my Finnish because everything would be just fine in a few months. I did soon notice that even though I couldn’t say a word at first, all the teachers were very friendly and encouraging about speaking Finnish. If I did some kind of a mistake, they helped and urged me to try again. All this despite of the fact that at the beginning I only understood if they were happy and said ”hyvä, hyvä!” My class teacher also helped me with other things besides the language. She told me to get acquainted with things like Finnish food and new kind of sports. That might be the reason for me getting used to Finland much quicker than my parents did.
On my first day I also almost right away met a Russian boy who was called Vova. Although we did not share a language, we quickly became friends. I only knew my mother tongue swahili and English, Vova could only speak Russian and a bit of Finnish. After we had tried all the languages we could we ended up using all kinds of signs and gestures. Of course, we wanted to learn Finnish fast because that was the best alternative for a common language. There was also another thing which made learning a new language and finding new friends easier: winter sports such as cross-country skiing and ice hockey. I did a lot of sports after school as well because it was easy to get to know people while playing, for example, football.
Immigrants who have come to Finland often complain that they miss the food or the climate of their home country, or their old friends. However, in my opinion the most important thing is going out instead of staying at home and waiting for someone to drag you somewhere. If you start a hobby, you can then meet people and learn the language. There’s also another tip I would like to give to the foreigners in Finland: you should learn to view the nature in the same way as the Finns do. In the forest, for example, you can go hiking or pick berries or mushrooms. I know that language is also an important thing but my life in Finland has been easy especially thanks to doing things outdoors.
EBENEZER NGOGO
This story has been produced by JoMoni in cooperation with ELY-Center and Karjalan Heili. The Newspaper Project is also funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture, the city of Joensuu and Kansan sivistysrahasto.
