In April 2016, while on an internship at Nicehearts’ Neighbourhood Mothers project, I interviewed a fellow intern, Friba Majeed, who came to Finland as a refugee in 2014. In her home country of Afghanistan, she had worked advocating for women’s rights and gender equality, but due to the nature of her work, her life and that of her family was under constant threat. In 2013, her 22 year old brother was kidnapped and murdered by religious extremists.
The first interview with Friba can be found in full here.
Last week I met with Friba for a second interview, to hear about her continuing story of building her life in Finland.
In April 2017, Friba began a new job as a Project Worker at Sininauhasäätiö, an NGO offering services and support for people who are homeless, those with mental illness or addiction challenges, as well as for undocumented immigrants – the latter being her main work. When Friba was informed about the job opportunity, she thought that it might be too challenging, due to her limited Finnish and English language skills. However, when she learned that this job mainly concerned working with undocumented immigrants, especially with Afghans, Kurds and Iraqis, and that she could use Dari and Farsi, she decided to apply.
With just two days left, she sent the application immediately. A few days later, she received an invitation for an interview, which was to be conducted in English, upon her request. During the interview, Friba explained about her previous work in Afghanistan, describing her skills and experience. ”For nine years I had clients in Afghanistan,” she says, ”both women and men. I had to know how to find them, how to communicate with them, how to help them to trust me, and to be confidential – that is very important.” She was hired.
”I hadn’t yet read anything about this project,” says Friba, ”but after a week or two, I had read a lot about undocumented immigrants in Finland. I started contacting clients through various organizations, distributing my business cards, and soon people started calling me, telling me that they had been dismissed from the reception centre, and asking for help. I asked from my supervisor which facilities we could provide for those people, and it was at that time that I automatically started practically doing my job.”
Part of Friba’s work at Sininauhasäätiö is to guide undocumented immigrants to various services, including emergency shelters, or other accommodation, when needed. ”We try to network with other organizations and the social office, and we cooperate with various NGOs. We meet with them and I introduce myself to the workers.” Friba also puts together information guides in Dari language, to help facilitate services.
Since beginning her work in April, Friba has worked with over forty five clients. Three families and seven adult men have been provided support by Sininauhasäätiö to find housing, and to apply for living allowance, food coupons, bus cards, and some cash money for basic everyday expenses. ”When they are thrown out from the reception centre,” says Friba, ”they do not have any money, or support. This is when they call me and ask for help. We help them to fill out forms for KELA, go to the social office with them, help to contact with their lawyers, to find Finnish courses, to create CVs, and assist in sending job applications. We follow up on their situation, and offer help and support if they have some problem.”
”When our clients when first come to us for support, they ask for housing, but we don’t have the possibility to provide housing or accommodation. Although we don’t have an emergency centre, we can tell which organizations can help.”
”When their support from the reception centres is finished, they need help to manage the everyday life. They need a bus card. They have to use public transit, but then all the time they are looking for the ticket checkers. It is very stressful for them. We can help them get a bus card for one month at a time, and a small amount of money for basic needs from the social office. We go there with them each time and explain to them the client’s situation. It is a process of paperwork, though, and it can take time. It is difficult, because they need a lot of support, and we don’t have so many resources. We also recommend them to contact support groups and day centres. Some of them visit the day centres to use the showers, do laundry, to get some free breakfast and coffee. At Global Clinic there is a volunteer doctor every Tuesday, with a translator available, and they can ask questions about health, or if they need medicine, or a psychologist – because most of them are depressed due to their life situation, and some have mental problems. It’s very difficult.”
Friba works closely together with her supervisor and colleagues at Sininauhasäätiö. ”We are together most of the time,” she says. ”We do the work together, go together to appointments. My supervisor, Veera Vilkama, knows a lot about refuge policy in Finland, and one of my fellow project workers has worked previously in the reception centres. They know how the system works, and have experience communicating with social workers. We really work as a team. I do not do anything by myself.”
Friba mainly speaks Dari and Farsi with the clients, and explains their situations to her supervisor and colleagues using English and Finnish. ”We do not use translators,” says Friba, ”as there hasn’t been such a need. It has been possible to communicate to fellow workers using Finnish and English. They have been very supportive, and telling me if I do not understand, it is fine to ask, and ask again. Now they understand my language a bit more,” Friba says, laughing. ”The most important thing is to understand the main points. But I try to learn more and more Finnish. I understand much more than last year. Last year when I was learning Finnish, it was very difficult, because I was in a bad situation, but now it has been much better. In the Autumn, I will continue taking Finnish classes in the evenings at the adult education centre.”
”I like this work,” shares Friba, ”and I am very happy to work with these clients. Sometimes I share my experience of being alone in Finland and how I dealt with my problems. I tell them that I know, I feel your situation. Because I want to create trust. It is very important. One of my clients was very depressed. He wouldn’t raise his head. I told him my own experience and then asked him to please look at me. I smiled at him. ’Open your eyes’, I said. ’I am human, you are human. No one else is here. Why do you not want to look at me.’ He started to cry. I shared a lot about my own experience. Then he trusted me. There was another person who came to the day centre. He was depressed, hungry, he hadn’t eaten anything that day, he came to talk with me and later that week he was laughing. My colleagues were amazed how he changed. I don’t know what it is I said to him. But he really changed. I said ’I am like your big sister, you can talk to me.’ He calls me often to talk.”
In her work, Friba and her colleagues make contact with the clients’ lawyers, and try to understand what is happening with their situation. But the wait for the immigration decision can be long, and very stressful.
”Our contact information was given to the people at the demonstration at the Central Railway Station,” says Friba, ”and I have met with people in various reception centres, and had meetings with them explaining my job and activities. Now I want find some families, some women, as most of my clients are men, I want to also find women who are without any family, who are alone. They also have been given negative decisions, but we don’t know where they are living. It is very difficult for women to be on the street, and to contact with others, as they are not trusting – they are afraid that if they tell others, there will be trouble made for them.” However, at Sininauhasäätiö, Friba says, ”we do not record the names of clients – we only put the age, gender, and if they are living in reception centre or on the street.”
”Families with children have also been thrown out of the reception centre,” tells Friba ”but also the situation in reception centres can be very bad.” She says that many of the clients tell about these things, and say that in the reception centres they feel like they are criminals in the jail, and that when they ask for contact with their lawyers, the reception centre doesn’t help.
Friba is glad to have found her place at Sininauhasäätiö, where she can really use her talents and contribute to the society something that is very much needed. Fluent Finnish language skills are not always necessary. Her experience working at Sininauhasäätiö illustrates this well, and is a good example of one of many organizations that can be complemented by and thrive with the addition of skills and experience of people like Friba, working together in a mutually beneficial relationship to successfully get the job done.
”I used to think that when I learn Finnish, then only I will start work life. I was afraid, I was always nervous. In Afghanistan I was a Director, but when I found this job I was very happy, because it is a very nice job for me.” Friba says she is very thankful to Meg Sakilayan-Latvala, and Liisa Kulta, from the Nicehearts’ Neighbourhood Mothers project. ”They supported me, they encouraged me when I came to them, from the first day. I didn’t know anything, but they encouraged me to keep going and be strong. If we are strong we can do anything. Nicehearts is like my second home. Every woman who goes there – they support them. It is exactly like the title: Nicehearts. It is because of the support from Meg and Liisa, I got this job. Otherwise I couldn’t.”
As mentioned earlier, my previous interview with Friba was when she was working as an intern at Nicehearts’ Neighbourhood Mothers project in 2016. At that time, she had told me that she was trying to bring her mother and younger brother to live with her in Finland, as their situation was not safe in Afghanistan. She also spoke about how her brother was really looking forward to being able to return to school. However, family reunification was denied.
On the same day of this second interview with Friba, she received the good news that her mother and brother were to be soon relocated to Pune, India, where they would be safe, and where her brother could continue his education.
We at Neighbourhood Mothers continue to wish the very best for her and her family now and in the future.
Michelle Kaila
Naapuriäidit 