Hello from Helsinki :)

Who knew ‘Angry birds’ is Finnish?

It’s been yet another eventful and extremely different week on the Road to Change. I walked from the centre for Stockholm on to the ship, then off the ship to the centre of Helsinki. In all, it was only eight kilometres…the shortest capital-city to capital-city trek of all time…Ally went on ahead to drop Yvonne in a secure carpark in Tallinn, then flew home. I took Dr King’s guitar, the Road to Change banner and a clean few pairs of socks and made my way here alone for the week.

The wonderful people I met in Sweden are still very much in my mind, and with a combination of the sad stories they shared with me, the dark nights, the sudden drop in temperature and the fact that I’m completely alone here in whole new city (the furthest east I’ve ever been from home) I’ll admit that this week has been pretty tough. A strange pain in my stomach and chest, that had me wondering if perhaps I wasn’t eating enough, turned out to be plain old home-sickness…I knew it would catch up with me eventually…

As Ally had to get back last week and the new driver starts next week, Yvonne’s waiting in Estonia and I’m staying wherever’s cheap in Helsinki. Believe me, I made the most of these precious few nights in a real warm bed, in an actual building. First few nights were in a beautiful Finnish apartment but as this was only available half the week, I then moved twice. First to a fancy hotel, that was the same price as the not so fancy hotels (the staff were so taken by the walk that they all sent up a chilled bottle of sports mineral water and party snacks…Bless them) then the final two nights in a basic private room of Euro Hostel, who offered me a discount plus free wifi and breakfast in contribution to the Road to Change. Deeply grateful to them all :)

As ever, the British Embassy were an endless source of support, and as he was busy when I arrived (and will be when I leave) the British Ambassador in Finland, Matthew Lodge, offered to take a walk with me along Helsinki’s stunning sea front on a morning during my stay. It is always and honour to meet our Ambassadors and makes me smile to think that they represent the British Queen in this country, while I am the Ambassador for Stopping the Silence around Child Sexual Abuse in Europe. His Excellency gave me his impressions of the Finnish people and it confirmed my initial impressions. Helsinki is a very safe city. It’s not uncommon for parents to put their very young children out the door to make their way to school alone. It is understood that if a child appears in distress, passers by will intervene to assist. They appear very quiet and law abiding folk. There is almost no noisy people, I certainly didn’t encounter any in my week here and they all seem to cross the roads at the lights and never put their feet on the seats on public transport. It was almost unsettling for me, I kind of missed the chaos of a busy street in Glasgow but this is not to say that Finland does not have a significant instance of child sexual abuse. Their statue laws are also as restrictive as in Denmark and Luxembourg. Survivors here are not entirely served by their justice system. The Ambassador wrote a blog about our walk and chat, which was translated into Finnish and appears in a Finnish Magazine. (See link below) His kind support is deeply appreciated.

I also had the privilege of meeting with a number of Finnish child protection organisations. Mari Laiho, of Save the Children in Helsinki, www.pelastakaalapset.fi/eninvited me to their office to talk with two other groups, Rikosuhripaivystys www.riku.fi who operate online forums and one-on-one chats with teenagers on a number of issues that might be troubling them, and Rape Crises Centre Tukinainen,
www.tukinainen.fi who provide information, support and advise for male and female, child and adult victims of sexual violence. They explained how Finland is again very obedient in implementing and upholding all EU directives with regard child maltreatment and online safety, and where their government is not providing direct financial support, there are other public funds, (like the national lottery in UK) where these group can apply for funds to continue their essential work. It certainly feels like sexual abuse is being tackled here but as everywhere, they have a long way to go. It’s only really in the past three decades and mainly in the few years that theses issues have began to be properly discussed by governments and legislation created to address them. The many challenges faced by these Finnish organisations include (like everywhere else) not only uncertain funding but geographical location. Helsinki is a small city and Finland is a huge country. Much of the population is spread sporadically across its sparse wilderness. Abuse surely happens in those remote areas too, but how can these services equally reach these families?

I never said I had all the answers…

I’ve found all of Scandinavia sometimes comically expensive. I began to feel that there might be a hidden camera, just waiting to catch my reaction to the ludicrous prices of menial items. I mentioned this on Facebook, not expecting any more reaction than a few fellow Scots typically outraged at the price of anything, but in fact it sparked a chain of events that I couldn’t have imagined. An hour after my status update, I received a text from Matti, a friend of a friend of a friend (God Bless Facebook) who lived here in Helsinki who offered to take me out for lunch. As I remarked on this fateful status update, its hard to consume my required 5000 calories a day when conscious that the project is funded by public donation and food in Helsinki seemed up to five times the cost of the same food in Berlin or Amsterdam, so I’m not too proud to refuse the kind offer of free scran. Plus, its always nice to meet locals (Especially when all alone in that city…) Matti works for the EU Chemicals Agency and indeed bought me a fancy lunch, but once I’d explained the whole Road to Change mission he wanted to help as much as possible. Within his lunch break, he contacted national press, TV and even the Finnish manufacturer of the boots that I’ve been walking in (which after 3000km are truly in need of replacements) It was Matti’s persistence which landed me the huge article in Helsingin Sanomat, the article which attracted many emails from Finnish survivors who wish to get involved and from a Finnish literary agent who would like to discuss a Finnish translation of ‘To kill a kelpie’. This article has been forwarded to the shoemaker that Matti found for us, and we’re hopeful that they’ll see the value of Road to Change and perhaps come on board as at least a sponsor for my feet. Big round of applause for Matti!

I felt I couldn’t leave Finland without trying a traditional Finnish Sauna. Literally every Finnish person I met advised me to try it, as did Mia, the kind Swedish masseur who worked on my legs in Stockholm. I had no idea but saunas are extremely common in Finland and very much a part of the whole life style. Many homes have their own and their previous president even used to hold meetings with the Russians in them. It’s apparently a good way to clean and relax your body but also sooth your mind. I figured, why not…Well, I learn as much about myself as I do other cultures on this walk. Imagine being naked in a freezing swimming pool with a crowd of other naked strangers. It was only men in the sauna that day, except the fully clothed waitresses walking around the poolside serving drinks. There are wood-burning saunas, electric saunas and steam rooms. I was glad it seemed traditional to drink beer between stints in these roasting rooms as it helped build up my courage to fall into the icy water. The drinks menu had a picture of these famous baths back in its heyday. It was the same pool, probably 80-odd years ago on what looked like a busy weekend in the pool. This means of course, it was a picture of hundreds of naked children and adults all standing around and jumping into the pool. Its a historical picture but I was aware that such an image would raise more than a few eyebrows back home. I did in fact see some naked children and teenagers among the men the day I was there. This just made me very aware of just how reserved we are in Britain. It’s a cultural difference but I can’t imagine this scenario ever becoming ‘okay’ back home. Thankfully, as it is so public, any actual attack on a child would be very unlikely in a sauna. As expected, I paid for two hours and lasted about 10 minutes…

Anyhoo, appointments are set up for a busy week in Tallinn. Government, child protection services and media. The Road stretches on…

Till next time I find wifi,

Thanks for reading,

Matty x

Article in Helsingin Sanomat read here

Blog by British Ambassador Matthew Lodge: read here