On the 15th of August of 2020, our organization had a pleasure in participating in Mahdollisuuksien tori (Market of Opportunities), which took place in Jyväskylä. The goal of this event was to introduce NGO’s with the city residents as well as involve them in discussions on various global themes such as climate, social inclusion, human rights, etc.
As SKY’s primary goal is to increase awareness of common values, cross-cultural relations, and developing a sense of belongingness to Finland, we have asked locals to suggest to us, how can we as newcomers contribute to Finnish society? The responses of locals were heartwarming and welcoming!
Some of them are as follows:
“You can teach us many things and we can teach you”
“I think that it is a great gift to have multicultural Finland. So … you can share the best of your culture and so can we”
“Verkostot minen! Yhteistyö” (Networking! Cooperation)
To partly fulfill SKY’s second goal, which is to bring different people and communities together through a diverse range of activities such as creative discussions, we have shared Turkish coffee with the visitors of our stand. As Finns are known for their passion for coffee it was a good way in breaking the ice, which followed by a fruitful discussion and sharing of emotions and opinions.
Moreover, as our excitement was filling up with our upcoming “Omena” project, we had a pleasure to share it as well. Since the idea of our project is the reduction of waste and building long-lasting friendships among communities, the goal of the “Omena” project came to be attractive. This led most of the visitors of our stand to sign up for it.
Regardless of the negative effects of COVID-19, Mahdollisuuksien tori has left a positive impression on our members and we will be eagerly looking forward to join it next year as well!