Reuniting Through Faith: Roel's Journey to Finland
Roel, a father of two children, has relocated to Finland during the summer with his children to reunite with his wife, who pursued a Master's degree at one of the Universities of Applied Sciences. This move involved a lengthy journey and numerous sacrifices, all with the goal of bringing the family back together again.
Journey to Finland
I am from Manila, Philippines and I came to Finland with my two children with our family ties visa last June 2024. My wife came here first in 2022 to pursue her MBA studies and for practical reasons, she wanted to “test the waters” first on how Finland would be like for our family as it was known to be the happiest place in the world.
The opportunity to live here with my family and experience all the “firsts” in Finland have been the most rewarding aspect and we communicate with my home country through video calls every day or messaging platforms.
Since I just arrived a few months ago, I am still learning and observing the way of living here. But at least for the change of seasons, when we arrived it was summer time, then we experienced the transition to autumn and now winter, which are new for me and the kids, so we are slowly adapting in terms of dressing up for each season. I have also met new people both Finnish people and non-Finns, and I continue to learn a lot from them, they are amazing.
I have connected with other immigrants and local communities from our church, my family has established a very good network. We are not just growing in terms of faith, but we treat them as our extended family. The support we get especially for the kids is truly heartwarming. Also, I met my wife’s friends from MBA and that expands my network, too.
So apart from the support from friends and family, I see a lot of opportunities offered. Example from where we live in Vantaa, I signed up for Get Work Vantaa and I was assigned a career coach to help build a career plan for me since I am new here in Finland.
I feel very welcomed and I believe that once I learned the Finnish language, that would be beneficial for me and my family in so many ways. The language is a challenge, although before coming here, my wife has already told me to start listening and learning the language while we were still back home. I am taking the finnish language, right now. It´s an online course and I have enrolled as with TE for the integration course for one year.
I got the support from our city in searching for employment and I would continue with the coaching program for at least a year, and it’s free of charge, so that’s quite a good opportunity. The coach has been honest as well that finding work here in Finland is challenging and they provided tips on where to look and how to improve, for example my CV.
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I think Finland is already providing the best support for the immigrants to integrate with the society. At least on the language part, that is up to individuals to be committed to learning it.
There are cultural differences as I have worked abroad before coming here but that was in Asia, so coming here in Europe opened my eyes to more culture, and it’s also my family’s first time coming and living here in Europe. I have just been here for a few months, but I can see how the people here live a simple and peaceful life, and that’s the life I want for myself and my family.
Nature is one of the best aspects in Finland. We never lived in such a place surrounded by nature and fresh air. The education for the kids, they are still integrating with the Finnish school system but the support they get is truly commendable.
As a father of two kids, fatherhood in Finland is caring and healthy. Here they value and respect family, family time is spent well. If kids are unwell it is easy to ask the boss and company employers for time off from work and to spend it with kids then. I am happy to see that they care about kids, family and fathers. The other nice thing is that school is close by walking distance and in the morning I go to school with children and bring them back home as well, and it feels joyful for me.
My final message as a father for foreigners is that putting feet outside of one's comfort zone is not easy anyway in the life journey, but here there is support and help from the system and the government and many opportunities as well. This helps a lot to establish the family and not only to survive, but to thrive, this is very important.
Come to Finland with an open mind and be positive that you will make it, I think those help me to adapt to the culture here slowly. Network with both Finnish people and the non-natives to gain varied perspectives as well.
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