Finnish language skills are often emphasized as a key factor to adapt in Finland’s society as a foreigner. Jana, Juan and Dani share their struggle and success with the language and give tips to those still learning Finnish. They also send greetings to Finns: please be more open and supportive towards persons learning the language – it is neither simple nor impossible.
The Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Elhadj As Sy, who visited Finland in October, was impressed by how Finland cares for asylum seekers. He reminds everyone that humanitarian work needs more support during difficult times.
The Hunger Day collection has already raised over 3.8 million euros this year The result is the best of all time. The funds are used to aid the victims of conflicts and disasters around the world and in Finland.
Over 20,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Finland in a short time. The Finnish Red Cross accommodates over 12,000 asylum seekers at the moment, and thousands of volunteers have helped them along.
Funds are collected to the Finnish Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Choose your preferred channel to join in - you´ll find the instructions on this page.
Tun Tun Naign, 22, realised the significance of aid work in the state of Rakhine, Myanmar, in 2012, when he was sent there to support those living in a refugee camp.
The number of asylum seekers coming to Finland has grown to reach a new record. The number of underage asylum seekers requiring special protection has also increased significantly. The Finnish Red Cross will open new reception centres in collaboration with the Finnish Immigration Service.
Despite the radical cuts to development cooperation, the Finnish Red Cross will continue to help those who are the most vulnerable there where the need for aid is the greatest. The organisation asks the government not to further weaken the chain of aid by decreasing humanitarian aid.
July is often the busiest time for Voluntary Rescue Service, i.e. Vapepa, to search for missing persons, as the number of those who get lost or go missing increases during summertime. This summer, Vapepa is using a new search method which helps setting search missions in motion more quickly than before.
The Finnish Red Cross needs you all to pitch in and help with the Hunger Day Collection from 18–20 September 2014. Everyone is welcome to take part in this year’s Hunger Day campaign. No previous Red Cross experience is required. Collectors and donors are needed all over Finland.
The Finnish Red Cross commissioned a survey about the joys and concerns of people living in Finland. More than half of those who responded are worried about the growing gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’.
The Finnish Red Cross helps refugees to integrate in their new hometown. In Pudasjärvi in northern Finland the local International Club has quickly become a popular meeting place.
The Finnish Red Cross’s new app for tablet devices drew an interested crowd at the World Village Festival in Helsinki in late May 2014. The Risk Zones app offers information about development cooperation and disaster relief.
The Finnish Red Cross is the first NGO in Finland to release an app for tablet devices. The Risk Zones application uses photos, videos, stories and graphics to show how people can minimise risks, prepare for and survive disasters.
Red Cross volunteers in the Tampere region have been providing psychological support to the families who lost someone in the air crash on Sunday 20 April 2014, which took the life of eight skydivers.
The Voluntary Rescue Service emergency response groups help people in need and make it easier for the authorities to access greater numbers of people prepared to help out in an emergency. In late March 2014, the Voluntary Rescue Service celebrated its 50th anniversary in Tampere.
During the Week Against Racism (17–23 March 2014), the Finnish Red Cross handed out its annual Pioneer Against Prejudice Awards (Ennakkoluuloton edelläkävijä in Finnish) to companies, communities and people who have contributed to creating equality in Finland.
The Red Cross Refugee Tent tour is making its way around Finland. When the tent was pitched in the Åland Islands, children in particular were interested in it.
The primary school Jakomäen peruskoulu in Helsinki marked the Week against Racism with a visit from the Minister of Education Krista Kiuru. Speaking about racism and discrimination, her message was clearly: zero tolerance for all forms of bullying.
‘I recognised the value of the work done by the Red Cross after the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, so I decided to join as a volunteer,’ says general medical practitioner, Doctor Luo Xian Xin.
The Chinese Red Cross has just over two million volunteers. That’s as many people as live in all of Latvia. Volunteers are vitally important to the Red Cross, particularly in disaster relief and first-aid training.
‘My crops used to rot away under flood waters or fail to flourish when there was a drought. Now, any excess water is drained away from the fields into a channel, which then provides water for irrigation during periods of drought,’ Chinese farmer Tian Ruxiong rejoices over the help provided by the Red Cross.
'I would like to work less, but it’s just not possible. If I did, my family would not have enough to live on,' says Wei Xiuxue, a 70-year-old Chinese farmer.
He lives in southwest China in Guizhou province, one of the poorest regions in the country where an EU-financed Red Cross programme is improving the conditions of remote rural communities.
Over recent years Wen Xian Liang of China has learnt what to do if a natural disaster strikes.She regularly takes part in preparedness exercises arranged by the Red Cross together with the local authorities.
Volunteers trained by the Finnish Red Cross did an exemplary job of evacuating people to safety on the island of Panaya in the Aklan Province of the Philippines prior to the landfall of super typhoon Haiyan. Loss of human life and injuries in the area were relatively few.
The Finnish Red Cross collection to help victims of typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines is off to a quick start. Collection centers have been set up in various parts of Finland.
Floods, earthquakes, typhoons and landslides. The Philippines with its hundred million inhabitants and over 7000 islands is constantly tormented by disasters.
The Red Cross report reveals that the lack of information and technology has great impact on peoples’ abilities to prepare themselves, respond to and recover from disasters.
Nurse and first-aid instructor Johanna Arvo from Kaarina, Finland, went to Paraguay as part of an EU Aid Volunteers programme in which the Finnish Red Cross is involved.
