By Päivi Arvonen

Vanitsri Tirkkonen of Thailand arrived in Helsinki two decades ago to study. Then twists and turns of life took her out to the world, but she wanted to return to Finland and Helsinki.

“I love Helsinki,” Vanitsri Tirkkonen says.“I come from Bangkok, which is a big city, and I like it in cities. Today Helsinki has a pleasantly multi-cultural feel to it.”

Tirkkonen feels particularly at home on her home street Hämeentie with its many ethnic shops where she can meet people from different cultures. She thinks that public events open to everybody like the Night of the Arts and Restaurant Day could be organized more often.

Finland came into Tirkkonen’s life by accident. She worked as a project co-ordinator at a Thai institute that was partnering with the University of Helsinki. She moved to Finland to take a doctoral degree at the university but dropped her studies to devote herself to her family after she married.

Help for Thai women in Finland

Tirkkonen received her last name from the Finnish husband, whom she divorced in 2008. After her divorce she lived in Italy and Thailand but decided to return to Finland when a civil war was looming in Thailand.

“I started all over again in Finland when I returned about three years ago. I felt that I wanted to help other Thai women in Finland and make the Thai culture better known here.”

She had begun her efforts to advance the latter goal in 2002 by founding The Finnish Thai Association.

“I wanted to help Thai women in a sustainable way. I founded Golden Dust Siivouspalvelut – Golden Dust cleaning services – which is a company that employs women of Thai origin.

Women want to work, not only to study

“Many Thai women in Finland have little education,” Tirkkonen continues. “Not able to read and write, it’s difficult for them to study Finnish. Cleaning is a good alternative for them, because they don’t need to know Finnish to do it.”

She hopes for the City of Helsinki to pay closer attention to differences among student groups in the City language training and also to offer language training that an illiterate Thai woman could attend.

“Thai women are usually alone with their problems in Finland. I have noticed that first and foremost they want to work, not only to study.”

Tirkkonen’s Golden Dust provides diverse cleaning and housekeeping services both for private households and for businesses.

“My company’s basic value is Thai hospitality, which is an important principle for myself, too. I instruct my workers to do their work as if they were attending to their own homes.”

A foreigner needs a cultural guide to the Finnish character

Tirkkonen admits that Finland can be quite a cultural shock to people from the communal Asian cultures. For example, family values are very important in Asian cultures.

“ I have learned to understand the Finnish character. I can make people talkative. The Finns are magnificent and appreciate hospitality.”

She thinks that it would be a good idea to distribute an information package on the Finnish culture and the Finnish behaviour to all immigrants to Finland.

“ It may come as a surprise to many that the Finns are very economical, among their many other characteristics. The Finns split the expenses in restaurants and cafés, and women pay their own share when accompanied by men. The woman is also expected to do her share in supporting the family.”

The Finnish Thai Association:
www.finthai.net
www.goldendust.fi

Translated by Johanna Lemola

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