Welcome to Finland

When I still was staying in the camp there was a lot of free time, so many asylum seekers liked to engage in useful and beneficial work while they were waiting for the immigration decision.

Therefore, they participated in voluntary work during their stay in the camp. Not only because they had a sense of responsibility, but they also tried to return a favour to the country that assists them in their hard times.

There is a lot of voluntary work available. For example: cutting dead trees, chopping wood, taking away ice from people’s way, and spending time with elderly people.

In the picture below, we were making a decoration in an old house, one of us was a carpenter and we were helping him with cutting, carrying and fixing the wood.

Here, an asylum seeker is painting the wall to make it more attractive.

In the picture below, people were helping other asylum seekers by assembling and installing the beds.

While I was in the camp, I used to help people with free translations for anybody in need of it, I was also involved in a media group of helping people by arranging some activities.

We got many advantages from volunteering, like feeling satisfied, and being in touch with local people. I hope in the near future that the volunteering by asylum seekers will get more attention from the authorities. Hopefully this will become more widespread as it gives the asylum seekers a sense of responsibility and gives them something to do in their spare time.

One of the immigrants,

Ammar Al-Kaysi