“Vaasa Spouse Programme is like a family to me” – international spouses feel at home in Vaasa

– Vaasa Spouse Programme is like a family to me, sums up Shailja Thalati who moved to Vaasa from India nine years ago.

– You need to integrate with the Finnish society and meet new people. And it’s a great platform to get your career development guidance, she explains the benefits. 

Shailja Thalati, Amani Hashabra and Koli Akter are active members of the Vaasa Spouse Programme. They all appreciate both the social and career-related activities the programme has offered to them. 

Activities like gardening and birdhouse building have been a great way to get to know other families, and learn about Finnish culture and nature. To provide the social activities, the Vaasa Spouse Programme collaborates with many local organisations, such as Mira International Culture Society, Vaasan ympäristöseura (The Vaasa Society for the Environment). The spouse community organises many activities such as sports by themselves on a voluntary basis.

Shailja, Amani and Koli all hope to find a career in Finland. Koli aims to complete her studies and for Shailja and Amani, finding work from a relevant field is their next goal. This is where the Vaasa Spouse Programme’s career-related activities such as the career club, come in. 

The career club is an eight-week intensive career development programme organised in collaboration with companies such as Wärtsilä, Hitachi Energy and Danfoss. During the programme, spouses get valuable information from different professionals on how to promote their career prospects in Finland. 

– We start thinking positively how we can take the steps to find a job in Finland, says Amani who participated in the first round of the career club.

Shailja, Amani and Koli all enjoy living in Vaasa – a peaceful city that is full of nature and international enough.

– Best thing about Vaasa is the natural beauty. It’s a small heaven for me because I come from Bangladesh and Bangladesh is very crowded. Here, everything is calm and peace. My children can play around and they are safe everywhere, says Koli.