Residents of the Punavuori refugee reception centre in central Helsinki eagerly took part in a snow-clearing operation on Thursday afternoon. About 40 of the 100 residents at the centre grabbed snow shovels and joined the effort. Susanna Valojärvi, the deputy director of the centre was pleased with the event.
“There were so many out in force today that the streets would have been completely cleared if there had only been vehicles to take the snow away”, Valojärvi said.
Other local residents were there to help the asylum seekers. Those taking part in the project dug out cars that had been buried in the piled-up snow, cleared streets, and claered snow from the hard of the centre on Uudenmaankatu.
The project was launched by Pauliina Seppänen and Sirkku Varjonen, whose Refugee Hospitality Club operates on Facebook. The Helsinki Public Works Department supplied the shovels.
The Punavuori refugee reception centre opened in November in a building that used to be a hotel.
