Refugee Woman of the Year wants Finns to care for each other more
Kosovo Albanian Fatbardhe Hetemaj instinctively helps others
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After living in Finland for nearly 17 years, 23-year-old Kosovo Albanian Fatbardhe Hetemaj has been named Refugee Woman of the Year by the Finnish Refugee Council.
Hetemaj has been seen as a person who does not simply complain about how many Finns treat refugees in everyday situations.
When a group of Finnish boys were harassing a fearful lone Somali boy on a bus, Hetemaj immediately went to the driver and asked for help.
The driver stopped the bus and cleared up the situation.
Even at school, Hetemaj would defend refugee children if they were mistreated.
Hetemaj now lives in the Tapanila district of Helsinki. She came to Finland with her parents and siblings in 1992. Thanks to her blonde hair, she was not singled out for harassment because of her appearance.
However, she has noticed that a refugee who speaks fluent Finnish is often in a strong position when looking for work all the way until the name is mentioned. After that, there is no job on offer, or any interest in the applicant.
Hetemaj has worked as a cleaner and as a sales clerk. Later she studied business in Britain. She is now taking a year off from studies, and plans to continue them in the autumn.
She is currently working at a large European IT service company.
Hetemaj praises former President Martti Ahtisaari for clearing up the situation in Kosovo. However, she does not want to move back to Kosovo, although she imagines that she “could work there for a couple of years. My parents would move back if they could get their children to come with them. That is not a very realistic dream, as my brothers Perparim and Mehmet are playing football in Greece, and my sister is also not interested”.
Perparim Hetemaj represents AEK Athens, and Mehmet Hetemaj is playing for Panionios. Both made their début on Finland’s national football team a month ago, playing against Japan.
“We refugees need to be more active both with respect to education and work. We are part of Finnish society, but we constantly run into racism at work and elsewhere.
Her whole family are “real Finland fans”. “When we travel in other countries we always have Fazer chocolate in our pockets.”
As much as Fatbardhe Hetemaj likes Finland and the Finns, there is one glaring cultural difference that she does not understand.
“This is somehow such an extremely individualist society. It seems that the Finns lack love of their neighbour, or are they just shy? But when someone is in trouble here, people just turn away and keep going."
Hetemaj thinks that people in Finland should be more caring.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 6.3.2009 - TODAY |
 Refugee Woman of the Year wants Finns to care for each other more |
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