A sense of community makes you feel at home

City of Forssa’s integration services for immigrants received new and spacious premises at Kehräämo.  

 Salam is a lively and energetic pupil with lots of friends and hobbies. He does well at school. He hopes that Kotouttamo would organize more club activities, such as cooking classes, where he could meet other people with an immigrant background. Niina Mäkelä is holding Salam’s four-month-old sibling in her arms. 

The migration of the Kotouttamo integration center is almost finished – only the signs are missing. The center’s services are aimed at immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, people under temporary protection, people with work and study permits, and all of these people’s families. 

Integration Coordinator Niina Mäkelä says that the services offered by the integration center are meant to be easily accessible, providing advice to all people with an immigrant background.  Customers can also contact the integration services anonymously.

“Kotouttamo is a friendly and helpful place. Our staff helps customers to find the right information.” 

“The services we offer include helping immigrants apply for residence permits and citizenship, reuniting families, and advising customers on everyday matters, such as shopping for groceries.” 

Kotouttamo is also responsible for the reception of quota refugees and a wide range of initial assessments and integration plans.

Learning the language helps with integration 

The Kotouttamo integration center works in close cooperation with the TE Office, Kela and OmaHäme, as well as with other municipalities in the region. Kotouttamo also cooperates with various educational institutions, churches, associations and businesses. 

The goal is to facilitate the integration of immigrants into Finnish society. Finnish language learning groups, held several days a week, are also an important part of Kotouttamo’s activities. 

Finnish language groups open to all are held on Mondays and Tuesdays. The Monday groups focus on the basics of the language, while the groups held on Tuesdays are a bit more advanced in nature. 

Groups run by Integration Assistant Leena Huotilainen are particularly popular.

“The courses are voluntary and free of charge. The lessons take a couple of hours, with a light focus on grammar and more emphasis on discussion.” 

A place to share experiences

On Fridays, there is a community discussion group for women, where children are also welcome. In these groups, people from different cultures get to talk about and share their experiences with each other. 

Using Finnish makes the meetings more equal, as it is a foreign language for everyone in the group. Topics discussed include family, work, money, the future and culture.

On Wednesdays, instructors from the Finnish Federation of Graduate Women organize Reading Together training sessions for men and women. The groups also include people who are unable to read or write and who have received guided tutoring in these skills. 

People in working life have also been taken into account. They can attend Finnish language lessons once a week after 4 p.m. to help them prepare for their language test.

A good and peaceful place to live in 

Walaa Mohammed came to Forssa from Syria with her family five years ago. Her family includes six children. The oldest child, 13-year-old Salam Alhumidi, visited the Kotouttamo integration center together with his mother. 

Kotouttamo receives high praise from the family. Walaa has attended several Finnish language courses and understands Finnish quite well. Speaking Finnish is still a bit challenging, but her son and the interpreter app on her phone help her conduct her everyday business. 

Walaa Mohammed plans to return to Kotouttamo soon to learn more Finnish. She says that Niina Mäkelä is a good, nice and just person who you can genuinely trust and rely on. Walaa told us that Nina is a role model for her.

“Here at Kotouttamo, local residents, organizations and employees from different services work together and independently to produce services that benefit the whole community – various events, courses and clubs, peer groups and other fun activities together,” says Mäkelä.

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Info

The Kotouttamo integration center is located at Wahreninkatu 11 AB.