Harriet Lindelöf-Sahl, from the youth centre in Kristinestad in western Finland, says an instructional video is being made in order to inform newly-arrived asylum seekers Finnish etiquette and socially acceptable behaviour.

“We want to bring up subjects that we’ve noticed that [asylum seekers] don’t always understand,” Lindelöf-Sahl says.

She says it’s perfectly natural that people who arrive to a completely new country would need some guidance.

“Those of us already in the country think that everyone knows how to behave immediately once they arrive,” Lindelöf-Sahl says.

Waiting in queues

Apparently there have been enough problems in supermarket checkout queues to earn the topic its own segment in the video.

In Finland, you wait for your turn to be served, the video will explain.

The video will also remind viewers that on the sidewalk, Finns make room for people walking in the opposite direction.

Photos not OK without permission

Viewers will also be taught that it’s not OK to simply photograph females on the street.

Lindelöf-Sahl says that there have been allegations of incidents of asylum seekers taking snapshots of girls on the streets of Kristinestad without their permission.

Lindelöf-Sahl says that sort of behaviour is not acceptable – one must ask first.

“Girls hang out in groups and perhaps boys take out their smartphones and take a picture,” Lindelöf-Sahl says.  “Occasionally the boys might ask if it would be alright to take a picture, but it doesn’t mean that the girls entirely understand and then photos get taken.”

Lindelöf-Sahl says that she learned about the photo phenomenon from two young men, Heshmat Nuri and Hosein Jafari, who have lived in Finland for several years.

“[The photos] are harmless but it’s not right. You just don’t do that in Finland,” Lindelöf-Sahl says.

Jafari says that first and foremost the aim of the video is to establish a friendly tone between residents and asylum seekers. He says it’s important for the newly-arrived to learn sometimes-unwritten rules of the country.

“Women have equal rights,” Lindelöf-Sahl says. “We addressed the notion that you simply cannot photograph just anyone for no reason.”

Lindelöf-Sahl says the snapshot issue was not a widespread problem and has not heard of actual harassment occurring either.

“The girls at the youth centre asked us to include cat calling – or whistling by men at women – too. But Finnish boys certainly do that too,” Lindelöf-Sahl says.

The idea for making the video, which is still in production, came from Josefin Rönnqvist, a student at the Swedish-speaking polytechnic school Arcada University of Applied Sciences.

Reflectors, traffic and other questions

Other issues that the video aims to bring up are rules on roads and streets.

Evidently asylum seekers have not yet taken up the habit of wearing reflectors on their outer clothing, in order to be better seen by drivers in dark winter conditions.

Also addressed are the issues of using zebra crossings to cross the road and how talking on a cell phone at the movies, in concerts or in school is inappropriate behaviour.

Punctuality is also an issue to the video aims to bring up.

“If you’ve booked time for volleyball between four and six, you shouldn’t arrive there at 5:30 and think you’ll be able to play for two hours, Lindelöf-Sahl says. “That’s how it’s been sometimes.”

“How would they otherwise learn?”

There are about 350 asylum seekers in Kristinestad, a town of less than 7,000 people.

“It’s important that we show the asylum seekers how we live and that we are taking them into our culture,” Lindelöf-Sahl says.

“How would they otherwise learn? It is wrong to simply demand that they should know these things, we need to show them. Everyone can contribute in shops or in town,” she adds.

Initially the video will be shown to the asylum seekers in Kristinestad. If there’s interest from other communities the producers plan on distributing it further.

The 15-minute video should be complete in February.