Keep learning

"Last night in Sfax. It feels good. To go home. To feel the proudness. We survived and we took the challenge until the very end. We learnt a lot, and most likely understand the biggest part of it only afterwards. New world views and incredible locations. More busy and tiring life that I had imagined. I wouldn't change my summer to be anyhting else. So happy that I decided to go."

These were my final notes from my experience, a tired but happy sigh after finishing the work, and on the moment of saying good byes to the city, soon to the country as well. Those good byes were different than for all the other countries before. Usually there is the sadness about the time coming to an end too quickly, and mixed feelings when going home feels wonderful but a part of you will stay in that country. At least unconsious idea of some day coming back. This was the first time I felt quite sure I'm not coming back. I have now seen Tunisia, next comes something else, was the only answer to the quesitons regarding the return. Not leaving part of myself to the country still doesn't mean that I wouldn't have found some parts of it, mostly it's the other way around: as the contrast was the biggest ever experienced and I got the culture shock I went searching for, the learnings were one of the biggest as well.

So, what did I learn then?

I learnt, that my dream place to live in preferably supports both biking and public transport possibilities. That cactus has a fruit and what it is to enjoy the rain. That my writing skills can be considered as a talent. That I can quite easily keep calm in arguing situations. And that quite a big part of my identity is actually part of being European.

I learnt, that despite of fact that Tunisia "is considered to be the most modern Arab country"
the equality laws don't yet apply to all the real life acts. We for example worked with a guy who, during our time in the country, attended a wedding of a girl and her rapist. As some of the locals we interviewed, said, before having the change in the reality, there needs to be a change in the mindset first. What is considered to be shameful so deep in the cultural norms, doesn't change only by changing the law.

Working in the project also taught me that the idea of fighting for something doesn't need to start with a super unfair and inhuman childhood, or some other heavy personal experiences. Those might help with choosing your battle in the world full of unfairness, and with the empathy towards the victims of the chosen battle, but whichever issue you are interested in to have an effect of, you start searching information of, and will make you care about it, is a battle worth fighting for. And you are capable of taking the initiatives needed on the journey towards a positive impact. By using your strengths you can make an impact. You just need to start from somewhere.

When it comes to searching information, I also realized while creating and having our presentations and aiming to inspire, that I couldn't help not being inspired myself as well. Inspiration and motivation being impossible to throw to someone's head, are still something everybody needs and therefore the world needs. That's why I came to a conclusion that using my time in the everyday life into something that inspires me, is completely acceptable, almost suggested way of consuming time. And if I can inspire someone by what I'm doing and who I am, that would be an achievement worth of pursuing.

Last but not least, it's only you who is going to take the opportunities that are given to you, who makes the decisions upon the reality which exists and who is there to set the tone of all the experiences you face. And in the end, even if you would not feel like having cool examples to tell, you are full of stories, which have a huge power when being shared.

Go for Global Volunteer

Hey you

The past six weeks volunteering in Tunisia were unforgettable and taught us a lot. In our workshops about the topic gender equality we have met a lot of people and heard a lot of personal stories about the importance of having dreams. That's also why we are writing for you now.

Some people said that they don't have time to dream. But what is life without ever stopping to reflect what you actually want to do? What is your biggest dream? What makes you happy? When was the last time you had time for only yourself and thought about questions like this?

Some people had little wishes instead of daring to really dream big. We asked them, what could be the worst thing that can happen and what could be the best thing. Why wouldn't you give a try to the biggest dream you can imagine?

If it scares you, it probably means stepping out of your comfort zone, but in the end, that is when you learn the most. And that is where the magic happens.

"Steven Spielberg was rejected from film school three times, but he kept going." A convincing example that giving up should not be an option. Because, "doubt has killed more dreams than failure ever will."

If you don't ever want to regret the things you didn't do, you need to start achieving them right now.
All the best for you on your journey of living the life if your dreams,
Team Wonder Women

P.S. Sending a message in a bottle can be ticked off from our bucket list. What are you going to take out from yours?

The ultimate clothing guide for Tunisia

Yes, I wish as well that it would exist, but you cannot have everything. In this post I'll tell you how well the guesses I was having when packing actually matched the reality.

The best advice which was given to  the struggling questions was "take a little bit of everything". Well, I wish I would have believed in it fully. Even after hearing it, my choices consentrated on long sleeves, in shirts as well as in pants (yupp the elephants, as you can see :D).

What worked:

• Basically, the most useful clothes I took, have been the thin but not slim long leg pants. Which, unfortunately, don't really match with anything so my outfits have been tourist fashion, but who cares.
• Some long sleeve shirts for a bit more formal occasions.
• The adventuring hat. You cannot survive without.

What could have stayed home:

• Many tank tops and shirts which need them. As wearing one shirt already makes you sweat, it really asks for a great will to be able to wear two. I managed to do it once, and that was when I knew that the day included air conditioner.
• Many pair of socks. Well, they don't take that much space from the suitcase but I have maybe used socks twice during the whole six weeks. I'm quite sure that's one new record.

I wished I would have taken:

• Summer dresses. I was too pessimistic about the possibilities to use anything which doesn't cover your knees, even though that would have been possible in more touristic cities than Sfax.
• Nice shorts. Same reason than above. I only had my sport shorts, which I used at home but didn't feel like going for a run with (in Sfax). 
• Long sleeve running pants. For a mysterious reason I took one long sleeve running shirt but no pants. The good idea to take sneakers became quite useless because of this fact. 
• More t-shirts. I think I even read about this but once again, didn't take fully into consideration.

For the future travellers I would give the same "little bit of everything" advice. Hopefully after reading this you are not so stubborn as I was. As already mentioned between the lines, the clothing ethicet for Tunisia varies a lot. In the capital, Tunis, it's completely okay to wear mini shorts and tank tops only. And on the beach bikinis are accepted everywhere I have been, which was the one thing I believed. Sfax doesn't have a beach and there pants and skirts always reach longer than the knees. Covering the shoulders, instead, isn't obligatory. Some local women use veil to cover their hair, but not all of them do it either, so it's expected from tourists only in mosques.

All in all, the fact is that with this skin and hear colour, I was looked at and sweating everywhere, no matter what I was wearing. Still of course, it's important to appreciate the local clothing (and covering) culture and it actually affects on what you do feel comfortable of wearing. Also in the way, that at some point I also felt it's possible to wear jeans (the majority of people in Sfax wear them every day, despite of the heat).

P.S. The relieving fact is that even if all the guesses would turn out to be wrong, you can go and buy a dress.

Make connections

A woman sitting in the corner of the hostel office can bring you opportunities you could only dream about. The English Center you saw from the window of taxi can mean you a working place for the next two weeks. But only if you give it a try. If you keep your why not attitude and say yes more often. The magic of connections needs acceptance of uncertainity and belief in possibilities.

Planning our trip to Tozeur on that day in the hostel office ended up with a business card of an English Center entrepeneur. As well as getting one more person in our louage, meaning for example lower price, and - what we back then didn't know - actually the starting of a good base for our local connections here. Through the connections of that English center we got in contact with a big Tunisian company, and voilà, two hours every week, completely for us, being free to choose the topics - that's how our working place equality talks and dream discussions with their employees became possible.

The fortune continues with the same English center contacts, by getting to know a wonderful local woman who owns a café in Sfax. She was also interested in our workshops but in the end meant a lot more for us than that. She showed us around the city, offered countless free, amazingly delicious smoothies in her café and introduced us to her friends and family. Thanks for that, we for example got another host family and local guides for Monastir and Tunis,  filled our minds with happiness and stomach with amazing flavours, and saw my future hostel a gorgeus old house.

On one day we saw an English center from the window of a taxi. The day after we went there and asked for possibilities of making our presentations, which would enable us to have a talk about gender equality and to create trusting environment for the discussions because of meeting the same people more than once. At the same time we could provide a space for people to improve their language skills. That straight offer ended up meaning one presentation each day from Monday to Thursday, which with the preparation means full working day and a structured rhythm for the weeks, so excactly what we were looking for.

Do start conversations with strangers. Do keep your eyes open for endless oppportunities around you. Do go and give a try for crazy ideas. Do make connections, because that's how you make things possible.

Sousse and an all-inclusive hotel

A touristic city with traditional blue and white Medina (the old city) and its rooftops was easy to fell in love with. Sousse is one of the cities which represent the Tunisia you'll find in pictures, when googling the country. It's also the city of opposites; you can find people wearing mini shorts as well as burkas (mostly the first ones though). For me it was the city where I visited a mosque the first time but also ate slightly darker bread, thanks to the German tourists which probably brought it to the hotel with their existence.

The all-inclusive hotel experience is perhaps something worth of experiencing once in a lifetime. However, it made me totally understand why my parents have always preferred other options. Reasons I could now give for those preferations, are following: It's crowded everywhere, which means queueing. People are smoking cigarettes on that nice private beach the hotel has. All the time somewhere music is playing too loud. The employees are mainly either super fed up with their job or then trying to be too friendly, which just feels annoying.

People you "spend your time with" stuck in the hotel area (because you paid for the meals and it would feel a waste to miss them) consist largely on persons who are used to get everything they want, right now - not forgetting their children who are on the same path soon becoming like them. This also makes the queueing part interesting. I sometimes felt I wasn't arrogant enough keep my spot in the line.

The food always fills your stomach but isn't anything amazing. You also need to hurry up with collecting all of what you want to eat, because the serving time is only an hour. When it comes to unlimited ice cream, you'll find yourself queueing again and trying to do your best with fitting as much as you can to a tiny cup they offer for you.

The drinks are included as well and that's probably the way people survive their holidays then. I, on top of the amazing experience, had a nice flu during the weekend and therefore couldn't really enjoy that part either. All in all, hotel is always a hotel, and for two days it's nice to have your bed fancily made. But two days, that was the limit my resilience when it came to all-in hotels.

I have spoken. Now, enjoy the nice part of the city with the photos.

The amphitheatre of El Jem

This breathtaking scenery, the best lunch location ever, deserves its own post. Standing on the stage in a place like this definetely made me miss the feeling of being part of a performance. Luckily we had the opportunity to experience the part of being in the audience, and that was incredibly beautiful. The majestic high pillars, huge amount of stairs, the view from the top, the lightning in the evening - I let the photos to try to describe it.

Do you have time to dream?

Two hours, four women, one company, common reality and rather similar backgrounds. Everybody knew that it is a challenge to find a balance between the work and family and a video about other challenges women face at work was very relatable for them. The topics were well known and the issues existed but not to talk about them was as big part of the environment they live in. “This is our reality, why to get out of it. It might not be the perfect one, but it has always been this way.”

We and ours, but what about you? The first question for which the women didn’t have a straight answer was the question of what do they like to do. When was the last time you had time of your own? This question simply didn’t belong to their reality. They have family, they have children, and most effectively, they have social norms which do not encourage to question the expectations. Having time of your own wasn’t considered as helping you to be the best version of yourself for the people around you. But what if it would?

The main question of our discussion was about the biggest dream. The little insecure answers varied from travelling to step by step achievable career plans, not anything too ambitious or crazy. After we showed this video, the mindset change could be seen from their faces. Eyes full of inspiration, with a wide smile, they now told us how all that they want is to live a happy life, see their children grow up healthy, enjoy their free time and the things they have right now. Life is actually pretty cool. And worth of dreaming.

Floating in the air beats being forced to a box

Not all the things tend to go as planned. Not all the attempts end up succeeding. Not all the projects manage to get enough air under their wings to keep flying.

Our project had high potential, worthy reason and motivated eight volunteers full of ideas of how to leave a meaningful impact on women's life here. We were ready to give our everything to achieve a common goal and to work hard for it. We knew that in six weeks it's impossible to change the whole world, or a whole city, but we believed in changing something in one person's whole world; whether it would be one's mindset, attitude or view on things in general.

The problem was, that there wasn't a common goal we would have been heading to. What we faced with all of our excitement was a wall of counterarguments, lots of questions not being answered and lack of willingness to listen genuinely. We were sharing our reasons for choosing this project but never actually got to hear the local committee's reasons for creating the project. We didn't know, what was supposed to be the aim of the things we were asked to do.

We wanted to take ownership of the project but as a response to that we got long procedures to go through in order to get our ideas to the project agenda. The communication felt non-existing, when searching for answers just got you from person to person; there was always someone else who was responsible for this topic, and as we didn't get a proper preparation in the beginnig, we had no clue who that person could have been.

In addition to all of these, the NGO we were supposed to work with, closed after our first week, because of summer. Accommodation issues distracted us from focusing fully to the wanted achievement of the project as a team. Along the way, our group became smaller and smaller, as people left because of the chaotic situation and when finding some more promising opportunities.

Today the last two of us also resigned from working with the local committee. There was nothing more left than a name of the project and continuous discussions about the same issues without any improvement. We don't have a clear plan for the remaining two weeks, but we are sure we don't want to spend them stuck in something which doesn't exist.

Going through all of these, has of course been disappointing. After several days and hopeless conversations, our comments have too many times been type of "this one was the worst ever". As an AIESECer myself experiencing something like this has sometimes made me think if I still do believe in the organisation and want stay working with it after going back home. However, when wondering that out loud, I've also got good comments which speak for it: leaving after seeing problems it's actually about leaving the opportunity to make things better.

As for now, I still want to stay in the country and I still want to work for gender equality. And I still believe in making an impact. The next step is to broaden our working possibilities through our already existing contacts and searching for new ones. We still have two weeks to make all the best out of the experience. Challenge accepted.

2a#

Three weeks in the country haven't passed by without thinking how things would have been done in Finland. As the food is super cheap here and the temperatures semi high, Finnish foods and sauna haven't this time been the first things to miss.

But here is a list of those things which have been missed:

• (How) things work. Organisational level is here a bit different than in Finland. The culture is of course different and that for sure needs to be appreciated. I just have been having hard times understanding all the consequenses of hierarchy based culture; people are used to take things as they are said from higher levels, without questioning anything. Then when someone, all of a sudden would like to give an idea of an improvement, that's taken as an offense.
• Biking. Even though taxis are relatively cheap, it's always taking more effort to look for one, try to explain the destination, after a while getting the driver to admit that he didn't have a clue where he was going, explaining again, realizing that the name you have been reapeating has all the time been a name of a house (the house of --- family), not an address, and finally being too tired to fight for a discount all the detours.
• Toilet paper. It's a lucky day if the toilet happens to have toilet paper. Everywhere you go, it's better to have tissues with. Also to remember not to put the papers in the toilet it's a challenge.
• Card payment possibility. Cash rules the world here and it has been something you really need to get used to.
• Spotify. How great is that application and the possibility it offers for listening to music on the background. As it also has all my playlist I have needed to be creative of thinking what to listen. I truly hope I'll appreciate that big part of my life more when coming back to Finland. And yes, usually you can change the country in the settings so that after spending those two weeks in a foreign country you can start using it as a local, but apparently Tunisia doesn't have the application. Tip: take that into a consideration when deciding your Global Volunteer destination. :D 
• Library. The consept of a free space with nice chairs and proper tables, electricity from a power socket, wifi and maybe airconditioner just doesn't exist. For working you need to go to a café, which kind of means also always the need to buy something, and still usually at least one of the library benefits is still missing.
• Pasta. I didn't know I could miss something so easy but apparently it's possible. After all the soups and breads with souces, well, just an easy pasta carbonara would be amazing. (Yes, they do have pasta here as well, but mostly in restaurants and usually just as a side dish.)
• Yoghurt and muesli. Or maybe just in general to be the boss of your own fridge. And okay, the whole concept of living on your own. The freedom of owning a key and booking your washing machine times. 

All of these are still reasons to travel. It's learning about yourself when you learn about things you'll miss. And it's giving a new perspective for the life when coming back home. And having something to miss is part of having a home.

The wind of Mahdia

What would be a trip far away without spending at least one night vomiting. Reasons for that are unclear but the guesses go rather for rollercoaster feelings than food. Nevertheless, I think I'm never going to drink from the glass water bottles in the parties anymore.

However, as the trip consists only of six weeks (and weekends), not travelling during one doesn't feel like a good option. That's why also after that not-so-refreshing night the morning starts with heading to a place unknown with the louage.

This time the destination was a coast city called Mahdia. The atmosphere there felt more modern with newer generation taxis and the trouser legs which do not reach all the way to the ground so striclty. The best thing about the trip was still the wind, which felt amazing after too many degrees for too long time. Okay, I know I was warned about the temperatures here, but life is about enjoying the little things, like the wind. The possibility to breathe properly was just something I had missed. Also to wake up without being completely sweaty was super nice.

The waves we experienced in there were for sure the biggest ones I have ever swam into. While walking by the coast line everything felt so perfect that non-explanatory sadness filled me: how to catch the moment and remember the beauty of it? I guess the impossibility of that makes the moment. Collecting stones would be easier, but who would like to carry them with on a life journey?


Additional notes: The accommodation wasn't anything too fancy this time; we were cleaning cockroaches before settling in, and the view form the windows was nice but the windows needed to be open to see it from all the dirt. The price of the food is amazing; with 5-6 Dinars (around 2 Euros) you can get an awesome traditional dish with the starter soup, some side pasta, never ending bread with the sauces and water melon for the dessert.

The sewing factory

Loud western music is playing from the radio. Ventilators spin, windows are open, air is still hot and includes a lot of steam produced by ironing. Around 30 women are sitting by the sewing machines, standing by the tables cutting the extra yarns from the clothes, putting the ready costumes to hangers and then to plastic bags. All the work is done step by step and the clothes pass by every woman with a different task allocation; seam for the sleeve, seam for the trouser leg, turn, give for the next person, iron, new peace of fabric. 

Some girls are working only for the summer, some women have already many years' career behind them. The summer employees are in general happy with the experience they can get through this factory. However, working days are long, from 8 am to 5 pm and the word dream job means something else than this. One wants to become a professional handball player, for their daughters the older women wish the possibility and the strong will to continue their studies.

Among all the women there is one man working for repairing the machines. In his opinion it's easier to work with women, there are not so many problems then. At first sight one could have thought that the man was working on a different level, but this time it isn't about the hierarchy. The job description of a man is different, but the highest responsible in the room is a woman.

The clothes will be sold in France. Most likely at a much higher price than which is shown in the salaries. In the conversations many women mentioned the wish to travel to, for example, Paris. In reality, we are the first foreign people they meet. The music keeps playing and for that while different worlds come together.

To meet and to ask

Today we walked around the Medina with our surveys and were positively surprised about how many people were willing to give time for discussion. Thank you for all those who participated! Also the trust we had in those conversations was something which made us feel good. In the beginning when we started with the surveys it was hard to know how taboos may affect to the answers we got. Now we are starting to have something on which to base our overview, without local knowledge it would still be hard. 

The opinions of the society live deep in the Tunisian culture. While doing the surveys face-to-face, yes/no questions are not the ones which matter at that moment. The most interesting answers come after those ones; the glimpses to their opinions after sharing the general situation, they made me listen carefully even when the talk is happening in Arabic. In those moments you just want to follow all the face expressions, and little signs which could give some information. The translation rarely reaches those but it’s about the power of meeting.

For me a stopping moment was when the discussion led us to a point when the other party was surprised that having children outside of marriage is legal somewhere. Also meeting people who personally know a victim of violence and hearing about the challenges women can face when remarrying because they will be the ones judged for the divorce, negative colored feelings about the future after the revolution, they make you think. And they make you want to continue every day. For sure we are here for a reason.

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If you haven't yet followed the Facebook page for more detailed project updates, go here: https://www.facebook.com/Wonder-Women-of-Sfax

Tozeur - weekend in the south

Those tourist shops in the middle of nowhere selling 'sea flowers'.

The road crossing the salt sea.

Waves of a different kind of ocean.

Paradise called Résidence Loued Hotel in the middle of my personal heat record, +42°C.

I have never seen this many palm trees at the same time. Welcome to the jungle for real.

Every tourist who appreciates herself goes to see the Star Wars scene when visiting Tozeur.

Sahara is only one type of a desert, but really a breathtaking one.

The mirage exists (even though you wouldn't believe it by looking this picture).

Appreciation towards water just got new definition during this trip. Even the wind coming from the window while driving a car was just burning hot, like being in a dry sauna, continuously. Many of the locals still had jeans or black dresses on. No idea how they survive. My feet were burning in sandals. The clothes which were wet of sweating could have been considered for a while as refreshing, but for that you need some good imagination. Challenging environment, new experiences, this was definetely one example of it.

P.S. Palm trees produce dates instead of coconuts here. Water bottle of half litre is useless. But cold water, it's heavenly.