Miksi lähteä järjestötoimintaan?

Reilu vuosi sitten tammikuussa summasin ensimmäistä vuottani AIESEC Oulun hallituksessa. Nyt puheenjohtajakauteni päätyttyä kirjoitin yliopistolle raporttia saadakseni järjestötoiminnan hyväksiluettua tutkinnossani opintopisteinä. Kokonaisuudesta käsin on jotenkin aina helpompi listata matkan varrella kertyneitä oppeja, ja ajattelin tallentaa nuo pohdinnat myös tänne blogiin, jotta voin niitä jälleen viimeistään vuoden päästä muistella.

Opintopisteisiin vaaditun raportin kirjoittaminen sujui yllättävän helposti, sillä onnekseni aloitin viime vuoden alussa ahaa-elämyksieni listauksen kaiken tapahtuneen lomassa. Ja niitähän kertyikin - 20 sivun verran - kokeilkaa jos uskallatte! Tässä seuraa parhaita paloja.

Mitä oikein tein?

Puheenjohtajan pestissä vastasin AIESEC Oulun paikallistoiminnasta. Koordinoin tiimiä, jonka tehtävänä oli huolehtia niin jäsenistöstä, rahallisesta kannattavuudesta kuin YK:n kestävän kehityksen tavoitteiden mukaisten projektien toimivuudesta sekä Suomessa että ulkomailla.

Vastuullani oli paikallisen toimintasuunnitelman tekeminen ja sen mukaan etenemisen varmistaminen, valtakunnallisten ja globaalien tavoitteiden kanssa linjassa olemisen varmistaminen, sekä erilaisissa konferensseissa ja kokouksissa edustaminen.

Mitä opin tästä kaikesta?

Tiimiä johtaessani opin, kuinka ihmisiä yhdistävä yhteinen päämäärä tuo hyvinkin erilaisia persoonia saman tavoitteen taakse. Opin, miten tuo tavoite kirkastetaan yhdessä sekä jokaiselle henkilökohtaisesti. Opin, että johtajan täytyy olla se, joka muistaa, miltä voittaminen tuntuu, sillä siitä tunteesta löytyvää toivoa tarvitaan silloin kun asiat eivät meinaa edetä.

Tiimihengen luomisessa elintärkeä seikka on avoimen ilmapiirin luominen. Jokaisen on pystyttävä olemaan rehellisesti oma itsensä, ja tuomaan omat mielipiteensä ilmi mielipiteinä, ilman että niiden takia tuomitaan ihminen niiden takana. Ainoastaan tällaisen avoimuuden kautta tiimi saa käyttöönsä jokaisen jäsenen parhaat puolet, jotka kehittyvät entisestään ilmapiirin tukiessa niitä.

Opin päätöksenteosta, sen tärkeydestä, vaikeudesta ja moniulotteisuudesta. Tehdyt päätökset eivät yleensä ole kaikkien mielestä niitä parhaita, ja tämän takia perustelut tehdylle päätökselle on ehdottoman tärkeää tuoda esiin. 

Jos mahdollista, on hyvä myös valottaa muiden vaihtoehtojen perusteluja, ja kertoa miksi niitä ei nähty yhtä varteenotettavina. Myös päätöksenteossa korostuu siis avoimuus niin ilmapiirissä, joka on vaihtoehdoista käydyille keskusteluille avoin, kuin teknisessä puolessa, joka noudattaa vallan jakamista päätöksentekoelimille.

Opin, että asioita saa aikaan, kun yhteisössä vallitsee tekemisen meininki. Tällaisen ympäristön luominen onnistuu, kun uskaltaa unelmoida ja tekee sen yhdessä. Yllättävän moni asia on saavutettavissa, kun sen pilkkoo tarpeeksi pieniin osiin. 

Tilanteissa, joissa ei tiedä, mitä tehdä, kannattaa alkaa tekemään jotain. Aloittaa voi esimerkiksi kysymällä itseltään: “Mitä en tällä hetkellä tiedä?”. Aina on oltava valmis keskustelemaan, kokeilemaan ja oppimaan.

Opin ryhmän ja yksilön kehityksen tukemisesta. Opin käyttämään kuuntelemista ja oikeiden kysymysten kysymistä strategisesti seuraavien askelmerkkien löytämiseen: mitä halutaan saavuttaa, mikä on seuraava askel sen suuntaan, missä ollaan nyt, mitkä ovat vaihtoehdot, mitä aiotaan tehdä seuraavaksi.

Opin budjetoimaan. Opin panostamaan tehtävänkuvan selkeyteen, sillä ymmärsin tiedossa olevien odotusten lisäävän tekijän motivaatiota. Yhtä tärkeää on kuitenkin myös tietää, milloin on tehnyt tarpeeksi, ja voi pitää tauon hyvällä omalla tunnolla.

Yhtenä tärkeimmistä ja suurimmista opeista on kuitenkin se, mitä opin itsestäni ihmisenä. Itsetuntemus yhdistettynä itseluottamuksen syventymiseen ovat antaneet entistä parempia valmiuksia niin ymmärtää omaa toimintaa stressitilanteissa, kuin kykyjä kohdata ja ohjata muita ihmisiä, sekä luoda yhteyksiä erilaisista taustoista huolimatta.

Yliopisto-opiskelu ja järjestötoiminta

Kaiken kaikkiaan olen ehdottoman tyytyväinen, että tuo vajaat kolme vuotta sitten yliopisto-opinnot aloittaessani liityin AIESECiin. Opiskelu yliopistossa antaa ehdottoman tärkeät valmiudet laajojen tietomäärien käsittelyyn, niiden järjestelmälliseen analyysiin ja omien vastuiden kunniakkaaseen loppuunviemiseen. Opiskelujen ohessa tapahtunut aktiivisuus on kuitenkin mielestäni se, mikä loppujen lopuksi eniten vaikuttaa omien ajatusten, kykyjen ja tulevaisuuden mahdollisuuksien muovaamiseen.

Uskon, että tulevaisuudessa työnteon muuttuessa projektiluontoisemmaksi ja suurempaa itseohjautuvuutta vaativaksi kaikki vapaa-ajalla kasvatettu oman osaamisen määrä tulee nostamaan merkityksellisyyttään työnhaussa. Myös useassa paikassa toitotettu verkostoituminen koki järjestötyön ansiosta mielessäni matkan kirosanasta hauskanpitoon.

Sain kuulla näiden kolmen vuoden aikana ihmettelyjä siitä, kuinka aktiivisen järjestötoiminnan voi yhdistää opinnoissa suunnitellusti etenemiseen. Kysymys onkin aiheellinen, sillä omat rajansa on tärkeä tuntea. 

Toivoisin kuitenkin, että opiskelun ohella tapahtuvaan järjestötoimintaan osallistumista tuotaisiin yleisesti vahvemmin esiin ja siihen rohkaistaisiin entistä enemmän. Voi nimittäin olla niinkin, että sopiva kiireen ja mielenkiintoisten asioiden tekeminen saa itse asiassa laittamaan elämän paremmin järjestykseen. Minulle kävi niin.

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Tästä tulikin melkoinen romaani, joten onnitteluni, mikäli jaksoit lukea tänne asti! Olisi mielenkiintoista kuulla, minkälaisia kokemuksia muilla on järjestötoiminnan tai esimerkiksi itselle tärkeän mutta aikaa vievän harrastuksen yhteensovittamisesta.

Jos kansainvälinen järjestötoiminta kiinnostaa, lisätietoa AIESECista löytyy osoitteesta aiesec.fi. Vastaan myös mielelläni kysymyksiin, sillä sattumalta kyseinen organisaatio on tullut näiden vuosien aikana melko tutuksi. ;)

After that summer nothing felt anything

In one coaching meeting some time ago I was asked to make a resume of failure. The instructions told that I should collect the top three mistakes of my life to a list. That list would then be put into form of resume, like the ones you do for a job interview, and then you could be proud of your errors. Embrace the failure and so on.

I remember, how in that moment I couldn't come up with any severe mistakes to make a list with. But being given a task and being me, I ended up with a list of few things I wish I would have done better. Too bad I couldn't find the list today. (Only a huge pile of other super necessary notes from my past two years that I have lived in my apartment.) However, I remember the feeling while doing that exercise. I felt like lacking something.

Lately, I have been thinking of what do I want to do in the future, and what kind of a person I would like to be, that stuff which everyone is thinking of once in a while. I'm not here to tell you that I would have found an answer, nor I'm here to say that I would be sad about that. What I have found, are new opportunities, new preferences, new things which I have learnt that I actually appreciate in life more than I ever thought before. Maybe I will find a job related to writing, maybe I'll create a career as a mentor, maybe one day I'll find myself teaching people about things I think I have experience in. Maybe it will be none of those.

This summer I worked as a tour guide for two student groups. We had a different cultural background, busy schedule to fulfill and a lot of laughter for weird sentences we made each other to pronounce. We saw a lot of places, we got lost and were hungry. We met many inspiring people, we walked in the rain and we struggled to understand each others at the times. Pretty much everything I could ask for my summer job to be like.

Both of the two groups visited Stockholm, and during the first day in there both times, I had my breaking down point. The first time we realized that we didn't have any local currency in pocket, no working paying cards, and a need to get to the city center after finding something to eat. The second time the first day hit even harder. We had more people, bigger amounts of money needed, and again no working cards - neither for paying the public transportation cards nor opening the hotel doors. And after all of this, Stockholm was a city I really fell in love with.

Today I had a perfectly long meeting, enough to realize how bad I f*cked up. For having slipped through my fingers some minimum requirements, the ship I am responsible for, had started to sink. Given the great opportunity to try out my wings, in an environment which doesn't judge when you fail, I had disappointed the people who had trusted me. For not requiring enough from other people, I was now the one who could receive nothing but severe requirements. In that moment I knew, that even though in the future this failure would hopefully feel as important as tiny shit of a fly, this would be the biggest failure of my life so far. I still wonder, how they trusted me again, though.

On the way back home, the setting for self-pity was perfect: dark roads were wet and it was raining so that my pants got wet and glasses blurry. This was how everything could end. This was something which would never have happened, if I wouldn't have started. This was what I was doing voluntarily, and what I could end at any given moment. And the world would keep spinning, like it would if I wouldn't exist.

Cycling alone in dark, getting wet from the rain, what I did, was that I almost started laughing. Embrace the failure and so on. It all felt so comic. There I was, grieving for my hard little life, like it would be so much easier for everyone else, or for me if I would have made some different choices. Well, no one knows if it would, but if nothing feels anything, who cares anyway.

The next feeling after the random laughter moment was surprisingly pride. Now I would have something for my resume of failure. Yeah, what an achievement of life, don't you agree. But in that moment I realized, how falling in love always requires starting, how it strengthens with enough struggles and continues only as long as the destination is still close to your heart and worth fighting that battle.

What I want to remember from this, is the power of starting and the power of finishing. Without the first one there is no other.

Opportunities out there

+20 degrees Celsius, sunny weather and sightseeing. Good food, enjoyable company and stunning historical views.

Eye-opening conversations, people with purpose. Dancing on roses and broken plates. Impacting more than 700 children and youth in 1,5 hours and being impacted even bigger. Refreshing wind and the voice of waves.

Daring to dream about better tomorrow and how there is no impossible.

No one said going for the opportunities would be easy. But what matters, is to go and to own it. And that's what I want to do. And that's what I'm doing.

Imagine, if all the 'opportunities out there' would be opportunities right here instead? Then it might be hard to choose where to start, you may say. If that's the case, why not going to Kyrgyzstan? Yes, it feels like a random idea, but isn't that how the best ones always do?

Ensimmäinen päivä presidenttinä

Vaikka tasavallan presidendin virkaanastujaispäivänä Helsingissä pyrytti, Oulussa saatiin nauttia mitä kauneimmasta talvipäivästä. Ensimmäistä päivää vietettiin täälläkin, kuten lukuisissa muissa AIESECin paikallisosastoissa ympäri maailman. Local Committee Presidentit, LCPt, joita Facebook-kavereista yllättävän monta löytyy, päivittivät aikajanoilleen alkaneita työsuhteitaan AIESECissa, minä heidän mukanaan.

Auringonpaisteen lisäksi päivään mahtui myös pilviä ainakin mielentilassa, kun sain sähköpostiviestin väärään osoitteeseen toimitetusta avustushakemuksesta. Rahasumman todennäköinen valuminen sivu suun näin onnettoman erheen takia ottaa päähän, mutta siitä ei kuitenkaan auta kuin ottaa opiksi, lähettää muutama uusi sähköpostiviesti ja toivoa parasta. Jos tilanne on jo menetetty, onpahan pohjalta ainoa suunta ylöspäin. Kävi miten kävi, tästä mokaa murehtiessani huomasin jälleen kerran, miten mahtava tukiverkko voi yhden järjestön ympärille muodostua. Ihmiset Oulussa, Suomen (AIESECin) hallituksessa, sekä samanlaisissa presidentinsaappaissa Suomessa ja ympäri Eurooppaa, kiitos että olette olemassa. :)

Kaiken kaikkiaan hymyilyttää. Saapuvien vapaaehtoisten asioita käsittelevässä tapaamisessa olin enää lähinnä ihanan tarpeeton ja toimin ovimiehenä seuraajani hoitaessa homman kotiin. Toimistolla hääräilin milloin missäkin tarvittiin. Onnittelevia ihmisiä tuli vastaan muutamia, Facebookissa käsittämättömän valtava määrä. Ei tässä voi olla kuin otettu, että on tällaisen mahdollisuuden saanut.

Vaikka toimenkuvamme on titteleiden samankaltaisuudesta huolimatta aivan eri tasolla, yhdyn Niinistön sanoihin: "Valinta presidentiksi on suuri kunnia, joka tuo mukanaan suuren vastuun. Otan vastuun kantaakseni nöyränä, mutta päättäväisenä. Omistaudun tälle tehtävälle, enempää ei voi luvata."

Ennen ja jälkeen

Viikon päästä päättyy 13-kuukautinen rupeama AIESEC Oulun saapuvien vapaaehtoisten päävastaavana. Tänään summattiin tiimin kanssa tuona aikana karttuneita kokemuksia, ärsytyksiä ja saavutuksia jokaviikkosen tapaamisen päätteeksi. Vuosi on ollut melkoista vuoristorataa, kuten keskustelujen alkajaisiksi piirretyt motivaatiokäyrät jokaisen kohdalla todistivat. Tällä kertaa suurin ahaa-elämykseni tuosta käydystä keskustelusta oli kuitenkin se, että ennen kaikkea kyseessä on ajanjakso, jota ennen kyseessä oli erilainen Jenni kuin se Jenni, joka nyt tuota aikaa muistelee.

Ensimmäinen oman elämän ennen ja jälkeen -tilanne, jonka ymmärsin siinä hetkessä, oli välivuoteni au pair -aika. Hollantiin lähtiessä en tiennyt kerrassaan mitään siitä, mille tuon vuoden jälkeen alkaisin. Tulevaisuus oli silloin kaukana ja kaikki muu juuri siinä nenän edessä. Muuta en olisi voinut siltä hetkeltä toivoa, ja mikä parempaa, vuoden jälkeen tiesin taas enemmän.

Viime tammikuussa, nuo huiman nopeasti kuluneet 13 kuukautta sitten jännitti niin paljon, ettei nyt voi etes oikein ymmärtää että miksi. Tänään käydyssä keskustelussa paljastin hermoilleeni puhumista juuri noille tyypeille, joista yhdessä työskennellessä kehittyi vähintäänkin toinen perheeni. Kesän jälkeen oma motivaatiokäyräni oli pudota miinuksen puolelle, kun tunsin riittämättömyyttä organisaation laajuudesta kumpuavien ongelmatilanteiden vuoksi.

Tunisiassa ollessani tunsin ensimmäistä kertaa millaista on olla se erilainen. Kun selvittelin muutamien keskeytyneiden projektien seurauksia Oulussa, vastaan tuli hetkiä, jolloin todellisuus yllätti uudella ongelmalla, vaikka olin luullut ettei se olisi enää mahdollista. Juoksevien asioiden muututtua mekaaniseksi suorittamiseksi tapasin ihmisen, joka auttoi löytämään tarkoituksen kipinän takaisin. Ja kaiken tämän ansiosta ymmärsin, kuinka paljoon pystynkään, jos vain haluan.

Katsoin joku aika sitten YouTubesta aamumotivaatiovideon. Kyllä, juuri sellaisen, jossa mahtipontisia selityksiä tahdittaa inspiroiva ja ponnekas musiikki. Siinä huomioni kiinnittivät nämä kolme kysymystä: Miten haluan kasvaa? Mitä voin antaa? Mitä voin juhlistaa? Kertojaääni kehotti kysymään nämä itseltään päivittäin.

Elämässä tulee vastaan monenlaisia muutoksia. Moni niistä tapahtuu hiljalleen ja huomaamattomastikin, eikä siksi ehkä saa aina arvoistaan huomiota. Ihmisenä kasvaminen, oman paikkansa löytäminen ja elämästä nauttiminen ovat loputtomia prosesseja. Välillä mietin, tuleeko tarpeeksi usein pysähdyttyä pohtimaan, olenko menossa siihen suuntaan, mitä elämältä haluan. Tänään pysähdyin ja pystyin toteamaan, että tykkään jälkeen-tuloksista. Nyt kysymys kuuluu, mitä kaikkea siihen listaan mahtuu taas vuoden kuluttua. Joko tiedät, mihin sinä aiot vaikuttaa ennen kuin on seuraavan jälkeen-etapin aika?

Before and after

After a week from now, my 13 months as a Vice President of Incoming Global Volunteer (aka responsible for volunteers who come to Oulu) will be over. Today we were going through our feelings about the journey with the team. The year has been one kind of a roller coaster, as shown in the motivation graphs drawn by everyone. However, this time my biggest realisation from that conversation was the idea of this one year as a time period, which had a different me before and after.

The first before and after moment in my life which I noticed during that time, was during my au pair year. When I was leaving to the Netherlands, I had no idea what I would be doing after those 9 months. The future was far away and everything else right there, right then. That was all I could have wished for that moment, and even better was that after the year I knew more again.

Last January, those 13 quick months ago I was so scared that it's hard for me to understand now, why was that. In our conversation today I admitted that I was scared for talking to those people who ended up becoming my second family. After the summer my motivation graph was about to go below zero, when I didn't know what to think about the challenges, which are part of having a worldwide organisation.

In Tunisia I felt the first time how it is to be the different one. When dealing with some project issues in Oulu, I had not-always-so-positively surprising situations in moments where I had thought that it cannot get harder than this. When day-to-day tasks had turned into executing only, I met a person who helped me to find back that sparkle of purpose. And because of all of this I understood, how much I can do if I want.

Some time ago I watched a morning motivation video from YouTube. Yes, one of those with theatrical explanations and empowering music playing on the background. In that video these three questions caught my attention: How do I want to grow? What can I give? What can I celebrate? The narrator's voice encouraged the watchers to ask themselves those questions every day.

In life we face many kind of changes. Many of those happen bit by bit and might not get the attention they would deserve. To grow as a human being, to find one's place and to enjoy what you are doing are ongoing processes. At times I ask myself if I have stopped to listen my heart often enough to know if I'm going to the direction I want. Today I stopped and I was able to say that I like the after results. Now the question is, what will be on that list one year from now. Do you already know where do you want to have an effect on before the next after results?

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.