Growing boys have few contacts with Finnish men
By Minttu Mikkonen
The lives of young men from Somalia who found themselves in the Helsinki region as children are powerfully influenced by a worldwide family network which is independent of national boundaries.
The network is not based on blood ties and DNA alone. According to researcher Petri Hautaniemi, Finnish officials should take this into consideration when making decisions concerning the children.
For his doctoral thesis, Hautaniemi followed the lives of about 20 Somali boys in the Helsinki region as they grew to manhood.
The researcher sees the Somalis as Finland's first true Europeans. Thanks to their networks, they are familiar with several large cities of the continent.
Hautaniemi wanted to find out what it means to be a Somali-born boy in Finland at the turn of the century. Until now there has not been any research into their everyday lives. Information that reaches the public focuses mainly on street fighting and crime.
Hautaniemi found that the main difference between the Somali boys and their Finnish counterparts was that the Somalis had less disposable income and they do not drink alcohol. Experiences of discrimination are another factor that separate the groups.
Hautaniemi attended school with the boys for a month, and after that he followed their activities at a Helsinki youth club.
Now in their early 20s, the young men are united by their escape from their country split apart by civil war, and by their ending up in Finland either alone or with some family member.
Many of them saw or experienced the horrors of the civil war before leaving their home country. However, the violence did not end there.
"I was going to do a youth study on the boys as their own cultural unit, and I tried to leave racism out of it, but it was impossible, because the experience of discrimination is such a significant part of the boys' everyday lives", Hautaniemi says.
Many of the boys say that they have been interrogated by police or have had their fingerprints taken simply because of their skin colour and ethnic background.
As a result, some have begun avoiding the centre of Helsinki.
"It is natural for them to have their identity documents checked, because they feel that they do not have the same rights as Finns do. It is realism based on experience."
From this point of view, Hautaniemi sees the boys as survivors. All of them have finished comprehensive school, and many have completed matriculation examinations or vocational school.
"They also appreciate school. One of the boys said that comprehensive school was the best time of his life, because he had almost no education before it", Hautaniemi says.
However, finding work is difficult. None of the boys have managed to get a permanent job.
"Considering the impending labour shortage in the years to come, it is a pretty bad deal if they are frustrated by discrimination and go elsewhere. Nevertheless Finland has invested in their education", Hautaniemi points out.
Hautaniemi is also interested in how the boys have experienced their male identity.
Although many Finns think that women in Somali families are subjected to the will of men, the boys have experienced their mothers as powerful educators, and as the force that holds families together. The fathers are rarely part of the boys' lives - even those who live in Finland.
The boys found Finnish society to be quite divided.
In their lives women are helpers, teachers, and social workers. The few men that they have had contact with as they have grown older have been mainly police officers, customs officials, and security guards.
The boys feel that Finnish men are more racist than women. Finnish boys of their own age also tend to keep their distance, but with Finnish girls there can sometimes be romantic vibrations.
Nevertheless, many of the Somali boys will end up marrying a Somali girl, with the mother often acting as matchmaker.
The right wife can sometimes be found through the Somalis' international network from another part of Europe, and households are often set up in the other countries.
Helsingin Sanomat / first published in print 20.3.2004
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