Meeting Point Cafés bring people together

On Tuesday evening resident house Betania is full of life. A group of asylum-seekers living at the Punavuori reception centre comes in and greets the attendants with happy moi ("hi!") shouts. Adults play pool, children do crafts and a Finnish man teaches a small asylum-seeker boy to play Chopsticks on the piano. There is not always a common language, but that does not matter.

The core idea of the meeting cafés is to bring together new Helsinkians from different countries and cultures, and people already living in Helsinki. Initially started in last spring, the meeting cafés continue on a weekly basis in resident house Betania in Punavuori and resident house Saunabaari in Maunula. The activities are also spread across the city, for example, to libraries and cultural centres. The cafés offer a variety of different themes and programme events. The autumn programme includes, for example, functional sports information events, cooking nights and handicrafts. The main things is still that people get to know each other.

”The Meeting Point Cafés are open to anyone and everyone. We hope that they attract active people in their own housing areas as well as those that do not yet have a broad social network. This is to enable meetings that strengthen social contacts, reduce prejudices and broaden views”, says Johanna Seppälä, Head of Unit at the Participation and Citizen Information.

The Meeting Point Cafés were created when the City of Helsinki thought about how the City could facilitate meetings between the asylum-seekers and the citizens. The pilot project of activities was completed last spring in the vicinity of the reception centres. The funding of the Meeting Point Cafés is part of the Helsinki City Board's separate appropriation, which is used to ensure the prerequisites for the integration of asylum-seekers and the integration of immigrants in Helsinki. Thanks to the funding, it has been possible to expand the number of Meeting Point Cafés and the target group has also been expanded from asylum-seekers to all people who have moved to the municipality from foreign countries.

Starting in autumn, the City of Helsinki departments participating in the Meeting Point Café activities will include, besides the City Executive Office, the Culture Department, the Helsinki City Library and the Sports Department. Organisations also play an active role in the creation of content for the Meeting Point Cafés and in arranging volunteers to the cafés. Multilingual instructors have been recruited to the Meeting Point Cafés. They work in cooperation with volunteers from different organisations to attract visitors and facilitate meetings. Participating in the Meeting Point Cafés and the servings offered there are free of charge for the visitors.