By Päivi Arvonen

Hinni Vo moved to Finland with her parents at the age of one 23 years ago. She feels at home in Helsinki and plans to start a business, but she does not feel Finnish.

“I’m absolutely more Vietnamese than Finnish, but I’m a westernized Vietnamese,” Hinni Vo declares.
Vo holds the culture of her home country in high value. As a Buddhist, she believes in Karma, that is, the order of cause and effect that determines a person’s destiny.
“I try to be humble and polite,” she says. “Respect for older people is very important in the Vietnamese culture.”

Vo sees no similarities between the Vietnamese and the Finnish cultures today. “There are similarities if you look back at Finnish history, as seniority and old age used to be respected in Finland, too.”

Her childhood home has a Buddhist shrine, and her family makes fruit offerings to the Buddhist deities. Vo has no shrine in her home, but she celebrates the Vietnamese and Asian holidays with her family, relatives and other immigrants from Asia. His favourite food is Vietnamese.

From customer service to entrepreneurship

Vo studies international business at the Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences. The language of the degree programme is English, but she speaks fluent Finnish. She has worked in many customer service positions and plans to start a fashion business with her sister.

“I would like to see more support for entrepreneurship in Finland,” she says. “For example, the taxation and the high extra costs for employing people don’t motivate anyone to start a business.”

Despite the drawbacks, she wants to found her business in Finland but plans to grow internationally.

Cultural training for teachers

Vo and her family moved from Vietnam to Joensuu in 1990. “We were well received,” she says. “But my school had few foreign-born students, so I was quite a strange encounter for my classmates with my immigrant background.”

Vo has not experienced racism herself. She describes the Finns of the younger generations as internationally oriented and tolerant. However, she thinks that middle-aged and older Finns would need more information and understanding of other cultures and should learn how to meet people of other cultural backgrounds.

“Teachers would also need more cultural training and information about the cultures of immigrants in order to meet parents in constructive ways and to avoid conflicts.”

Helsinki has room for differences

Vo moved to Helsinki in 2008. She says, “It was easy for me to find my place in Helsinki, as there is room for differences here.”

Settled in Oulunkylä, Vo especially appreciates the Helsinki parks and the Suomenlinna fortress islands. She recommends Asian tourists to visit at least the Senate Square, Katajanokka and the port of Helsinki, in addition to going shopping.

“It’s often said that the Finns don’t talk. When you bravely make a contact with a Finn and start a conversation, the Finn will warm up. The Finns aren’t nearly as cold as they are often claimed to be.”

Translated by Johanna Lemola

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