Four nights in the happiest country in the world
When I received an email from the Finnish embassy inviting me to Helsinki, I thought to myself that this was an opportunity to satisfy my wanderlust. Traveling to the capital of one of the happiest and most innovative countries in the world made the offer exciting and irresistible.
Ranked number one in the world happiness report since 2018 and thanks to a government that invests a lot in the general well-being of its citizens, it’s no wonder that the Nordic country is also listed as having the best governance in the world.
The media visit on June 12-17, 2022 coincided with the Nordic and African high-level ministerial meeting hosted by Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto. 12 journalists from 12 African countries had been invited to the visit. After being selected from among the journalists interviewed by the Finnish Embassy in Abuja, I packed my bags and hopped aboard a Boeing 787-8 Qatar Airways at Nnamdi Azikiwe International, Abuja for a six-hour flight to Doha on June 12. We arrived in Helsinki after another mind-numbing six and a half hour flight from Hamad Airport.
Rushing into Vaantali’s spacious but cool lounge was as refreshing as a glass of iced tea on a summer afternoon. Our driver was waiting at the terminal with a Zambian colleague. Soon after, we were joined by another reporter from Kenya. Luggage in hand, we were soon cruising down the wide boulevard in a Yellow Line airport taxi in a Mercedes Benz. On both sides of the road, men, women and young people ride bicycles or electric scooters while the tram glides along its tracks.
In a few minutes, we checked into our rooms at Hotel Glo Kluuv, which is located in the city center. We met our hosts, the communication coordinators of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rim Meziani and Anu Lehtinen. They took us to the restaurant Salutorget on the busy Pohjoisesplanadi, overlooking Helsinki’s bustling seafront market. There we got our first taste of delicious Finnish food.
The next day was full of action as the coordinators competed with the visiting journalists on occasion after occasion. One of the striking places was Päiväkoti Kanava, which prides itself on being Finland’s largest provider of education in nature pedagogy. The students are aged one to six years. The school said it emphasizes nature, exercise and play. It was gathered that there are about 300 Finnish-language kindergartens and about 50 Swedish-language kindergartens in Helsinki.
Soon it was time to join the meeting of the Nordic and African foreign ministers, which was organized at Crowne Plaza, Mannerheimintie 50, Töölö. There were foreign ministers from four Nordic countries – Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark. Their colleagues from 25 African countries also attended the meeting. They included Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Egypt, Eritrea, South Africa, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Zambia, Senegal, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia and Uganda.
Our host Haavisto held a virtual session with us, where he was responsible for Finland’s bilateral relations with African countries. He said his country has drawn up an Africa strategy to expand and deepen relations with African countries, the African Union and other regional organizations on the continent. The goal is to diversify Finland’s relations and develop the goals and coherence of Finland’s Africa policy.
We visited the independent innovation fund SITRA, which operates directly under the supervision of the parliament. SITRA aims to make Finland successful as a pioneer of sustainable well-being by anticipating the direction of social trends, looking for alternatives for development and bringing together partners from different fields for open-minded experiments and reforms.
One central theme in SITRA’s work is the circular economy, where consumption is based on the use of services – sharing, renting and recycling – instead of owning goods. SITRA took the lead in organizing the first world circular economy forum in June 2017 in Finland. For the first time, the agency plans to host this year’s World Circular Economy Forum in Kigali, Rwanda on December 6-8, 2022.
The media delegation also met with eggheads at the University of Helsinki, where they listened to the presentations of Pirjo Auni, visiting professor of early childhood education at the University of Johannesburg, on how to identify and support children with special needs in mathematics. The Early Numeracy Project in South African Schools. Professor of Infectious Diseases Anu Kantele talked about his ongoing research in West Africa into antimicrobial resistance.
At the European Center of Excellence for Combating Hybrid Threats, Deputy Director Janne Jokinen, the hybrid impact of the advocacy community, presented a menu of the various threats that the agency combats and how it contributes to the whole government and society approach to combating hybrid threats. “The center’s vision is a world in which our open, democratic societies function without hostile outside interference,” he said.
We were given a city tour. Our guide, the energetic and lively Maddalena Benedetti, fluently recreating Finnish history, took us to Helsinki’s cultural, religious and political landmarks. We were in the Evangelical Lutheran cathedral and also spent time in Kamppi’s chapel of silence – a quiet sanctuary of introspection where visitors are required to keep their lips sealed. We got to know the National Library located next to Senate Square. With more than three million books and periodicals, the institution also has a corresponding number of other resources such as audio recordings, maps, sheet music, posters, manuscripts and other ephemera.
The National Library is said to have more than 100 shelf kilometers of resources. Originally designed in a striking neoclassical style by Carl Ludvig Engel and built between 1840 and 1845, the Finnish government invested 98 million euros ($119.7 million) in the new library in 2018 and named it Oodi – odi. Children and parents were spotted playing video games or surfing the internet on free WiFi. One striking feature of the city of Helsinki is free WiFi in most public places, such as restaurants, shopping malls and offices. Also worth noting is people’s love for their language. The majority of television channels broadcast in Finnish, while the few broadcasting in English also translate their content into the local language.
We visited the Päivälehti museum. It presents the history of media, contemporary media and the future of media, as well as freedom of speech in Finland and other countries. In addition to general historical exhibitions, the museum also tells the story of Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest daily newspaper, which has been published for over 130 years.
Our trip culminated with a ferry ride to Lonna Island. The island was once used for storing and clearing mines, but now it is a refuge where visitors can leave the hustle and bustle of city life behind and enjoy a hearty meal after sweating it out in a public sauna. Sauna bathing is an integral part of Finnish culture and national identity. Although there are only 5.5 million Finns, there are 3.3 million saunas in the country. Public saunas used to be common in bigger cities, but now that most new apartments have their own saunas, the number of public saunas has decreased dramatically, and only a couple remain.
Finns demonstrate their social progress with an efficient urban transport system, religious respect for order and love for nature. The street and traffic lights work like clockwork. The intensity of the traffic lights installed every five meters was phenomenal. There was no traffic warden to be seen and the policemen were almost imperceptible as they blended into the surroundings.
Despite the cool weather, sleeping at night was problematic. This was because the nights in Helsinki were almost as bright as the day. Confusingly, midnight feels like an African morning.