Women for Women, a place that feels like Home

by Maria Tikka

Every day we enter new spaces. Offices, classrooms, different organizations. Most of them are just places: walls and tables, computers and schedules etc.
But sometimes (very rarely in my opinion) a place feels different from the very first moment.

When I arrived at Monaliiku office, it felt like I entered a living, breathing community.

I remember my very first observation, which  surprised me in the most beautiful way. In the kitchen, women were working together. Some spoke Spanish, some Arabic, some Chinese. Many of them did not speak Finnish or English fluently. And yet... they understood each other! They laughed, they supported one another, they moved in harmony, like they had known each other for many years.

It made me think about the world outside.

Today, employers often have strict requirements: language certificates; perfect fluency; endless qualifications…
And here, in this warm and welcoming space, I saw something different. I saw women being given an opportunity, not because of perfect grammar, but because of their willingness to contribute, to care and to participate.

And nothing was lacking. The work was done. The smiles were real. The atmosphere was alive.
It was as if language was no longer only words. It was gestures, eye contact, kindness, shared purpose. It was humanity I guess. 

Monaliiku ”promotes physical activity and wellbeing among women from multicultural backgrounds”, but what I see is something even deeper. I think it promotes also belonging.

Women for women. How powerful that sounds and how necessary nowadays. 

In this organization, diversity is not just a slogan, but circumstances of reality. We can meet here different cultures & different stories and all sitting at the same table. Not melting into one identical shape, but existing side by side, like colours in a mosaic. And each one is visible, each one is very important.

What about inclusion; it’s not theoretical, it is practiced daily. It is visible in the way colleagues speak to one another, in their patience or in their laughter, also in the quiet understanding that everyone carries a different journey. And from this inclusion grows something I find precious - social cohesion.

When women feel safe, they participate. When they participate, they connect. When they connect, communities become stronger.

That’s it :)

As a social services student and intern, I do not only want to observe. I want to contribute. I want to be part of this team that does good and useful things, especially for women. I want to help create spaces where someone who feels like an outsider can suddenly feel at home.

Because perhaps that is what true wellbeing is: not only a healthy body, but a heart that feels included.

Every day we meet many different people. Most of them pass like a grey stream in the city. But in places like this, people stop being a stream, they become stories and strength for one another. And I am very happy that my journey has brought me here, to a place where diversity is a gift, where inclusion is alive, and where women rise by lifting each other.

How wonderful that such spaces exist. And how meaningful it feels to be even a small part of it.