Bora’s Jour­ney: Find­ing a new dream in Fin­land as a social work­er

Life has a way of guid­ing us on unex­pect­ed paths, lead­ing to incred­i­ble trans­for­ma­tions. Meet Bora Kim, a kind indi­vid­ual who had a unique jour­ney from South Korea to Oulu, Fin­land.

Let’s explore Bora Kim’s inspir­ing sto­ry, from her back­ground in tex­tile design to the field of social ser­vices in the city of Oulu.

Embrac­ing a New Chap­ter in Fin­land

Bora’s jour­ney began in South Korea, where she pur­sued her pro­fes­sion in tex­tile design. How­ev­er, her path took a turn when she dis­cov­ered her deep empa­thy to care for oth­ers. Bora tran­si­tioned her skills into the realm of human resources, work­ing in an elder­ly hos­pi­tal for six years in South Korea.

Her expe­ri­ence in this role allowed her to grow her inter­est into the field of social ser­vices. Since it was dif­fi­cult to study in South Korea, she found an oppor­tu­ni­ty to study in Oulu, Fin­land and start­ed study­ing social ser­vices at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Applied Sci­ences (OAMK). Bora also got mar­ried in Fin­land and hap­pi­ly lived in Oulu for sev­en years and count­ing!

Main lan­guage used in her stud­ies and work­ing life is Finnish, in which she most­ly learned at home by lis­ten­ing to the radio, watch­ing morn­ing news and talk­ing in Finnish with her hus­band.

Thriv­ing in Oulu’s Vibrant Com­mu­ni­ty

For the past sev­en years, Oulu has been Bora’s sec­ond home. The city’s wel­com­ing atmos­phere and strong com­mu­ni­ty spir­it have pro­vid­ed her with a nur­tur­ing envi­ron­ment to grow both per­son­al­ly and pro­fes­sion­al­ly.

Accord­ing to Bora, her first impres­sions of Oulu is the calm­ness and peace­ful­ness in the streets. The build­ings appeared sim­pler than she imag­ined as well as the Finnish peo­ples’ fash­ion styles are more towards neu­tral col­ors than she is used to back in South Korea.

Through her expe­ri­ences, Bora gained a deep­er under­stand­ing of dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives towards the Finnish cul­ture.

“I found it sur­pris­ing Finnish peo­ple don’t wear shoes in the office and hav­ing breaks are flex­i­ble, for exam­ple, my col­league was knit­ting dur­ing her break. In South Korea it is stricter and more com­pet­i­tive.”

In addi­tion, she men­tioned trust is one of the key fac­tors for a suc­cess­ful and healthy work­ing envi­ron­ment.

“These days, the con­cept of remote work is increas­ing in South Korea, but employ­ers still want employ­ees to work inside the com­pa­ny. Employ­ers may not yet pre­fer work­ing remote­ly, where they can­not check the sta­tus of their employ­ees. How­ev­er, in Fin­land its more flex­i­ble and there is trust and the employ­ee can share ideas and depend on them­selves.”

Do you have any tips for some­one who has been think­ing about mov­ing and work­ing in Oulu?

Here are few tips Bora rec­om­mends for new­com­ers:

• It can be chal­leng­ing to find infor­ma­tion about Fin­land in oth­er coun­tries. How­ev­er, uti­liz­ing online resources and offi­cial gov­ern­ment web­sites, can pro­vide valu­able insights into life in Oulu, Fin­land.
• “Learn­ing the Finnish lan­guage is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed. While many Finns speak Eng­lish, hav­ing a basic under­stand­ing of Finnish will great­ly enhance your expe­ri­ence and open more oppor­tu­ni­ties.”
• Con­nect with peo­ple in Fin­land before mak­ing the move. Online com­mu­ni­ties, social media groups, and pro­fes­sion­al net­works can help you estab­lish con­nec­tions, gath­er infor­ma­tion, and get a glimpse of what life in Oulu is like.
• “I reached out to the Kore­an Embassy for more infor­ma­tion about Fin­land” Bora stat­ed. By reach­ing out an embassy or con­sulate in Fin­land can pro­vide you with resources, infor­ma­tion, and guid­ance spe­cif­ic to the needs and inter­ests of indi­vid­u­als from that spe­cif­ic coun­try mov­ing to Fin­land.”
• “Remem­ber, thor­ough research and prepa­ra­tion will great­ly ben­e­fit your tran­si­tion to Oulu. Best of luck with your future!” – Bora Kim

Text: Nada Abass