In the Portraits series we asked four top photographers to come up with their own vivid and distinctive take on PAM workers. The portraits are of persons with a foreign background who bring new approaches and some cultural variety to their workplaces.

“I have lived in Ghana, Russia, Australia, Belarus and now Finland. I have met so many people that it has helped me to cope in social situations.

Nonetheless I was offended when for the first time someone in Finland said NO straight to my face. It was then that I learned that people here tend to say things directly

I have told my Finnish colleagues not to be off-hand with customers.

I came to Finland to study peace and conflict research, but for the whole time I have also worked in companies in service sectors. Now I am a cleaner in restaurants in Tampere.

I have told my Finnish colleagues not to be off-hand with customers. I feel really terrible if I can’t help someone, for example, and I also show it.

I try to do my job well and my boss trusts me. Except for one person, all my foreign friends here are cleaners, even though their qualifications are in different areas."

Maria Opoku-Aikins encourages Finns to talk more to people with a foreign background.

“Not all immigrants know their rights or what their pay should be. Some employers know this and exploit it.

The hardest thing in Finland is loneliness.

The manager where I used to work wasn’t going to pay me holiday pay, but the union helped me. That makes me so happy: otherwise I wouldn’t have seen that money. I didn’t know what PAM is at first, but my colleague suggested joining up.

The Finnish collective agreement system is really good. Nowadays I carry the collective agreement in English round with me in my bag."

Maria Opoku-Aikins is due to complete her degree within a year. In future she hopes to find work in organisations, for example.

“The hardest thing in Finland is loneliness. People want to be left alone in their own bubbles!

Why would you be afraid of someone coming from another culture? Strangers don’t hurt you. It would be nice if Finns learned to smile a bit and do small talk. Life is so much nicer when people know my name.

I go to PAM’s Finnish courses two days a week, but it’s a difficult language. I have a Finnish boyfriend and if the Finns opened their doors to me, I would like to stay."

You can find more information about Finnish working life here. 

WHAT THE PHOTOGRAPHER SAYS
Photographer Uwa Iduozeen

“I wanted to portray Maria so that she recognises herself in the end result. I didn’t want to reduce her to my own preconceptions; I wanted to present her as close-up as possible – as a rounded and fascinating person. We photographed Maria in her home surroundings, and we had a long talk before we started shooting, in order to put each other at ease.”