ICE Student: Helmi Halonen

Place of Traineeship: Metsälän vastaanottokeskus (Metsälä reception centre for asylum seekers)

“Work description: To be specified; will include at least the basic office work of the reception centre, helping with the launching of a new family work programme, and assisting the inhabitants in dealings with Finnish authorities.

Personal goals: As the place that provides asylum seekers with housing and counselling, the reception centre is an excellent vantage point to the day to day reality of humanitarian migration. I expect to learn about the workings of the Finnish asylum process as well as about the experiences of refugees themselves. The internship thus provides a very practical perspective on some of the themes discussed during the ICE studies – migration, refugees, minority policies, and interculturality – and will hopefully deepen my understanding of humanitarian migration as a whole.”