Chamber for Assistance of Finns and Foreigners (Oulu)

:"This article is about Chamber for Assistance of Finns and Foreigners in Oulu; for other uses see Chaff (disambiguation)."

Chamber for Assistance of Finns and Foreigners (CHAFF) is a non-formal network of people in the city of Oulu, Finland, with the purpose of helping friends with moving, employment issues or simply just offering an open ear.

History

CHAFF was started as a group of friends meeting at an Oulu Internet Café during the late summer of 2005. Jacob Matthan, an Indian scientist with a large international network, who had been living in Oulu for over two decades, gathered people around him to meet for a Sunday afternoon coffee regularly. The joys and pitfalls of living in Oulu were discussed and the group expanded as a network of support.

As more and more newcomers to Oulu heard about the Sunday meetings, the Internet cafés premises became too small: the group started meeting at a Thai restaurant every Sunday for lunch. For many of the attendees Sunday around noon was a time they needed a network most – at home, Sunday lunch would have been spent with family and friends, but as a newcomer in a new city and country, Sundays provide gloomy outlooks without a familiar atmosphere.

The Name

As the group became more familiar with each other, the subject of name arose. After some discussion the acronym CHAFF was accepted as the name, standing for 'Chamber for Assistance of Finns and Foreigners.' At the same time, the word has a two-fold meaning in English: a) the mass of husks separated from grain seeds during threshing and b) light-hearted joking. Thus, as Jacob Matthan lovingly put it, CHAFF can be described as the Valuable Rubbish of Oulu, created to assist people in a light hearted manner.

Further Development and Activities

Since then, CHAFF continued to operate as a group of friends, without any official organization, membership fees or chairpersons. A mailing list and a blog were created to keep people informed about topics of interest and useful information. Without making a big deal about it, CHAFF members helped and supported each other.

On popular request, Jacob and his helpers organized an Indian Evening in February 2007. The event is often cited amongst CHAFF members as being one of the most memorable events of CHAFF-times. People of different backgrounds and cultures joined in to cherish and celebrate Indian culture with food, clothes, dances, songs and games. CHAFF was also active in helping to organize the Anti-racism week of 2007 in Oulu. As people of common backgrounds found each other, CHAFF spin-off groups started to create: a Thai group as well as an Indian community founding new networks.

CHAFF 2.0

In the fall of 2007, CHAFF stood at a turning point: the Thai where restaurant CHAFF-members used to meet closed down and Jacob Matthan went into well-deserved retirement from CHAFF to continue his work amongst the Indian community. The next generation of CHAFF members met for Sunday lunches at different restaurants for a while, before deciding on a complete reorientation in the spring of 2008.

CHAFF nowadays

At the moment, CHAFF members work together on setting up new ways of communication and cooperation: a CHAFF homepage has been recently created, as well as a new mailing list, while a parents-child-group is under formation. Members will continue their face-to-face meetings in the summer of 2008 with a New CHAFF Kickoff Party.

External links

* [http://www.ouluchaff.com/ CHAFF Website]
* [http://ouluchaff.blogspot.com/ CHAFF Blog]
* [http://groups.google.com/group/ouluchaff CHAFF at Google Groups]