Nordic escapade II – 50 back on the Road

I am on the train to Helsinki. We leave Kuopio on a Sunday morning. It’s carpeted by a light layer of snow – which delights my travelling companion to no end. Like the first time I saw snow too. It seems Christmas is closer than we think, and a long winter here in the Nordics.

I love trains. What would be an escapade without a train journey? We zip through the forested countryside broken now and again by fields and rivers and lakes at 180 km/h.

On our last night in Kuopio we went to see the rapper 50 cent in concert. 21 years later and a millionaire a few times over, he seems to have come out of unannounced retirement (is it alimony costs or the tax man? or he is just bored with sitting at home? we were all wondering) to become a minor star working the washed out star circuit of minor venues; perhaps like the O’jays and Bonnie Tyler and the has – beens that the music world churns out in the viral manner of new stars born.

In his heyday, 50cent would fill up whole stadia of screaming fans (somebody screeeaam!), now he is down to small venues in small countries. But he still respects his audience and works hard to entertain with pyrotechnics which include video montages of his younger self. But the live semi-nude twerking stripper-type models further cheapen his rapping. But then this genre of music is built on that and there is no shortage here of pimply young buys (getting their groove) and bottle blondes and brunettes screaming into their phones as the excitedly take selfies and video for posting on the myriad of social media portals and hashtagging how cool/real/woke/awesome the show is.

They pay tribute to some fallen friends including Coolio and at the end of the show 50cent, through those clenched jaws is all somber as he says, “see you again, maybe”. I suggest a change to gospel Mr Nordic escapade II – 50 back on the Road

I am on the train to Helsinki. We leave Kuopio on a Sunday morning. It’s carpeted by a light layer of snow – which delights my travelling companion to no end. Like the first time I saw snow too. It seems Christmas is closer than we think, and a long winter here in the Nordics.

I love trains. What would be an escapade without a train journey? We zip through the forested country side broken now and again by fields and rivers and lakes at 180 km/h.

On our last night in Kuopio we went to see the rapper 50 cent in concert. 21 years later and a millionaire a few times over, he seems to have come out of unannounced retirement (is it alimony costs or the tax man? or he is just bored with sitting at home? we were all wondering) to become a minor star working the washed out star circuit of minor venues; perhaps like the O’jays and Bonnie Tyler and the has – beens that the music world churns out in the viral manner of new stars born.

In his heyday, 50cent would fill up whole stadia of screaming fans (somebody screeeaam!), now he is down to small venues in small countries. But he still respects his audience and works hard to entertain with pyrotechnics which include video montages of his younger self. But the live semi-nude twerking stripper-type models further cheapen his rapping. But then this genre of music is built on that and there is no shortage here of pimply young buys (getting their groove) and bottle blondes and brunettes screaming into their phones as the excitedly take selfies and video for posting on the myriad of social media portals and hashtagging how cool/real/woke/awesome the show is.

They pay tribute to some fallen friends including Coolio and at the end of the show 50cent, through those clenched jaws is all somber as he says, “see you again, maybe”. I suggest a change to gospel Mr Curtis James Jackson III (to you the name your momma gave you) or Jazz…it just lasts much longer and suits the mid-life stage we are all in.

 

Nordic escapades, part 3 - Hidden History

 

Hidden History

We meet with Antti at the Zara opposite Stockman’s. He is easy to recognize except he doesn’t have his bowler hat…it’s too cold for that. We met for the first time just over 4 weeks ago at the SANbio meeting when he was visiting South Africa. He liked Niselo he said, and I brought some for him but forgot it in the hotel. We end up giving it to the helpful lady at the airport check-in and she is so grateful (as Africans we find it difficult to through anything away).

Antti is generous with his time. At short notice he has put together an interesting tour of inner city Helsinki. This, it turns out is city built by the Russian emperor in the 100 years that Finland was under Russian rule. So, the statues in the main square and some of the roads are of Russian royals. Nothing here of the Swedish crown which had ruled the Finns for the 700 years prior, because the capital was then at Turku. The Russians are loathed but the Swedes are liked (maybe not loved); Antti says that it’s a complicated history but Swedish is an official language of business and education. Independence came to Finland just over 100 years ago when they took advantage of the chaos in Moscow when the Bolsheviks were overthrowing the Tsar, and they declared independence. Then there was a civil war.

We tour the University of Helsinki, at least the campus close to us which has the main administrative building overlooking the square, opposite the administrative wing of government, the Lutheran cathedral and on the fourth side the business end of the city…a quartet of the main pillars of society. Antti tells us that at degree defence, doctoral students are presented with the “Doctor’s hat” a kind of top hat and a sword! And there is a solemn ceremony followed by an alcohol fueled party where all the professors “get wasted”. It seems a good ceremony to adopt.

The university has about 40,000 students and like all universities here, is on an internationalization drive. Programmes at Bachelor's which are historically in Finnish and Swedish are increasingly anglicizing. We visit the “Think Corner” a place where researchers come to share their research with students and the public and innovation is fostered; then onto the library to take in an aerial view of the city – no skyscrapers here; the cityscape is largely unchanged in 100 years. The university owns much of downtown and has fifth stream income from commercial rentals.

Then onto the museum opposite the church. It’s mostly about the sauna, I remark. Our host then tells how the sauna is at the centre of life in Finland and that he has one in his house and his children are taken into it weekly from the age of 6 months, just as he was taken in. The sauna is a sterilized environment and historically women would give birth there, couples would honeymoon there, the sick would be taken into the sauna to be treated and the dead would be cleaned and prepared for burial there. Every major institution in Finland has a sauna – hospitals, schools, parliament – and major decisions are made there (to the chagrin of women who would be excluded because saunas are strictly binary). Which, Antii surmises might now work in women's favour since the new government is dominated by some strong women leaders.  On the waterfront just off Alexander street, there is a public municipal sauna. While, like in many /all cultures around the world, men “don’t cry”, the one place they are allowed to whinge and cry is the sauna (to fellow men, about their domestic and other situations); and as the tears and sweat commingle, they can literally wash away their trouble, get advice and go home de-stressed. A lot like my golf gang.

Then to the fish market which is now more commercial than in its previous incarnation. Then Antti tells us about the hidden history and like with any other country, it ain’t pretty. That the Finns were part of the failed colonial project of Sweden, since they were still under the Swedish crown. Did you know that Sweden was the first country in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and the traded it off (possibly) with Denmark who then passed it on the British.  That Lapland has gold which of interest to foreign interests. This hidden history was fascinating to hear. Would we all have turned to be happier and gentler with the Finns as our overloads? Would they have been better or worse than the British or French or (don't mention the Congo), the Belgians? On the issue of indigenous peoples, the Austratlians and Canadians have fared no better, perhaps worse.

We end our afternoon on a high note, at the Fazer Café surrounded by the best of Finland…good food and chocolate. We discuss possible projects via UNIPID and SANBio and how there could be intra-Africa collaborations, leaving the ghosts of the past and focussing on how we can better work together, to build a better world.  We head back to the hotel with a laundry list of things to do.

  

Nordic escapades, part 1 – November 2022

It’s Saturday. And I am finished. In Finland. You would be too, if you had spent a week of intense, highly stimulating conversations with various academics and researchers.

 The flight from South Africa was 3 hours longer than we had planned, there having been a serious medical incident in-flight which meant that we had to turn back to Johannesburg for the patient to be evacuated and to refuel. We barely caught our connection to Helsinki at that chaotic carousel called Charles De Gaulle in Paris. The staff are surly and unhelpful so when we land in Helsinki, we are relieved. The airport is clean, modern and the people are polite and helpful. As we discover all through our time, the Finns are a gentle and kind people, warm and receptive. Perhaps that’s why they didn’t have the naked and brutal ambition to colonize anyone?

We land in Kuopio in the early evening and it is already dark. We have lost our luggage but that doesn’t dampen my spirits. I am here on a study tour with my boss, being hosted by the School of Pharmacy at the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio – to learn about their teaching and learning (of which I enjoy though I now do less of it) and their research (of which I now spend most of my time doing). Jarkko (double K as I call him) and Roseanna (Sisi to me) are at hand to welcome us at the hotel. They are patient and empathetic and helpful. They are good friends. I first met them in Pretoria in 2016. Double K and I talk golf most of the time, and with Roseanna we have a mutual love of Kenya and indigenous foods (which is the area of our collaborations over the years through GlobalFoodNet, SANBio

and UI-Southvation).

We are at the Lapland Hotel, a 5 hour drive will take us to Santa’s real grotto. This is just about the time when he is finishing up all the toys needing to be sent to Amazon to deliver to all the kids in the world (how things have changed – Rudolf and his crowd have been downsized and put out to pasture and some culled for the pot). And they are tasty, akin to eland and springbok as we discovered at the Lapland Hotel.

The food in this part of the world is surprisingly eclectic and homely.  And tasty. Over the 5 days we ate different dishes ranging from reindeer stews and roasts to white fish, pickled fish, vendace (a bit bigger than kapenta / nile perch) and Viking steak and pork and lots and lots of berries; berries as sauce, as juice, as jams. So, I jettison intermittent fasting to enjoy the food of Suomi (The Finnish name for Finland).

The meetings are excellent. We have a tight schedule, and every day is a revelation. We meet with colleagues in Clinical Nutritional, Public Health Nutrition (there is a difference), Pharmacology and Toxicology (yes, toxicology is and should be an integral part of pharmacy and pharmaceutical science) and with the Dean we discuss diabetes and diabetes management and industrial pharmacy. We talk about joint projects, global virtual lectures, student and staff exchange, we tour labs and meet students, we give guest lectures and plan future engagements. And we go out to lunch and dinners and talk like old friends reunited – though we are meeting with most people for the first time. We even get VIP passes for their national game – ice hockey and we are there shouting and egging the team. The home fans who are play drums and sing. Wish my vuvuzela was by my side!

The Finnish score high on most global indices – human development, SDGs, education, happiness. I understand now. To be happy you have to be gentle and kind, and maybe speak a bit of Finnish. Kiitos!