Mona Eid
I have roots in Helsinki.
Mona Eid is Senior Project Manager at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), a freelance writer with a teaching background, and a mother of one. She has also been active in the Brown Girls (“Ruskeat Tytöt”) association for many years.
Getting involved with Brown Girls was a turning point for Eid. “I felt it was really important that a visible new minority had a voice. It also encouraged me to claim my own space.”
The book “Third Culture Kids” (2022, Otava) compiled by Eid and her friend Koko Hubara tells about Finns living at the crossroads between cultures. Some interviewees in the book highlighted how the city can be a more important anchor for identity than nationality. “Helsinki is such a big place that you can find your own crowd here.”
Mona was born and has lived most of her life in Helsinki. The city has given her a home, a job and living space. Many important stages in her life are related to Helsinki. “The locals don’t talk about roots that much, but I have quite clear roots in Helsinki.”
Helsinki to Eid means above all a smooth everyday life. “Everything is easy to take care of here and runs smoothly, it’s easy to get around, you can find a job and different communities.”
The most important thing in Helsinki, however, is that her loved ones are close by. Eid’s parents and most of her friends live in Helsinki. “I visit my parents in Katajanokka every week or twice a week.”
Her earliest memories of Helsinki are connected with nature. “We lived in Malmi and used to cycle a lot with my mother and brother. My mother tells me that I used to always stop a lot and pick flowers and rocks. I still remember well the fields in Malmi and the scent in summertime.”
It is still important to Eid that the nature and sea are close by. Living in the city centre, she missed being surrounded by water, so she picked her current place of residence because of its proximity to nature. “In Laajasalo, the sea and forest are right next to you.”
Last year, I learned to boat thanks to the Skipperi service, which has made it much more accessible than having to buy your own boat. If a friend was visiting me in Helsinki, I would take them on a ferry or boat trip off the coast of Helsinki and show them the skyline and archipelago. I think it’s pretty unique. One destination would be the island of Pihlajasaari, which is beautiful!
At Suomenlinna you can admire the layers of history, the archipelago and the sea. On the other side, you can see far out to sea. It's kind of magical. I like to visit Suomenlinna in summer and autumn. I have also attended art classes there with my child.
The new Helsinki Central Library is an unbelievable building and centre of activities. Every time I go to Oodi, I’m amazed how I can borrow a guitar, make a three-dimensional design, go to a game room, or just hang out and read. It’s a wonderful place, like a living room where you can do different things for free. The third floor of Oodi in particular is really spacious and impressive. I am gobsmacked every time I go there!
I first visited the National Library when I began studying at university. I remember it being a really enchanting place. Just about every Finnish book ever written is archived there. It is a place of great importance where you can sense the history!
Libraries have always been important places for me. The library that is most meaningful to me personally is the one on Rikhardinkatu, which I visited a lot as a child and young person. I began going there a lot, especially as a teenager. The place has real atmosphere – it even has a rotunda and a spiral staircase!
I spent most of my childhood in Katajanokka and have walked along the “Skatta” shoreline thousands of times. Whenever I visit my parents, I often walk around the island. There are lovely lilac bushes and ornamental apple trees. The funny thing is that Katajanokka has perhaps only one juniper tree, after which it is named. From Katajanokka you can see the island of Korkeasaari, the Merihaka district and the Market Square. Once when I was still in primary school, we were playing football on the Katajanokka sports field and we saw a deer swimming from Korkeasaari towards Katajanokka. We saw a big head and horns in the water. It was a really surreal sight!
Helsinki offers supervised park activities for kids in summertime. In my childhood in the 1980s, the island of Tervasaari was one of the places that offered these activities. I remember cycling with my brother to the playschool there. It was supervised by workers, and they used to serve lunch. I’m happy that Helsinki still organises park activities for kids!
The sea and water are important elements to me. I discovered the Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall as an adult. I often meet my friend Koko there for aqua jogging, which we can do for two hours at a time. I have also introduced the place to my child, who really enjoys the second floor with its small beds. You can also order really good food there and enjoy a sauna and swimming. It’s a bit like an old-fashioned spa. It’s not too clinical, and it still has some character and history to it. I think it's a pretty unique place!
The Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma has really interesting exhibitions. It’s also very impressive just as a building. You get the same feeling there as in Oodi – the spaces are so high and open. It’s easy to get around inside with a stroller, so it’s really accessible. The first exhibition I took my child to see was the ARS exhibition at Kiasma.
I like places that have retained a bit of history. Cinema Orion presents movies according to themes, for example I used to watch Blaxploitation movies. I have watched some great films there – the kind that I maybe wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. The cinema itself is really lovely and old fashioned with its red comfortable seats!
Café Esplanad was a big part of my youth. When I was too young to go anywhere else, I could hang out at the café on weekends as late as ten in the evening. I still visit the place from time to time for the atmosphere. It feels like it’s always been there!
I visited Villa Salmela, the summer home of Karelians, for the first time last summer after a friend who lives there in Jollas recommended the place. The place there is run by the local Karelian association. You can rent the sauna and even stay overnight for a reasonable price. It is situated high up on the rocks, where you can enjoy the view over the waters of East Helsinki!