In every community, if you look around just a little bit, you will find a very special type of person. These are the people who don't make a big fuss, they just quietly get on with life, helping other people at almost every opportunity and never asking for anything in return. Too often we forget to tell these people how important and valuable they are. I have already met many who fall into this category in Somero - I look forward to introducing some of them over the coming weeks, but today I thought I would start with Elvi. Elvi was one of the first people I met when our family arrived in Somero. We were both volunteers at a Christmas fair in the parish hall (seurakuntakeskus) - Elvi was serving pea soup and cinnamon buns (pulla) and I was asked to be her helper. (I wasn't very good actually - I spent too much time talking to people and not enough getting things done.) I soon learned that in fact Elvi can often be found volunteering for something or other, in fact this is something she does regularly.
Elvi has lived alone since being widowed in the summer of 2010. Despite this however, she has developed a resolutely positive attitude towards life and decided that every day brings something positive with it - an attitude I very much admire. After Christmas, the next time I bumped into Elvi I found her in another volunteering role - helping out with lunch service in another of Somero's resources - the Svensson House (more about this later this week), and she invited me round for a coffee - an invitation I was glad to accept.
Elvi's house is full of hand crafted items - "Every one has it's own story," she says smiling. At regular intervals a clock chimes musically, a sound which reminds me of my own childhood summers in Finland - the sound is the same as the clock in my grandfather's house. "Do you want to know the story of that clock?" Elvi asked me. "My father bought it as a present for my mother when I was born, to say thank you for bringing me into the world - so it's as old as me!"
Elvi celebrated her 80th birthday last summer with around a hundred guests, but she shows no sign at all of slowing down. She bakes regularly, volunteers every week and still knits her own socks and slippers. For lunch she served home-made blueberry juice which was delicious - as well as cake she had made herself. I asked if one day she would give me a lesson in cake-making, and she said she would. If I am allowed to publish the recipe then I promise to put it on here, as the cake was a real hit.
Elvi is a fan of Finnish artist Martta Wendelin, and showed me her collection of Wendelin postcards as well as photographs of many life events. Life has not always been easy for Elvi, but instead of feeling sorry for herself she concentrates in busying herself within the community and helping others whenever she can and one thing is for certain - the world would be a better place with more people like Elvi in it.
In every community, if you look around just a little bit, you will find a very special type of person. These are the people who don't make a big fuss, they just quietly get on with life, helping other people at almost every opportunity and never asking for anything in return. Too often we forget to tell these people how important and valuable they are. I have already met many who fall into this category in Somero - I look forward to introducing some of them over the coming weeks, but today I thought I would start with Elvi. Elvi was one of the first people I met when our family arrived in Somero. We were both volunteers at a Christmas fair in the parish hall (seurakuntakeskus) - Elvi was serving pea soup and cinnamon buns (pulla) and I was asked to be her helper. (I wasn't very good actually - I spent too much time talking to people and not enough getting things done.) I soon learned that in fact Elvi can often be found volunteering for something or other, in fact this is something she does regularly.
Elvi has lived alone since being widowed in the summer of 2010. Despite this however, she has developed a resolutely positive attitude towards life and decided that every day brings something positive with it - an attitude I very much admire. After Christmas, the next time I bumped into Elvi I found her in another volunteering role - helping out with lunch service in another of Somero's resources - the Svensson House (more about this later this week), and she invited me round for a coffee - an invitation I was glad to accept. 
Elvi's house is full of hand crafted items - "Every one has it's own story," she says smiling. At regular intervals a clock chimes musically, a sound which reminds me of my own childhood summers in Finland - the sound is the same as the clock in my grandfather's house. "Do you want to know the story of that clock?" Elvi asked me. "My father bought it as a present for my mother when I was born, to say thank you for bringing me into the world - so it's as old as me!"
Elvi celebrated her 80th birthday last summer with around a hundred guests, but she shows no sign at all of slowing down. She bakes regularly, volunteers every week and still knits her own socks and slippers. For lunch she served home-made blueberry juice which was delicious - as well as cake she had made herself. I asked if one day she would give me a lesson in cake-making, and she said she would. If I am allowed to publish the recipe then I promise to put it on here, as the cake was a real hit. 
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