Marianne, Helsinki, Finland
“Hold on to your dreams and goals and reach far to save the world. Treat other members of creation as equals and give and receive love. Be merciful to yourself and others, always strive to do good and be kind.
Educate yourself and have a thirst for knowledge and wisdom. Always try to learn something new and be curious – this is how you can change the world!”.
This is what Marianne would say to a woman of her age who lives across the world!
Get inspired by Marianne’s story and thoughts!
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Meet Marianne, 52, from Helsinki. Marianne is born and raised in Helsinki and has lived her entire life in the Finnish capital.
Marianne’s family includes her husband, two children already living on their own (a 19-year-old daughter and a 23-year-old son), her parents, her husband’s parents and siblings. In Midsummer, she lost her beloved and only brother at the age of 50 after a cerebral infarction.
Marianne is the general secretary of the Martha Organization (https://www.martat.fi/in-english/), and she has made her career in non-profit sector organizations, foundations and groups. She has had the chance to work as a manager in development cooperation, communications, training, fund raising, public affairs, nutrition, and social and health organizations. Marianne also gives lectures and provides training, and she has written two books as a non-fiction writer. As a member of several boards, she is helping to develop operations in companies, foundations and organizations alike. Once upon a time she was working as a reporter for YLE to pay for her studies, and she has also done several television shows.
Tiina and Mirka contacted Marianne and shared their idea to unite and empower women all over the world.
EVERYDAY LIFE
An ordinary Tuesday for Marianne usually contains various meetings with different executive groups, boards, foundations and partners. The meetings continue from morning to evening. In the evenings, she hopes to have time for exercise and making preparations for the next day. The highlights of her everyday life are encounters with people, but also private, silent moments when she has time to drink coffee, wonder about the way of the world and just do nothing. Short breaks in the middle of a busy day are important. In these times of remote work, just going to a shop or carrying the mail might be enough.
The Marthas’ principle “take out when you go and bring in when you come” is the guideline in Marianne’s everyday life and in her household. Time management is easier when she handles all of the family’s routines online, as much as possible.
The most stressful aspects for Marianne in her everyday life are tight schedules, the fact that some of the time management is out of her control, and that often she doesn’t have time to eat lunch. Tight schedules are mostly self-imposed, but in organization work, you need to manage hundreds of tasks simultaneously and still meet with everyone individually and allow them to be heard. Management is not always easy, fun or stress-free when you are responsible for many lives.
Strength in everyday life, and in life in general, comes from close relationships with loved ones, the time spent together and memories, and also from those important moments spent alone just breathing. Nature, the sea, exercise, books and charity work, as well as spirituality, are important to Marianne, and they give her the energy to carry on. Meaningful life is built upon love, enjoyable activities, sufficient health and financial security to ensure normal everyday life for the family.
Her hobbies include reading and listening to books, yoga, charity work, functioning as a professional board member, spiritual connection at church and among congregations, and supporting social work of the church.
Marianne is merciful to herself – it is enough to have something in moderation and to perform something well enough. She says to her own reflection in the mirror: “Be grateful for everything you have and for what you have been given. Life is a gift, so just breathe!” Still, there are times when she is her worst critic, hard on herself and a perfectionist. She often demands a lot from herself and others. With age, she has learned to let go a little and to breathe amidst all the efforts to try and achieve everything. She has always assumed responsibility for her loved ones and relatives: she has had blended and broken families. This has forced her to go through many challenging situations.
DREAMS & FEARS, PAST & FUTURE
What are your dreams?
“To be able to live as long as possible so that I would see my children grow and spread their wings. I also dream of a cabin by the sea and psychotherapy studies.”
What is your worst fear?
“To lose my loved ones and health. That the state of the world would escalate into conflicts, that poverty, wars and climate changes would increase, that injustice and the gap between nations would intensify, that hate speech and racism would become more fierce and that our values would be lost.”
What is the most important advice you have received?
“Everyone’s dignity is inviolable. ”
What has been the greatest global invention of your time?
“Digitalisation has increased and enabled encounters between people (internet, social media, mobile phones, virtual reality, artificial intelligence). Also the procedures to implement renewable energy sources, recycling and sustainability – all of which are aimed to prevent climate change.”
Where would you donate your time/money to?
“To improve women’s and girls’ opportunities, education, livelihood and rights on a global scale and especially in developing countries, as well as to procedures aiming to mitigate climate change. To human rights issues.”
Has the position of girls/women changed during your lifetime?
“The position of women has changed significantly in every decade during my lifetime. The world is now a better place for girls and women, but equality is still taking steps back.
Women have become more aware of their rights, and new laws have been passed and agreements made to protect girls and women on a global scale. Examples of these include the Istanbul Convention and Beijing Declaration. They address discrepancies in sexual abuse, intimate partner violence and anti-discrimination measures, but there is still a lot to do to improve women’s and girls’ rights and to strengthen their equal position.
One positive development is that maternal deaths have decreased in developing countries. Women and girls are being educated more than ever before, and women’s literacy has increased by 10%. Girls spend approximately 12 years in school. Every fifth girl is married under the age of 18 (a severe violation of human rights). A good thing is that 131 countries have made legal changes towards gender equality to help in achieving genuine political transition.
Poverty and inequality always go hand in hand, and poverty has the face of a woman even today. That is why it is important to also include men in improving the position of women and girls. This is a debate on equality that relates to their community.
The church has moved backwards in questions on equality, and some of the procedures have not advanced as they should have. However, the #metoo campaign has had an important role in improving the position of women in all employment sectors.
Equality for women has been included in the Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
If you could, what advice would you give to your 20-year-old self?
“Never give up when you face inappropriate treatment, abuse or structural discrimination. Always fight to give a voice to the voiceless and those in a more disadvantaged position. Accept that life sometimes disappoints, hurts and leaves wounds – it is all part of life.”
Where will you be in 10 years?
“I hope that I could still live with my husband, our children and loved ones and that I would still be able to work with something meaningful until the end. I would want to sometimes study from a cabin in the Finnish Archipelago and still implement some new activities in the society to bring forth common good and to help people to live meaningful lives.”
What would you say to a woman of your age who lives across the world?
“Hold on to your dreams and goals and reach far to save the world. Treat other members of creation as equals and give and receive love. Be merciful to yourself and others, always strive to do good and be kind. Educate yourself and have a thirst for knowledge and wisdom. Always try to learn something new and be curious – this is how you can change the world!”
And what about Christmas? Marianne’s family prepares for the holidays well in advance, because the preparation is the most important thing that creates the holiday spirit. They get a fresh Christmas tree usually on Christmas Eve and decorate it. Marianne always orders a smoked organic turkey from an organic farmer in Perniö and makes plum cream with her granny’s recipe. Roe and fish are ordered directly from the fishers and they participate in a Christmas service at church. During the Christmas days, they just put on their wool socks, listen to audio books, play board games and spend time outdoors.
STORY
“When I first travelled to Africa, to Uganda and South Sudan, I met mothers and their daughters who told me about their life in a nomadic village, a refugee camp or the desert. These encounters made a lasting impact on a young girl’s life. I gave one girl my daughter’s doll (she was about 5 at the time) as a gift, and she was ecstatic. I told this story to my daughter and I remember how her child’s eyes sparkled when she realised the way to make other girls across the world happy.
I also encountered a woman with AIDS who had been abandoned by her village in the bushes behind a mud hut. White spots on her skin made the villagers believe that she had been cursed. I remember how we then touched the woman’s hands and heard her incredibly moving story. Her children were being taken care of by their grandmother. The woman’s husband had been buried next to the mud hut after he had died of the same sickness. I remember how we also met the other people suffering from AIDS and shook their hands. It was a deeply touching encounter and a token of human dignity.
I also remember the stories told by these young girls about how they start carrying firewood and water already at 5 am. Day’s work continues until the evening, when the men “return” home heads full of chewing tobacco and agave spirits and rape even their own sisters or daughters. It was hard to understand how the starting points in life could be so unjust, and how some get so much while others are missing even the basics.”
QUICK ONES
Drink: Water
Favourite food: Home cooking, husband’s dishes with fish and baked potatoes and vegetables
Delicacy: Dark chocolate cake
Restaurant/Café: The Marthas’ waffle cafés and the North Karelia Martha District’s Karelian pie workshop and café at the market square in Joensuu
Spice: Ginger, mint, grounded dried mushrooms
Feeling: Sunset by the sea with loved ones or by myself or taking Holy Communion
Music: Opera, “The Last Temptations”, “Myrskyluodon Maija” and hymns
Scent: Freshly roasted coffee, the scent of a baby, the scent of bird cherries and lilacs, the scent of spring
Travel destination: Regional travel to the Finnish Archipelago, to the sea. International travel to Capri and Como in Italy, Mykonos in Greece, Paris in France, Berlin in Germany and Wien in Austria.
Book: “If This Is a Man” by Primo Levi
Movie: “Gone with the Wind”, Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ”, “Titanic”, “Star Wars” and “Schindler’s List”
Favourite public holiday: Spent outdoors with the family, on nature trails
Artist/band: Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir
Plant: Mushroom
Favourite piece of clothing: Self-knitted wool socks
Animal: A dog, a poodle
Scenery: Seashore
Sport: Yoga, walking and hiking in the woods
Motto: So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. From the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 7:12). From Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount”, the golden rule.