Oh Kela....

I got a letter (of course in Finnish) that was 2-3 pages long and had lots of figures (�) and our family members names (except the dogs of course) listed on it.

I had no idea what we did wrong - but they included a form for me to fill out, which looked pretty serious and formal, and a postage-paid envelope too.

I brought this letter over to a friend's home who translated what happened.

In Finland, you can apply through Kela for a wide variety of allowances (or benefits).  Things like:

• Rental Housing Allowance - if you have little combined-income and too high of rent - you can apply to have some money credited to your bank account to help you out with your rent.
• Stay at Home Allowance - if your child(ren) are not going to a day care or are too young for public school and are staying at home with you - you can get compensated handsomely for this.  (As opposed to only 100$/month in Canada and day care is well over 200$ a week! - for example).
• Maternity/Paternity Allowance - if one parent is staying home after the delivery of a child - you can apply that one parent gets some financial compensation for staying at home etc.

The other allowances - you can find on Kela's website.  

Everything regarding social services - goes through Kela.  The application forms are available in English - but the response will always be in either Finnish or Swedish.

Anyways, the letter was in reference to our application for Rental Housing Allowance.  My husband was the sole money-maker and we were approved a year ago for some money to be deposited to our bank account to assist with the rent.
Every year this is under review and if there are any changes - like change in rent or water fees - or change in family members for example, you must notify Kela.

We were under review because our year had come up and they wanted to see if anything changed.  Yes, our rent went up and the water fees per person also went up quite a bit.
But that's not what this letter in particular was about.

Kela was requesting we return the money from as far back as January 2011 because our income has increased and they feel that the combined income is more than enough to cover rent and necessities.  Fair enough - except - it wasn't our fault our income wasn't increased ages ago.
What increase in income?

Remember we had a dispute with Kela back in June?  Well, they approved V�in�'s stay-at-home allowance because we now qualified for it as we're listed as "A-Permanent Status".
That money we got from January to June (when I submitted the claim again) is considered income on my part and combined with Tim's regular income - is more than enough that we no longer require the Rental Housing Allowance.
Fair enough - however, it was not our fault that we didn't get the At home allowance ages ago - because Kela was not notified of our change in status - so really, we are still out 6 months of Stay at home allowance (effective August 13, 2010 we got the A-Permanent Status) but Kela will only retro-pay you for 6 months.  (Which is still better than nothing! I'm not complaining!)

So this decision is not concrete -but they have cancelled rental allowance to the bank account and would like me to explain myself via that form.

So Kela - I will explain it all and I'm sure I'll get a response in Finnish.

Would You Help Someone in Need?

This is a very sad post.  No - nobody died or anything...but it's a real pity what's going on in Jyv�skyl�.  Once again, from an outsider's point of view...

I hate to point fingers at a particular person that "sticks out" a bit more than anybody else and is fairly recognizable but I think it's something that should be brought to everybody's attention in the JKL and Kortepohja area.  (And if this person finds out - I hope you understand, I'm doing this for your safety and out of deep concern for you as another human being).

There's a lady who has long blonde hair who frequently takes the 18 or 18K bus from the student village to downtown and back.  I saw this lady this past Sunday get off at my bus stop - a bus stop before the student village - and knew immediately she was lost.  I admit I have never spoken to her before because I assumed she spoke Finnish - she does, however, my friend spoke with her to give her directions - and Finnish is NOT her first language.  Not sure what is - but in future, I'll try and help her as best as possible if she speaks English.  And I know the bus number in English and Finnish - so that'll help.

What's the big deal?  She's blind and has a cane - and I live about a 6 minutes walk away from the student village.
I've seen her get on the bus from the student village area - so that's how I knew she was lost when I saw her wandering towards my apartment while I was waiting for my friend to pick me up.
There have been times I've been on the bus and not noticed she was there until we pulled away from the downtown location - and when I finally did notice she was there - I also noticed that nobody offered her assistance, in terms of letting her know what bus number was sitting there for the past 3 minutes.
Not the bus driver and not the other people waiting for the bus.
But yet, nobody has a problem with staring at her and being scared of asking if she needed help "seeing" what bus was there...it's a shame that Finns keep to themselves to the extreme like this, when it comes to someone who has a disability.
I don't know where she's from, I am assuming she's here for the school year as I haven't seen her before (JKL is a small place) and I haven't seen her ask for help either - so perhaps it's an independent/pride thing.


I am incredibly concerned about her safety - because when you're driving from behind her - where there are no side walks in the area leading to my flat - you might not see her cane.  My friend didn't (I don't think) and was a little confused as to why the woman was weaving side to side.
We were able to give her proper directions to go back towards her home and she seemed quite grateful as she didn't recognize the area she was in at all.

So if you see this lady - please give her a hand and ask her if she needs help with the bus number or the bus stop.