Ok, another week of classes, I’m slowly getting the hang of how things work around here. By the way - I just wrote my first entry in the Spanish version o Wikipedia, on meänkieli. Which is the dialect of Finish that is spoken in the region of Tornedalen in the north of Sweden where I come from. Well, whether or not Meänkieli is a dialect or a language of its own is disputable, as well is whether I’m from Tornedalen or not but Meänkilei is acknowledge as one of Sweden’s five minority languages and I was born in Tornedalen. I was never taught Meänkieli though but plan to learn it, I try to pick up a few words every summer when I’m up there.

In class yesterday we got into the discussion on what to do about the poverty in the world. Interesting class, quite a few got a bit irritated by our teachers attitude on personal responsibility. It is hard to argue that we are all responsible for our lives and must be the ones that improve our situation since we’re born into so different societies and find ourselves in conditions that differ greatly from those of other people. But the truth is that responsibility and help to take that responsibility is what makes people develop and build strength and self-esteem. That is not to say that we can blame people for the situation they are in all the time – that is another story. The more I learn about the world the less I consider subsidies and the like as something good. We have to give people a chance to take care of themselves, give them the tools to use the possibilities they have and not turn them into passive help-receiving victims.

No I have to go to class!