HELSINKI, Oct 01 (AFP): It's a skill you never forget once learnt, as the saying goes: Now immigrants to Finland can receive free cycling lessons to help them better integrate into life in the bike-loving nation.
On a sunny September morning a group of around eight students have taken time out from their Finnish lessons to come to an empty car park in Helsinki's Suvilahti district, where they are fitted out with helmets and bikes.
"Many people who come to Finland, mostly women, they don't have this bicycle skill and it's a very important part of Finnish society," says Federico Ferrara of the Finnish Cyclists' Federation, which runs the project.
Ferrara insists that learning to ride helps to empower the new arrivals, especially women, many of whom come from North Africa or the Middle East.
"Many of our clients have some kind of taboo with these biking skills, maybe they've fallen down when they were kids and they have this trauma in their head for 20 years, or maybe it's not socially or culturally accepted for them to bike," Ferrara tells AFP.
The instructors help some of the students climb onto their bikes, and, as today's group has already had some practice in the saddle, they set off around a course of cones.
Despite some initial wobbles, instructor Sami Viitanen soon decides the group is ready for the next stage, and leads them out for a spin on the roads to get used to riding in traffic.
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