Creative economy in 1950s Lapland » Mika Meskanen

While waiting for the gearbox replacement at the garage in Utsjoki, the eldest brother of our blessed car mechanist told about his childhood. He was born in Petsamo on the Arctic Sea. The harbour city had to be ceded to Soviet Union after the war, so the family was relocated to the village of Karigasniemi on the Norwegian border. There they learnt to speak "lappish" despite getting beaten up by classmates. Some other skills of the region he also learnt in peculiar ways.

He acquainted a Norwegian called Larssen, from the other side of the river Teno. Larssen had a sawmill and a steam engine. By burning leftover wood and sawdust from his own mill he got 110 V electricity, district heating, warm water and street lights for his household and to his workers' barracks.

German troops, had left a telephone switchboard behind them. Larssen turned it into a power supply. Then he taught the boy arc welding. From ironware left in the signals centre, he built a circular saw for field use.

These days, this boy whom Larssen taught, is now learning English as well. He only curses his teachers at folk high school - "pensioners who went to gymnasium" - who show off with their grammar knowledge and Latin words instead of putting it straight.

This entry is related to mikroPaliskunta project I travelled with 21.8.-4.9.2006. See www.mikropaliskunta.net for more.