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culties — of its unshakable determination to build
their country anew. We met the first example of
this spirit when our host, Governor Hannula, escorted
us from Tornio to Kemi, till a settlement in Toivola.
It was quite clear that the material phase of the
enormous reconstruction necessary in northern
Finland had to come first, but they did not want to
neglect moral reconstruction. For more than
twentyfive years study groups and evening courses had been
arranged for young people in the region of Kemi.
Also included in this work were theoretical and
practical courses in the care of children. During the
war, studies had to be suspended. But now they had
been begun again. When we visited the project there
were about eight hundred and fifty pupils taking
part in the various courses, a truly remarkable
achievement.
Our next destination, and the most important of
our journey, was Rovaniemi. There is a Finnish
children’s hospital there to which the Swedish Red
Cross had been able to give material assistance. This
we wanted to visit. In Rovaniemi we were to see the
destruction which befell that part of Finland during
the last months of the war.
We found what we had so often seen in other
countries: Rovaniemi, the capital of the province, wa:
completely in ruins. Hundreds of chimneys were
sticking up out of the snow, remains of the house:
burnt down during the German retreat. Our Finnis!
guides explained the situation to us. When the wa:
trumpets had been silenced in Lappland, when th;
hordes of warriors had crossed the frontier, th
whole countryside had been laid waste. No on
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