Sahar, 29, is an Iraqi woman who arrived in Finland last year as an asylum seeker. After a stay in a Helsinki reception centre, she was offered a room in the home of Karolina Ek and Tomi Andersson. The couple registered that they had a room free through the Finnish branch of the Refugees Welcome network, which has helped nearly a hundred asylum seekers find a place to stay.
Andersson says the idea to offer a room in their house to a refugee came from a desire to help in what they saw as an escalating situation.
The encroaching presence of terrorist organisation Islamic State originally prompted Sahar to leave her home country. Many unmarried women like her have legitimate fears of being captured by the jihadist group.
"They think that a woman is just something you can buy, like a chair or something, because this is her duty in this life," she says.
Sahar studied computing at the university level in her homeland, and had not yet considered marriage. Gaining a foothold in any career is difficult for a woman in Iraq, even without the constantly looming threat of the Islamic State.
"They keep looking at you like a woman, not an employee," Sahar says. "If they hire you to manage a business, maybe some other employees will feel really bad because the boss is a woman."
Now Sahar not only has a roof of her own over her head, but is also kept well abreast of Finnish everyday life by her two housemates and their young daughter, with whom she enjoys learning Finnish.
Sahar says she is impressed by the status Finnish women enjoy.
"Finally we have opinions to say, we have rights to do whatever we want to do – and it's a really good feeling."