Project 'Meet a muslim person'

We had a field trip with our class that included a visit to mosque. I have been to mosque already, but just for a short time and we didn't talk to anyone. This time, we had a chance to talk to a imam, a Muslim religious leader. 

I have to admit, that I didn't know a lot about Islam before and I am not proud of that. I also had some prejudices in my mind before I came in Amsterdam, because I was also under mpact of massive media image that is shown to us. I never had Muslim friends, the only contact I had was a friend from my parents, from Egypt. 

Imam we were talking to in Amsterdam, really helped me to get a clearer picture about Islam and Muslim people. It was so nice listening to him, when he was talking about what their religion is about. Things a remembered the most were: ' There is only one language spoken all over the world, and that is a smile, kindness and love.' 'We are all brothers and sisters, we have the same father and mother. Doesn't matter who they are; Muslims, Christians, Jews, we share our love and goodness to everyone.' 

That really made me think how wrong a non-muslim thinking about muslims is. The only goal they have is to share love and happiness to everyone. Their religion is nothing about hurting others. But of course, like everywhere, there are some individuals who interpretate the message wrong and start theri own groups, which are not what Islam is about. And only these people come in the news. That's why a lot of people have completely wrong image about Islam and until they won't open their minds a little, nothing will change. No one ever puts in the news how Muslim man helped someone. That's why I decided to share a video clip I found on YouTube, about three young Muslim guys, who decide to share kindness in New York, to show people the true purpose of their religion. 

In NewYork, 3 muslim guys started a project with a name 'Meet a muslim person'. The reason for this was to stop Islamophobia and show people that not all Muslims are terrorists like a lot of people think because of image massive media created. Their goal was to share love, kindness and joy to others. 

These 3 boys insipired other muslim people over the world to start the same project in different cities. For now mostly in USA, but there was also the same project in Germany. Reactions of people were very nice, treated with respect towards muslim people, exepct of some rare islamophobic reactions that are hard to avoid. I think their project and message was very clear, brave and insipiring and they are already changing the mind of the society. Slowly, but at least it started. 

Community Oudezijds 100

I would like to dedicate this blog to a Christian community Oudezijds 100, which offers to help people on the fringe of society in the city of Amsterdam. Their doors are open for everyone who needs help in one point of life, when they feel lonely, helpless or when all this leads to homelessness, addictions, weak social network and financial difficulties.

They work together as a big family, so everyone gets something and gives something back to the community. They cook together, clean, go on holidays, babysit, learn how to pray, handle money, establish social contacts etc.  Even if people think they just hit rock bottom and they have nothing to give, there is always something in what they can participate so they can start feeling alive and useful. They give help and they receive help.

There are people living in this community who made a vow that they will carry the daily responsibility for the life of the broader community in all aspects. They made a commitment to each other on the basis of their calling to live out the gospel of Jesus Christ, in the city of Amsterdam.  Big parts of Oudezijds 100 are also volunteers, who are not paid for their job in this community. They work as social workers, doctors, coordinators of technical services and supervisors of residents and they don’t want to do it for the money but because their work is something they believe in and something they want to share.

Besides 10 people who made a vow together to take care of community, ‘members’ come and go all the time. Ones who need help usually stay for 6 months or one year and then they can start living on their own again. If this is not the case, they of course don’t throw them out, but they keep helping them to put their life back on track so they can start living independently again.

During the visit, I was very interested if they accept also people who are not Christian and the answer was yes. Their religion plays a very big role in their lives, and they showed us it is not focused only on people with the same belief, but on everyone who is in need of help. They only said that, if you didn’t make a vow as they did, they don’t think you can be as committed as they are, because they feel they have been called from Jesus to do this work on Earth.  As much as I heard that day, I have to say these are people with a very big heart, where religion plays a very big role and is a guide in their everyday life. I personally think also people who don’t have such a strong faith can be prepared to help others and dedicate a life or part of their life to others who need help.

I respect people who decide not to judge and are willing to listen and accept anyone, no matter what race, religion, ethnics or gender a person is. We need more of that, because our world is becoming more full of prejudices and I think it can happen to anyone that in one point of life you have nowhere to go, on noone to rely on and people like Oudezijds 100 Community are worth more than we can ever imagine in that moment. 

Prostitution in Slovenia: Decriminalised but still stigmatized

In the year 2003, prostitution in Slovenia was decriminalized, which means it is not seen as a criminal act anymore, but people still can’t register it as working industry. They have civil rights and it is a free act of individual, but only for persons who actually do the work. Pimp is still seen as a criminal and so are other people who encourage women and men to work as prostitutes.  So whoever works as a sex worker doesn’t have to pay taxes, they can keep all their money for themselves because their field of work is not registered as a work line.  By the latest non-official findings we can say that this industry makes 40 – 50 million euros per year.

The most common type of prostitution is ‘housing’ prostitution and prostitution in night bars and clubs. Women who would reveal themselves on the streets are very rare. The amount you have to pay for half an hour is between 50 and 150 euros. It depends on age, looks and experiences of sex worker. The easiest way to get in contact with them is by using big phone books and web sites made especially for that. By the research made in 2003, there was around 3000 prostitutes in Slovenia, 600 of them were students. The most common reason why they decide to start with this is because they need more money. There are mostly women who do this kind of work, average age from 18 – 55. It is also known, that prostitution in Slovenia is on a higher level, which means women often work as escorts for home or foreign business men, with extra payment for sex. There is also a lot of prostitution in hotels and ‘closed' bars and parties.  So overall, it is happening behind closed doors, not out on the open, where everyone can see them. There is still very big stigma about sex workers, despite removing this area out of criminal acts. Some professionals think, and I agree with it, that stigma against them is still existing because it was known as illegal and criminal for such a long time, that it’s going to take a while until people realize, this is also work and it shouldn’t be seen as ‘wrong’ forever.

I thought that most girls who are working as prostitutes in Slovenia are immigrants, but as the research from EU states, this is not the case. Around 30% of them are from different countries, mostly Ukraine, Czech and Poland, others are Slovenian. Average amount of immigrants working as prostitutes in other countries from European Union is 60% out of all registered sex workers. In Slovenia, there are three big cities which are more known for people working this kind of job. Two of them are in north-east, where in the past, there was a lot of bordellos, which are now by law forbidden.

On the internet I found an interesting interview with a girl, who is a student and working as sex worker for 6 years now. She was the first girl in Slovenia who was brave enough to step in front of camera, reveal her identity and answer a lot of questions about prostitution and her own experience with it. To summarize all important information she gave to the reporter: She started at the age of 14, because she needed money for books, paying school, food. When the interview was made, she had 20 years old, a child and a partner, but still working as a sex worker. She also had a husband before, but it didn’t work out. She says neither husband nor partner disagree with her job. Her record was 24 clients in 8 hours, which means 1200 euros if she charged 50 euros per client. In the interview she says, she has a plan to stop doing this at the end of the year, now for real.

Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzWBK5aWW50

There is also a movie called Slovenka (Slovenian girl), which talks about a Slovenian girl, who studies in Ljubljana (the capital), while in secret working as a prostitute. It is actually very similar to the real life story of a girl who gave public interview about it. And the movie is definitely worth watching it. It shows the real picture of life of some students, who start doing this so they can afford paying for their studies and basic needs a human being has to satisfy. 

Movie trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/withoutabox/vi2807169561?ref_=tt_pv_vi_aiv_1

Paris - the city of superdiversity

I spent a weekend in Paris with my flat mates, so I had a chance to experience and observe superdiversity. I can absolutely confirm that there is A LOT of people from so many different ethnics, religions, race, nationalities,… In these three days, I took a moment from time to time and just watch people crossing the street, walking by, talking to each other, hurrying somewhere, so just observing different people passing by, without them even noticing me. It is amazing how many different cultures there are in one big city. It is actually a world in one city, as it is said in an article about Superdiversity, written by Steven Vertovec. Everyone is mixed together and it looks like they are doing great. We of course didn’t have time to dig deeper into social construction and relations between people, but as I saw, everyone is accepted there. At least on the outside. I don’t know how are the close relations between people, and if they hang out more with their own ethnics, race, religion, but as we were walking true the city and saw some ‘very different’ people, only we were turning around and looking at them. Everyone else just passed, like they are used to literally everything. This could also mean, that people are living one past another, so they are being very impersonal to strangers, not looking at them, not saying hello or give a small smile as a greeting. Maybe that’s a thing that happens in such big cities as Paris is. Since I am living in Amsterdam, I didn’t get this feeling at all. The city is smaller, which I like, people are friendlier, speaking better English, not so impersonal and more willing to help. I also noticed that Paris is very unfriendly to disabled people. There is no way for people who are on a wheelchair to go to metro. There is a lot of stairs everywhere you go  on a metro, long hallways to come from one track to another and no elevator or ramp for people who can’t walk. So they have to take a bus or some other transportation, otherwise they just can’t go from one destination to another.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed our weekend trip and I enjoyed Paris. It is a beautiful city, with a lot of people, a lot of tourists, and a lot of nice places to visit. It is a little too big for me personally, because I am used to very small cities and countryside, but I will never be sorry that I visited it. Maybe I even come back so I can experience the love and romantic atmosphere Paris is known about, because I couldn’t actually do that in a package with 4 other girls now. J

Paris - the city of love and romance, they say