Portraits of Justice #5: Hind (Amman, Jordan)

As a part of my Beautiful People Moments project, I've launched this album entitled "Portraits of Justice", looking at justice around the world. This week, I introduce a fierce lady I am proud to call friend. Meet Hind and encounter beauty in the astonishing social boundaries that are being crossed in the Jordan refugee camps.

"[Justice] manifests in the relationships. The only time I can spot justice, and unity and love is between people. The structure is hugely unjust, but people try to do just with each other. I think this is the only blessing that keeps our country together, because we face a lot of problems. I do believe the structures are unjust"



"The problem in our country is that the churches are not very involved in advocacy or in creating structures that result in justice. Its more on the charity-personal level. We have a lot of charitable attempts, nothing much on advocacy. The churches role is very important in mobilizing people and keeping them united. But for a long time our movement in Jordan has been the only movement that has worked on development projects and advocacy campaigns."

 "In the political structure we have, we have a lot patriarchy. Its not really just, we don't have proper democracy in Jordan. People do justice by each other based on personal relations, but not the structures. The structures we have do not support structures of justice"

“ We work a lot in refugee camps. We have always had this focus on refugee camps from Palestine. Lately we've been having refugees from Iraq and Syria. They go and settle in refugee camps of the Palestinians. What fascinated me in the last visit we did to the camps is how united and in solidarity they appeared – Palestinians, Iraqis, Jordanians and Syrians. They were literally sharing tips on projects, management of their own small production systems in their houses. The solidarity there is very different than the picture given by international NGO's and federations, saying that refugees are a threat or consume resources, or they are not wanted and all that.

When you go down to the field you can feel that [solidarity]. But when you look at how they are treated in the system, you feel that injustice. Jordan has not ratified the refugee rights in the United Nations. They don't even have refugee status, we are hosting them, they are guests somehow. They have an interesting legal situation. Nothing is certain for them.

By doing these little things, projects, trainings and working with them in their little workshops, you can feel how solidarity manifests itself. They gather around their pain or trauma somehow. It always touches me and fascinates 
me at the same time. “

Portraits of Justice #4: Are {Stockholm, Sweden}

This album entitled "Portraits of Justice", looking at justice around the world. Having just returned from Sweden two days ago, I thought that it would be pertinent that I should focus on Sweden today. I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Are in Bogota, Colombia, and photographing him in both Colombia and Sweden.  

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"Justice for us is about trying to hold our society together, and to keep, to guarantee, and enhance human rights for everyone. We are working on a national level with the Roma people, who come from Romanian and Bulgaria, and how to support their human rights in our context. As fascism and racism is growing in Sweden right now that is something we do on many different levels. Partly that looks like going out to the streets, which we are doing in huge numbers. It is also work that has to do with breaking down language barriers for example between Euro union immigrants." 

"I think that the church needs to be deeper rooted in prayer and to have one leg in that baptismal water somehow, and actually  be very soaked in what we say and what we do. What we have in the church that is unique, though we share it with other religions, is our stories. It is indeed  prayer and contact with God. So i think  the church needs to have that tension, to be grounded in prayer and grace, and also to reach out with arms and feet into society and the world. "

"Something beautiful that I have experienced around Christmas, that for me was the most relevant Christmas celebrations, that friends of mine who are volunteering in an organization that works with homeless people organized a big concert with musicians that volunteered. We filled up a big church with people to gather clothes and money for people of the streets who were freezing very much.

Right now this work is challenging in Sweden because we have received so many more homeless people due to the European Union and there is conflict between "Swedish homeless people" and "Immigrant homeless people". How to use the resources, this is challenging for the organizations because the pressure is so big and the funding is marked. This church gathered both groups, and what I thought was so beautiful is that it included storytelling by actual homeless Swedes and immigrant.

It was beautiful because it broke down a barrier, which is what Christmas is about, remembering that the God that we believe in is a refugee. It really touched me and gave me inspiration to always try to make sure that  voices are heard and that language barriers are broken down so that we can relate to each other."

Does Are's story resonate with you? Leave a comment and let him know!

Portraits of Justice #3: Adam {Melbourne, Australia}

As a part of My Beautiful People Moments Project, I've Launched this album Entitled "Portraits of Justice", looking at justice around the world. This series will continue weekly for several months. May you be inspired by the beauty and the struggle of justice, as I have been. Today, meet Adam, from Melbourne, Australia.

"I believe justice is a dynamic concept, always changing based on where you are from. In terms of where I am from, Australia, we see justice as giving the People What They deserve. Whether its giving a voice to Those Who do not have a voice or uplifting Those Who are oppressed, Such As The Indigenous people, or giving people hope, and a chance at living a life That They deserve to live. That's my idea of justice "

 "I've got involved with a soup kitchen in Melbourne called 'Food Under the Bridge." One of the beautiful things us that we cook food for the homeless people. Its not just soup that's served, or bread, its actually decent food That you would want to eat yourself. The beautiful thing Is that in talking to These people is that they appreciated how we treated them. We do not just look at them as some burden on society, as someone you want to feed and then go away. Its beautiful because They approached us and said thank you for cooking real food and taking the time to talk to them. A lot of them are isolated, a lot of them are just runaways from home And they do not really have friends or connections . Its good to see up close the works of the church and how it impacts people. I think That is a beautiful picture of God's unconditional love. "  

"Instead of just talking about it we have to go out and do the justice . If we see people getting oppressed, it's the role of the church to speak out for Those Who Do not have a voice. If we see homeless people it's the role of the Church to do something about it. Provide shelter, food, a home, a family, instead of just waiting for the government to react. That's the sort of thing I see the Church being about. Its about being Christ to people. "

Portraits of Justice #2: Johana {Baranquilla, Colombia}

As a part of my Beautiful People Moments project, I've launched this album entitled "Portraits of Justice", looking at justice around the world. This series will be continuing weekly for several months. May you be inspired by the beauty and the struggle of justice, as I have been.

"Justice for all the Colombian people, at least for me, is a hope we have. We have been though many injustices. We have a lot of violence around us. Justice is like being safe in your place and being able to have a good life with good opportunities, without the worries of basic needs the struggles of daily life. You have to think to preserve your family because some places in Colombia it is really hard to even live. Justice is to have peace, to live happily, with joy you can share others.

Its a hope, a dream we have really, to have justice."

"Each day has meaning, and it is to serve others. I think that this is what the role of the church is, serving helping, giving hope, even listening because sometimes we not able to fix anything, but we need to listen and to be there."

"Tell me something beautiful you have seen"

"Well, its easy. Yesterday night when we left the conference I took food that was left over that no one had used. We were walking to the hotel looking for people from the street. There were two guys, and we called them, I said “ we have some food, do you want some?”. He said 'yes! We were dreaming that someone would help us'. We gave them food and said goodbye, they said bless you, and we continued walking. At that time a stray dog came to them, and they gave food first to the dog, and then they started eating. They shared, even though they didnt have much. We continued walking and found another man on the street, and asked if he wanted food. He said yes, first thanked God, and then said thank you for sharing. He said, 'I have a friend over there who is with me, do you have any food for him?' He was thinking of himself, but also for his friend. Even when you don't have a lot, you share. Even when you have little resources, you can share it with joy because you want to be with the other people."

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