“Twenty-three years ago I came to Amsterdam as a refugee from Burkina Faso. I didn’t know anyone and I barely had any money. For three months I slept outside in the Sarphatipark without any place to go. It was summer so luckily it wasn’t too cold but neither did I had much expectations after leaving my homeland behind. Back home I was an actor so after a while I got involved in the acting scene of Amsterdam. Soon I understood that acting wasn’t going to make enough money to provide for a living. I decided to go back to school and get a degree in finance and now I am working in a bank.”
“What is the most important lesson you have learned from your journey?”
“To let life carry you instead of trying to carry life itself, it’s to heavy anyways.”

“I was raised Christian but I converted to Hare Krishna years ago. When I told my family I wanted to convert they were happy for me, even my brother who is a pastor gave me his blessing. The beautiful thing is that even though I converted, we still believe in the same god.”

“My name is Kesavi Dasi. It means servant of the female energy of god.”

“I love to make art such as textile sculptures and paintings. Unfortunately the leukemia makes me really tired so I don´t get to be creative as often as I would like to. Seventeen years have passed and I have learned to deal with it. A lot of people tell me they admire my strength and optimism. They just don´t know that once the guest leave my house, I´m completely worn out.”

“Yesterday was a bad day, then they showed up with homemade brownies at my doorstep.”