A few months ago I interviewed Toby together with his sister Kyra and Father Joaquin about their voluntary work. Almost every night they are waiting at the Central Station to welcome refugees, handing out food and helping them to a shelter. After I posted their story here on Humans of Amsterdam I received an email from someone of the “Amsterdammertje van het Jaar” comitee asking me if I could connect them with Toby. “Amsterdammertje van het Jaar” is a prestigious award for children in Amsterdam who contribute to the city. Last night Toby won the award. I could not be more proud of him and all the other volunteers in Amsterdam who contribute day after day!

Toby doesn’t know I’m posting this so let’s surprise him by congratulating him!

“Amsterdammertje van het jaar” translated to English would be something like “Little Amsterdammer of the year”. If you have a better translation feel free to share.

“I was 6 weeks old when my family was deported to a concentration camp. It was 1944. My dad managed to get a job as a truck driver in the camp and that’s why we survived. We stayed in the camp for 15 months. I have no memories of that time. I was just a baby. After the war we moved to the eastern part of Amsterdam. Life after the war was very difficult. There was a harsh survivors mentality going around and anti-Semitism was still present. I remember how the kids in the street would bully me and call me a dirty Jew. I never backed down though. I always stood my ground even if it meant that I had to get into a fight.”

“I’m afraid that if the municipality keeps making up more rules, soon Amsterdam won’t have any street performers left. It’s a shame because we contribute to the atmosphere of the city. Every day we make hundredth’s of people laugh. Yesterday there was an old lady. She might have been over 80 years old. When she saw the amount of bubbles we made she smiled, got up, threw her walking stick on the ground and started dancing between the bubbles.”

It has never been about the amount of likes.

‘Humans of Amsterdam’ was born out of passion for photography, storytelling and a special city called Amsterdam.
Three years have passed, and even though it has never been about the amount likes, it’s amazing to see how many warm-hearted souls are actively part of this community.
I started this journey inspired by pages such as ‘Humans of New York’ and ‘Humans of Tel Aviv’ not really knowing what I was getting myself into.
This journey has taught me more than probably any educational institution could have ever done. I met so many wonderful people and had the honor to capture their stories.
The most important lesson I have learned is that story telling can save lives. It is probably the most powerful and genuine tool there is to another human being’s heart.
I’m also very proud to announce that next week I will open my first Humans of Amsterdam Exhibition. About 80 photo’s and stories will be up from the 11th of September until the 30th of November in the public Library in Amsterdam near the Central Station. The entrance is free. In the next few months I will personally give a few tours through the Exhibition. It would be great to be finally able meet some of you there!

At the moment, no exact dates have been set yet but if you are interested to be a part of a tour, please send me an email to: humansofamsterdam@gmail.com subject: Humans of Amsterdam Exhibition tour.

For now, I really want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart,
@debrabarraud

“Together with my younger sister and pregnant mother we fled from Iran. I was only eleven years old but I remember everything very well. The first thing I saw when we arrived at the airport was a young couple kissing in public. Something I wasn’t used to. We were placed in a refugee center and applied for citizenship. We kept moving from one refugee center to another without any clarity about the future. That changed autumn 2005. It was six o’clock in the morning when the police woke us up. They said we had to leave the country and for the meantime we were placed in a detention center which is a fancy word for prison. The days passed by and after seven weeks they decided to review our case. When you go through something like that it’s hard to believe in the future. One year after that we got released and we received our residence permits. Slowly I started to move forward and make plans. I auditioned for the theatre school in Maastricht and surprisingly I got accepted. Even though I’m not a refugee anymore it still influences my life and also my work as an actor. For example, right now I’m working on a production called ‘Nobody Home’. The title says it all. When you are a refugee you don’t belong anywhere. ”
– Saman Amini

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This photo is a repost and a part of an upcoming “Humans of Amsterdam” Exhibition in the Public Library of Amsterdam (Near the central station). The exhibition contains photos taken in the past two years. It will be up from September until November 2015.

I have to ask.. Who is on Instagram?
I thought it would be cool to expand Humans of Amsterdam to Instagram. I will be doing inspirational quotes from Humans of Amsterdam and small scenery videos of the city.
If you are interested please make sure to follow:
http://tinyurl.com/mg2vlb7