“The birds teach me to reconnect with nature. Most of us neglect our relationship with Mother Nature. We are too distracted trying to own her. Meanwhile we feel guilty and think that we are destroying her but we couldn’t be more wrong. She is a strong force who feeds us and gives us oxygen. She can live without us but we can’t live without her so the only thing we are destroying is ourselves.”
“If you could talk to her, what would you say?”
“Mama, I love you!”

“Having a child was the last thing on my mind. I have always been very focussed on my studies and as a student I had many extra jobs so my life was very chaotic. While working on my thesis something inside of me changed and I realized I wanted to have a baby. I thought it would take time to get pregnant because I had been on birth control since I was a teenager but within a few weeks I was pregnant. Sometimes I still can’t believe that I have put this tiny human is into this world. I had to put my studies on hold but I’m still planning to finish it next year. My timing wasn’t perfect but honestly I don’t think it ever is. ”

“When he was born the nurse said, this baby is excited to discover the world. I feel she was really right about that.”

“I always wanted to travel the world but I never really had the courage. I’m from Australia but I have a British passport so when Brexit happened it pushed me to plan this trip. I saved up 7000 euro’s so I think I will manage for a while. The idea of this journey is to grow and to get rid of my anxiety I have to talk to strangers. A few weeks before I left I started to get really nervous and the day before my flight I was shitting myself. I barely slept on my flight over here but once I arrived at the Amsterdam airport most of my fear was gone. I have been here for nearly a week and I’m still getting used to the idea that I won’t be going home for a while. I’m not used to being surrounded by this many people and I’m trying not to get run over by bikes. Still I’m enjoying every minute of this experience. Since my arrival I only had a few moments of anxiety. Sometimes the thought of being here all by myself scares me but the other day when I got back to my hostel I had a great conversation with another guest and I realized that we are never really alone.”

“I’m 23 years old and my greatest accomplishment has been getting on that plane to Amsterdam. Just by being here I feel as if I took a big step forward. I have a one-way-ticket and I don’t really have any plans. I don’t have to be anywhere and that just feels fantastic.”

There is a lot to say about Social Media but without Facebook I would have never been able to run a project such as Humans of Amsterdam. I probably would not been able to raise over 10.000 euro’s for refugees in 2015 and I don’t think I would have published a book with National Geographic by the age of 27. For the opening of Facebook’s new office in Amsterdam they created a photo exhibition to highlight a few of those who contribute daily to the Facebook community. I’m honored to be a part of it but mostly excited to keep working hard and to continue this journey

Photocredit: Kirsten van Santen