View allAll Photos Tagged socialwork
I was a bit worried hanging around of this market, but fortunately they were so friendly with my camera!
-
Estaba un poco nervioso caminando en este mercado pero ellas fueron muy amigables con mi camara!
*
I first entered ward B1 in the eleventh Pavilion of Leros Psychiatric Hospital in August 1993. Four huge rooms, each contain 20 beds. No sheets or pillows, just filthy rubber mattresses and an old cover - all year round, winter and summer. A large refectory, with tables and chairs set out only at stated hours. A wardrobe for everyday clothes of 56 people. Two showers - one of them unusable. A kitchen where nothing is actually cooked, but where meals for inmates brought from the central kitchens are distributed.......
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
(T.S. Eliot - American born English Editor, Playwright, Poet and Critic, 1888-1965)
Anand is wearing a kantha silk scarf made with a hand embroidery.
This artcraft is done by ladies involved in several workshops that we have settled with GURIA, a Human Rights organisation fighting against the sexual exploitation of women and children, particularly those forced into prostitution and trafficking.
Each scarf is unique and made in sarees provided by women in Benaras who take this opportunity to get rid of pieces that they brought in order to celebrate happy moments, festivals or parties.
Those accessories carry traces of happiness in their yarns...
Our model shows his body for the purpose of this brotherhood and happiness chain as this is a way to catch the attention on this fight for Human Rights and human dignity.
(Scarf style "Kingdom" - 100% silk - Collection RED HALO)
RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi - India) providing work to people who were living with difficulties and education to children.
"Like" the RED HALO page on Facebook and join this amazing human adventure in Varanasi, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
formentalhealth.altervista.org www.persalutementale.altervista.org/leros.html
Italian version: www.persalutementale.altervista.org/leros.html
August 1993
Leros, a small island in the Dodecanese, near the Turkish coast. *
I first entered ward B1 in the eleventh Pavilion of Leros Psychiatric Hospital in August 1993. Four huge rooms, each containing 20 beds. No sheets or pillows, just filthy rubber mattresses and an old cover - all year round, winter and summer. A large refectory, with tables and chairs set out only at stated hours. A wardrobe for everyday clothes of 56 people. Two showers - one of them unusable. A kitchen where nothing is actually cooked, but where meals for inmates brought from the central kitchens are distributed.
For all - for 20 years, for 30 years - the hours and years have been marked only by eating, by the distribution of cigarettes, by the weekly shower.
Eating: a dish of food in the middle of the table for four or five people, one or two plastic cups, also for four or five people, to save washing up. Meals last five minutes by the clock. Food is meagre and poor.
The ablutions - ten people a day, five in the morning and five in the afternoon - each waiting their turn naked in the corridor, in front of the ward entrance. Even those who could wash themselves are washed. The whole process lasts at most 20 minutes per group.
Cigarettes, after meals, these can be from two or three, or none, depending on the whim of the distributor.
For some there is work. One inmate organises the distribution of food, and with meticulous care cleans the showers and lavatories for twelve hours a day. In return he has the authority to give or withhold a piece of bread, and to claim a section of the only wardrobe for his work clothes. Other patients clean the refectory, make up what little there is of the beds, take out the rubbish or deliver the dirty clothes to the central laundry.
For those wanting to get outside even for a short time, if they have the energy, there are two hours each morning in the parade ground in front of the building. The parade ground marked the centre of the naval base that for 50 years, from the start of the century, housed more than 3000 Italian soldiers; barracks for soldiers, arsenals, store rooms for seaplanes, submarines and cannons, villas for the officers and office space. That is how it was; now it is the Psychiatric Hospital of Leros.
The parade ground, that enormous expanse of red earth, beaten by the winter winds and the torrid summer sun, has for years been the theatre of solitude for hundred of inmates.
Bedraggled men, poorly clothed or naked, prone or crouching on the ground or walking up and down silently. Furtive glances. Sudden bursts of movement without apparent cause. One cries and another shouts.
For a few hours of the day nobody tells you what to do. Paradoxically this freedom just goes to confirm for these men that, however much they do, for them there is nothing to do.
The nurses in the hospital - 400 for 400 inmates: not one is a nurse. They are filakes (guards). Farm labourers or fisherman who have found through working for the State an answer to the impoverishment of the island. They have never been told or shown that a hospital can/should be a place of care, of rehabilitation.
The guards, I watch and talk to them. I see ancient faces, hands that have tilled the soil, people who know the meaning of hard work. They express strong feelings, take pleasure in sharing the beauty of their land but are afraid of loosing the livelihood the hospital provides.
They too are abandoned in the same pavilions, resisting and then succumbing to the situation, abiding by the law of the strongest and concealing their compassion for the patients.
Sadism, exploitation were the rule. Compassion, protection, the exception.
Towards the end of my first visit a man approached me and cautiously handed me a strange object. It was a knotted bundle of plaited pieces of old material.
I remember in that corridor a barrel of drinking water with one beaker for 56 people, the television - overhead, noises of aluminium saucepans, voices.
I remember the look, the silver hair, and the agile angular body of an old man.
I remember my embarrassment, but also the relief and sense of gratitude for this human form that without asking for anything just affirmed his existence in that desolation.
November 1993
When, months later, it was at last possible to start an initiative in the ward, the practical program was very "simple", take the patients out.
And so every day, from that ward, six or seven people were taken on outings.
To go out meant breaking the normal routine of the ward. It meant needing clothes and money. A hot shower outside specified times. Each outing meant a new way of getting to know each patient and, significant for him and for us, measuring the reality of each person, of things, of nature, of what is outside, of what they and we are able to compare.
Eleven o’clock of a splendid day in January 1994
Vassili (the man who had given me the present some months back), Sofia a young worker from the rehabilitation program, Maria a cleaner in the ward and I went out together.
Vassili: a jacket, a tie, all a bit creased and a few sizes too small for him.
Nevertheless, Vassili's evident pride in his appearance, despite years of living amongst hunger, cold and fear almost put us to shame.
Where should we go? To the restaurant by the sea.
We all sit down and a variety of different dishes are ordered. Meanwhile Vassili, clearly indifferent to the unusual abundance, with his hands to his mouth is mumbling away rather like one of those story tellers.
"Leros, Lipsi, Athina, Volos, Kalkida, Kimi" "LEROS, LIPSI, ATHINA, VOLOS, KALKIDA, KIMI" and then:
"OMONIA............",
and a number of other words I didn't understand.
The table is slowly filled with plates of squid, tzaziki, omelette, tuna, nibbles............... Vassili at last asked for a fresh orange juice.
What was this list of names? Were they places?
They represent the stopping places of a journey begun, who knows how many years ago, in his village on the island of Eubea, near Kimi.
Vassili mumbles something about being a labourer in Volos and Athens............... and then: "I want to go back to my village. "
Clearly, unmistakably, full of meaning.
Sofia, Maria and I pay attention, we chat away with Vassili, but there is a sense that this chanting, which till today had been considered a kind of raving, not only had a past reality, but - also more important - a possible future.
"OMONIA" and other words sung out, words I couldn't understand but had a steady rhythm. OMONIA which is round, which is in the centre of Athens.
How many years ago? More than 20, perhaps 30 years ago.
Then a list of bars, shops all round Omonia Square.
Omonia, the heart of Athens thirty years ago!
He talks, or rather sings, of market traders, shopkeepers, prostitutes, sailors, pimps, musicians, people from the East and the West, people from all over the world , just as though he was there amongst them.
"I want to go to my village" "I want to go to Athens" "Yes Vassili"
Then Vassili stood up and began to shout loudly. The restaurant was almost empty. I didn't understand a word of what he was saying. Nor did I understand what Dimitri, the restaurant owner, said to him. But it was obviously something directed at Vassili as a real person. A conversation consisting of a few retorts from each of them, ending with both parties clearly satisfied.
That morning Vassili had been listened to, understood, spoken to, and treated as a person. With a history, a personality, perhaps a future.
We returned to the hospital and at the daily staff meeting we reported what had happened that morning. It was proposed that we should indeed organise a journey into the past with Vassili. We talked about him in some detail with reminders of past incidents, of concerns. Was such a trip practical? What were the risks? What could be the outcome?
Some questioned whether returning to a family who had abandoned him thirty years ago would risk Vassili returning to Leros depressed.
Common sense prevailed. It was agreed to find out whether the staff as a whole, and specifically three or four of them, were prepared to organise and take responsibility for the trip, or rather be prepared to participate and share in Vassili's experience outside those walls......
I don't believe I shall ever forget that meeting. Those present fell into two camps: on one side there were the filakes with 15, 20, 30 years of work experience and on the other side were youngsters working as part of the programme funded by the European Union. The older people couldn't help being suspicious - what was the point of changing a life which it bad been a struggle to adjust to in the first place, although it was evident that several of them had adjusted rather too well to the status quo.
These older people would have been responsible on each shift for up to 100 inmates: one hundred strangers whose deportation to Leros had stripped them of identity or history.
The fight for survival in these conditions was not just the lot of inmates but also of those who worked there, 1 realised that for one and all the only thing that mattered was survival.
During that meeting a deal was struck between the two groups; nobody was telling the filakes that what they were doing was wrong, but simply that more could be done. A return to one's home, perhaps finding a gravestone, the wails of a childhood h6me, or even seeing a school companion, might be a help in this fight for survival. The filakes had not yet lost their love for their homes, their graves, and their ruins and childhood friends.
To conclude, it was decided that the funds were there. All that was needed were some volunteers.
February 1994
Today is the twenty second, of the second, nineteen hundred and ninety four: twenty two plus two, twenty four, plus one is twenty five, plus nine is thirty four, plus nine is forty three, plus four is forty seven and minus one is forty six. Divided by two is twenty three. Tomorrow is the twenty third. Are we going out?"
Blessed Vassili!!! playing with numbers as he has done for the last 23 years, possibly the salvation, while everybody assumed that his bits of material, his songs and number games were just delirious raving.
A meeting was held with the discussion focusing on Vassili's clinical records: parents dead, a brother and a sister in his native village, two other brothers' whereabouts unknown, no contact in the 23 years since his internment in Leros, neither with family nor anyone else. Two different dates of birth - seven years between them - a first hospitalisation in Athens in 1965 ... but, most important, a discussion followed with everyone there: impressions, memories. And then a problem raised by several people that Vassili was to be among half a dozen inmates who would be the first to leave the ward and move into an apartment to live semi-independently. Vassili however showed no response, neither a yes or no, to this prospect, but kept up a firm reminder of his wish to travel to his village.
Vassili found himself, or rather I feel he made himself, the centre of attention. There was no acting on his part: he had already become a strong personality on his ward, someone who commanded a degree of respect. It was also due to his indomitable refusal to be tamed: for
example in 20 years it had been impossible to stop Vassili from cutting up the sheets which he then made into his lively little objects. But also belts and bits which elegantly replaced the shirt buttons that were so often missing.
Vassili however knew how to benefit from the new climate, which in a paradoxical way was emerging in the ward and focusing on him. In fact he seemed not to expect it to be otherwise.
When changing, his clothes in anticipation of an outing he took steps to ensure that he was not observed, yet at the same time let it be known that he was aware of being watched. He emptied his pockets of countless personal possessions - put on an old blue striped suit with restrained haste - and then..... off out.
Since his first outing a visit to the barber had become a must. He liked being looked after by someone else - a couple of sentences exchanged - perhaps a sense of being clean - then to the "piazza". The main square in the village, at the cafe. He observed, watched life go by around him, perhaps trying to recognise what had changed and what would never change.
At the bar he would never ask for anything and would only accept a coffee or an orange drink after some persuasion. The way he did this made us think that his minimalist attitude was deliberate, consciously reducing his needs to zero, never asking for anything, and never expecting anything. So it wasn't a process of adapting to institutionalisation (after 23 years), a situation of having no rights, but rather a conscious decision of never asking for anything, thus saying to the Institution and those in charge:
"You have the power, but I would never ask you for anything because your giving or not giving is totally arbitrary, it is all just part of your wish to show who's boss."
Occasionally he would explode with anger. And just as quickly as it started it would stop. Inevitably: the impression of a strong desire to make his presence felt. Raising his voice in a manner which I feel was accepted by those around as part of a Mediterranean temperament where feelings are often expressed publicly, almost theatrically.
And then- alone- in the neighbourhood.
Short walks, excursions from which he never returned empty handed: a packet of nuts, some fruit or a box of matches. A result of his incredible capacity for meeting people. Excursions from B 1 were becoming more and more frequent with the entire life and system of the hospital under discussion. Resistance was always strong, seeing that the entire economy of the island had been founded and run using the mental hospital as a source of money and privilege. To me this resistance on the part of the hospital staff did not seem to be totally unjustified; seeming to say:
"It's not as though you are talking about great things, after all the only thing that can actually change is the person in charge which will change nothing!?"
In other words the game was becoming very interesting.
Then Vassili's' "volunteers" for his trip appeared. Lianna, Psychologist in charge of organising the apartment in which Vassili was to go and live, and Iannis, the nurse who would work in the same apartment. Permission granted, preparations completed, the necessary funds, documents, pieces to stay arranged .....it was Vassili who challenged the idea at the last minute:
"If I go back to the village, I'll never come back to Leros !"
The argument with Vassili was charged - as can be imagined - sometimes sharp and at other times patronising. In the end Vassili was convinced. The discussion or rather the discussions, were held - for the first time in the ward's history - in the nurses' room; Vassili sat in one of the chairs normally reserved for staff, and everyone could see this through the glass door.
Thank you Vassili; for killing off one of the small taboos.
Athens, Saturday 2nd March (for Vassili 23 years later)
We disembarked from the ship which brought us to Piraeus from Leros at 8 am. Vassili, Lianna, Iannis and his wife - and me.
We had reserved two rooms at the hotel "EI Greco", a couple of steps from Omonia and we were there. Diving into the big market which at that time of day was just coming to life, especially in Athinas Odos, the street where our hotel was located.
Black people speaking Greek like natives, selling designer scarves and hi-fi equipment, former Soviet citizens with a Zeiss camera, a spanner, a Lenin badge set out on a cloth, women dressed in black, children and cigarettes, watches, sun glasses, leather jackets ...
walking through all this we watched and were watched. We watched Vassili, who moved as if he had always been there. He looks, and then for a few seconds he stops in front of a shop window, brushes his hand against a passer-by: a man, an old woman, a boy and a woman. Several of them notice and turn around enquiringly. But the touch had been so delicate, light, and non-intrusive..... that nobody protested. Contact. I had never seen Vassili do anything like this before and I never saw him do anything like it again.
Increasingly we become engulfed by both the crowds and traffic. Lianna is from Athens and is accustomed to this, whereas for Iannis and his wife it is their first trip away from their life on Leros. We walk once, twice around the main square. Perambulating almost aimlessly with our hands behind our backs. Vassili looks, stops, and observes intently. Life goes on around us at a frenetic pace but for us it is as though time has left us behind. The only thing that matters is Vassili and this: his reintroduction into this world which has changed so very much. Where everything is very different but at the same times perhaps not so very different in terms of the daily goings on, sounds, the mixture of races, history and looks. Vassili appears totally at ease, unperturbed about his surroundings. Not even a gesture, a single word betrayed a sense of discomfort, fear or distance.
And then one of us made a suggestion, almost in response to our collective unspoken anxiety as to what should be done next:
" Vassili what about finding a barber shop where you could get a shave?" " My brother's a barber here in Athens"
" ....Do you remember where?" " Of course!"
" What about how to get there.. Can you remember?" " Yes of course! Come on let's go."
We are surprised. Very surprised. We set off guided entirely by Vassili.
Excited and on tenterhooks we cross Athens. Vassili leads the way in a very decisive manner. He tells us of a square right next to his brother's shop. Lianna recognises the street but leaves it to Vassili to lead the way. Vassili in front, and the four of us following behind.
Then we are lost. Lianna stops to ask directions, we lose her ... but find the square.
We retrace our steps a little and find Lianna, then it is Vassili again who takes the lead. Iannis smiles unbelievingly. A small alley way and Vassili stops outside an ironmonger's. Then up and down the alley we go but no sign of the barber's shop, . At that point Vassili and Lianna go into the ironmonger's to ask. Yes, it had been a barber shop until four years ago when the owner had retired. Do you know where we could find the barber? This is his brother and they haven't seen each other for many years. We really would like to find him. No, sorry, but try asking at the café just down there. We go there and arrive just as a young handicapped boy is closing up. No, his father isn't in and, no, he knows nothing about any barber and anyway the cafe is now closed,
And so there we were back in the middle of the road and in limbo.
Suddenly we are called from both sides of the road: from one way by the ironmonger and from the other the father of the boy. The ironmonger is at first a little anxious, but says he has thought about it again and gives us Vassili's brother's telephone number. Simultaneously the bar owner starts to volunteer the same address!
We try to phone from the first shop but there is no answer. To reduce the emotional stress we decide and have lunch and talk about what to do in the restaurant.
Emotions? Iannis can't believe his eyes, how can Vassili remember after thirty years? This place that Iannis sees only as chaos and full of mystery.
Lianna calls from the restaurant:
"Yes, I've found the brother! We've made an appointment at the hotel at 4.30 p.m."
The brother was surprised, incredulous and possibly rather threatened and that is why he suggested coming to the hotel rather than meeting Vassili at home.....
The reunion was planned in the nicest of the rooms, two armchairs a small table and a coffee. Only Lianna would be there from our group.
The brother arrived dead on time and less than ten minutes later Lianna emerges to say that all three of them are going to go back to the brother's home.
They came back three hours later. Lianna was shattered but Vassili was totally unperturbed, clean-shaven and sporting a new hair cut.
If you heard it told it almost sounds like a film script; apparently Vassili and his brother talked as if no had happened, Vassili's brother had cut his hair and given him a shave. It had also been decided that on Monday, the day after tomorrow, "the new found brother" would go back to his native village too!
We get ready to go out. After all it is Saturday night and we are in Athens! Vassili is wearing his purple flannel jacket tucked into his trousers. Instead of a belt he is wearing a purple strip of cloth. He is also wearing a matching tie. His jacket looks like a bolero the way he has put it on. Vassili dressed like this could be described as rather extravagant or eccentric, but certainly elegant and he knew he looked good. His way of dressing took on new meaning, it was a sense of identity, a sense of expressing who he was. And so out we went ... there is little that could shock anyone in Athens. We spent the evening in an Ouzo bar (a local alcoholic drink derived from aniseed),
We each enjoyed our evening in our own way, I ate and drank. Vassili, tiring of things, spent the evening almost with his back to us, listening intently to the conversation of a couple at the next table. He openly scrutinised two young women engrossed in conversation who in turn neither spoke to him nor ignored him.
Trieste, May 1998
Vassili has been back to his village twice. He has revisited people and buildings. He surprised everybody remembering names and events from all those years ago. He was not able, or didn't want, to get close to his brother and sister who lived in the village in the old family house. Or rather in the one room which they had split into two by building a simple partition. The brother, who had been paralysed from birth depended on the help of local villagers, while she, after thirty years in Athens spent either on the street or in local psychiatric hospitals, had finally escaped to her village and lives there marginalised from the rest of society.
It hasn't been possible to guarantee the support needed from the mental health services to help with Vassili's reintegration into society. Nor to organise a pension for him to live off: the village mayor, a contemporary of Vassili's at school, has tried with no success.
Between his first and second trip to the village, Vassili:
• Bought his friend Helias in ward B1 a pair of new shoes from Athens. Helias seems the exact opposite of Vassili - he appears to be so vulnerable and dependent. The shoes were a precious gift - both in themselves and symbolically. The Vassili who returned from his trip, and who wished to go back immediately to take his place with his 'pedia' ("the boys") has improved the quality of the relationship between all the inmates to a degree that is different from any I have ever known. I think it has the characteristics of relationships between prisoners. These men have had to embrace violence and love, and learn how to make them meet.
He told everybody the story of his journey, sitting in the large refectory, for once the scene of emotions that had found expression. Some said "what about me?", while others just thought it. People's pasts and personal stories began to emerge, each with its own validity.
He started to tell anecdotes. For example how as a sixteen year old boy he used to take food to the partisans in the mountains. Then he was called up into the regular army and tells of how, when driving a jeep, a bomb laid by one of the partisans was set off. He doesn't go into details and no one presses to know more.
He asked to meet and speak to the President of the Hospital's Administrative Council and had a talk with him - on his own.
He has moved into a house in the countryside, with five other inmates. The party held when they moved in, organised by the neighbours -local farmers - was conducted in true Greek spirit.
After a bitter verbal confrontation with one of his old 'guards' from the hospital, he was put on a course of drug treatment which seriously upsets him. "Den borume" ("it's impossible, we cannot, we will never reach our goal")he said to me. At the end of his tether. But the respect and friendships he has developed throughout the island, even though he cannot get the drug reduced, carry him through this troubled time.
He moves around the island freely on his own, with his own landmarks - houses always open to him - hiding places for his possessions.
He returns now and then to visit ward B and the look of compassion in his eyes tells us how much more we still have to do.
After the second visit to his village
Vassili has decided to stay on Leros.
We are all given only one past, and Vassili and many others on Leros have only the past of Leros.
I have been back to Leros a couple of times in the past few years. And I know that, like me, other staff have returned and will continue to return, under the spell of its sweet and fierce character - subtle and overpowering, like the wind that sweeps through it from the East.
I imagine - or rather I know - that others feel as I do the depths of feeling Vassili and many others allowed us to touch. For once a rare perception of our own humanity.
Maurizio Costantino °
* Place of intervention of an Italian experts' group for the European Community
° Trieste Mental Health Department
Italian version: www.persalutementale.altervista.org/leros.html
"Did you imagine that there could be emotions in heaven?
Emotions are closely tied to ego games.
Check your emotions at the door to paradise.”
("The Politics of Ecstasy" by Timothy Leary - American writer and psychologist, 1920-1996)
(Cushions style "Manali" in Cotton & Silk - 30x45 / 45x45 / 60x60 - col. Black / col. White - Collection RED HALO)
As usual Anand shows his body in order to catch the attention on the fight for Human Rights and human dignity in which we are involved.
RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi - India) providing work to people who were living with difficulties and education to children.
"Like" the RED HALO page on Facebook and join this human adventure in Varanasi, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
"Hidden from all eyes and ears
let us tell each other of our soul.
Smile like a rose with no lips
and keep silent like a thought.
Let us speak silently the secret like Spirit and avoid talkers who use words in vain.
Let us join our hands
listen to every flutter of our heart
let us become one in silence.
Divine destiny knows our fate to the last detail let our story be told in a silent way."
(Ghazal 1540 by Rumi)
Anand is wrapped in a silk scarf made with a hand embroidery.
This artcraft is done by ladies involved in several workshops that we have settled with GURIA, a Human Rights organisation fighting against the sexual exploitation of women and children, particularly those forced into prostitution and trafficking.
Each scarf is unique and made in sarees provided by many women in Benaras who take this opportunity to get rid of pieces that they brought in order to celebrate happy moments, festivals or parties.
Those accessories carry traces of happiness in their yarns...
Anand, our icon model, shows his body for the purpose of this brotherhood and happiness chain as this is a way to catch the attention on this fight for Human Rights and human dignity.
(Scarf style "Kingdom" - 100% silk - Collection RED HALO)
RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi - India) providing work to people who were living with difficulties and education to children.
"Like" the new RED HALO page on Facebook and join this amazing human adventure in Varanasi, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
"Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul."
(William Somerset Maugham - English Writer, 1874-1965)
Anand is wrapped in a silk scarf made with a hand embroidery.
This artcraft is done by ladies involved in several workshops that we have settled with GURIA, a Human Rights organisation fighting against the sexual exploitation of women and children, particularly those forced into prostitution and trafficking.
Each scarf is unique and made in sarees provided by many women in Benaras who take this opportunity to get rid of pieces that they brought in order to celebrate happy moments, festivals or parties.
Those accessories carry traces of happiness in their yarns...
Anand, our icon model, shows his body for the purpose of this brotherhood and happiness chain as this is a way to catch the attention on this fight for Human Rights and human dignity.
(Scarf style "Kingdom" - 100% silk - Collection RED HALO)
RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi - India) providing work to people who were living with difficulties and education to children.
"Like" the RED HALO page on Facebook and join this amazing human adventure in Varanasi, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
"Of equality - As if it harm'd me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself - As if it were not indispensable to my own rights that others possess the same."
(Walt Whitman - American poet, 1819-1892)
Anand is wrapped in a kantha silk scarf made with a hand embroidery.
This artcraft will be manufactured by ladies involved in several workshops that we have settled with GURIA, a Human Rights organisation fighting against the sexual exploitation of women and children, particularly those forced into prostitution and trafficking.
Each scarf is unique and made in sarees provided by several women in Benaras who take this opportunity to get rid of pieces that they brought in order to celebrate happy moments, festivals or parties.
Those accessories carry traces of happiness in their yarns...
Anand, our icon model, shows his body for the purpose of this brotherhood and happiness chain as this is a way to catch the attention on this fight for Human Rights and human dignity.
(Scarf style "Kashi" - 100% silk - Collection RED HALO)
This style is also available for throws and bed covers.
RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi - India) providing work to people who were living with difficulties and education to children.
"Like" the RED HALO page on Facebook and join this human adventure in Varanasi, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
"Love is what carries you, for it is always there, even in the dark, or most in the dark, but shining out at times like gold stitches in a piece of embroidery."
(From "Hannah Coulter" by Wendell Berry)
Anand is wrapped into a woolen throw with aari embroideries thought in the spirit of the Mughals and the Rajputs styles.
(Throw style "Rajput" - Col Black - 150x200 - 100% wool - Collection RED HALO)
RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi - India) providing work to people living with difficulties and education to children.
Visit and join the RED HALO page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
Join the photographer at
www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
“It wasn’t easy looking dignified wearing a bed sheet and a purple cape.”
(From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan)
Anand is wrapped in a throw made of pure linen with a aari embroidery.
(style "Akbar" - 150x200 - 100% linen - Col. Grey - Collection RED HALO))
RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi - India) providing work to people living with difficulties and education to children.
"Like" the RED HALO page on Facebook and join this amazing human adventure in Varanasi, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
Join the photographer at
www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
"Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being."
(From "The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt" by Albert Camus)
Throw made of shaded tone on tone aari embroidery.
(Throw style "Alka" - Col. Sand - 150x200 - 100% Wool - Collection RED HALO)
RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi - India) providing work to people who were living with difficulties and education to children.
Visit and join the RED HALO page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
Join the photographer at
www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
"The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity."
(Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy - Russian Novelist and Philosophe, 1828-1910)
Anand is holding a throw which has a desing inpsired by the Lodhi gardens in Delhi.
This Aari embroidery is on a woolen throw.
This picture was shot at the upper terrace of our office in Varanasi (Benaras) with natural light.
(Throw style "LODHI" - col Plum - 150x200 - 100% wool - Collection RED HALO)
RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi - India) providing work to people living with difficulties and education to children.
Our icon model shows his body for the purpose of the brotherhood chain we have settled as this is a way to catch the attention on the fight we are supporting for Human Rights and human dignity.
"Like" the RED HALO page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
Join the photographer at
www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”
(Ryunosuke Satoro - Japanese poet)
Anand is holding a throw which with a desing inpsired by the Lodhi gardens in Delhi.
This Aari embroidery is on a woolen throw.
This picture was shot at the upper terrace of our office in Varanasi (Benaras) with natural light.
(Throw style "LODHI" - col Ice - 150x200 - 100% wool - Collection RED HALO)
RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi - India) providing work to people living with difficulties and education to children.
Our icon model shows his body for the purpose of the brotherhood chain we have settled as this is a way to catch the attention on the fight we are supporting for Human Rights and human dignity.
"Like" the RED HALO page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
"I must continue to follow the path I take now.
If I do nothing, if I study nothing, if I cease searching, then, woe is me, I am lost.
That is how I look at it — keep going, keep going come what may.
But what is your final goal, you may ask.
That goal will become clearer, will emerge slowly but surely, much as the rough draught turns into a sketch, and the sketch into a painting through the serious work done on it, through the elaboration of the original vague idea and through the consolidation of the first fleeting and passing thought."
(From "Letter to Theo" (July 1880) by Vincent van Gogh)
Anand is wearing a kantha silk scarf made with a hand embroidery.
This artcraft is done by ladies involved in several workshops that we have settled with GURIA, a Human Rights organisation fighting against the sexual exploitation of women and children, particularly those forced into prostitution and trafficking.
Each scarf is unique and made in sarees provided by women in Benaras who take this opportunity to get rid of pieces that they brought in order to celebrate happy moments, festivals or parties.
Those accessories carry traces of happiness in their yarns...
Our model shows his body for the purpose of this brotherhood and happiness chain as this is a way to catch the attention on this fight for Human Rights and human dignity.
(Scarf style "Kingdom" - 100% silk - Collection RED HALO)
RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi - India) providing work to people who were living with difficulties and education to children.
"Like" the RED HALO page on Facebook and join this amazing human adventure in Varanasi, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
"To be a revolutionary you have to be a human being.
You have to care about people who have no power."
(Jane Fonda - American actress, writer and political activist, b.1937)
Anand is holding a throw which has a desing inpsired by the Lodhi gardens in Delhi.
This Aari embroidery is on a woolen throw.
This picture was shot at the upper terrace of our office in Varanasi (Benaras) with natural light.(Throw style "LODHI" - col White - 150x200 - 100% wool - Collection RED HALO)
RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi - India) providing work to people living with difficulties and education to children.
Our icon model shows his body for the purpose of the brotherhood chain we have settled as this is a way to catch the attention on the fight we are supporting for Human Rights and human dignity.
"Like" the RED HALO page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
Join the photographer at
www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
"A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity."
(From "Letters to a Young Poet" (1934) by Rainer Maria Rilke)
Anand is wearing a kantha silk scarf made with a hand embroidery.
This artcraft is done by ladies involved in several workshops that we have settled with GURIA, a Human Rights organisation fighting against the sexual exploitation of women and children, particularly those forced into prostitution and trafficking.
Each scarf is unique and made in sarees provided by women in Benaras who take this opportunity to get rid of pieces that they brought in order to celebrate happy moments, festivals or parties.Those accessories carry traces of happiness in their yarns...
Our model shows his body for the purpose of this brotherhood and happiness chain as this is a way to catch the attention on this fight for Human Rights and human dignity.
(Scarf style "Kingdom" - 100% silk - Collection RED HALO)
RED HALO is a collection of household linen based in Benaras (Varanasi - India) providing work to people who were living with difficulties and education to children.
"Like" the RED HALO page on Facebook and join this amazing human adventure in Varanasi, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
"If the equality of individuals and the dignity of man be myths, they are myths to which the republic is committed. "
(Howard Mumford Jones - American writer and professor, 1892–1980)
Anand is holding a linen throw made of an Aari embroidery with a paisley design.
This was shot at the upper terrace of our office in Varanasi (Benaras) with natural light.
(Throw style "Mirabai" in 100% Linen - 150 x 200 - col Sage green - Collection RED HALO)
"Like" the RED HALO page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/redhalo.in
Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
Cobertura das ações da ONG Um teto para meu país. Clique no link para saber mais.
________________________________________________________
A wonderful concept: photophilanthropy , by The Travel Photographer:
thetravelphotographer.blogspot.com/2009/12/wonderful-conc...
This photo is part of my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
This photo was initially published in my local photo blog about the citizens of my area in Montréal. quartiersnord.photos/les-gens-the-people/
It was at La Place de l’engagement (The Commitment Place) that I met Marie-Christine P.-M.
She works as mobilization coordinator with volunteers 55 and older at the Centre d’Action Bénévole de Montréal-Nord (CAB-MN). She suggested that I attend the following week’s activities surrounding the 2015 Civic march, whose theme this year was Mobility and safe travel for seniors in Montreal-North.
The following Thursday, although I did not have the opportunity to attend workshops earlier in the afternoon, I caught up with the group gathered in front of the Borough Hall to present its claims. In a cheerful atmosphere, participants were listening to some speeches and singing songs of circumstance directed by three colorful ladies of the group les Mémés déchainées, the local Raging Grannies. You can see some photos of this event by clicking on the link at the end of the article.
Again, I only exchanged a few words with Marie-Christine, who had a very busy schedule at the time. With the Service d’accueil aux nouveaux-arrivants (SANA, a group helping out recent immigrants), she was participating to the preparation of a film-chat activity with a screening of the movie “Felix and Moira” in the presence of its director at the premises of CAB-MN. She was also contributing to the organization of a workshop and electoral debate with local candidates ahead of the federal elections at Habitations Les Boulevards.
It wasn’t until the next week that she could spare me a little time.
Marie-Christine is a native of Saint-Nicolas, now a municipal district of the city of Lévis, across the river from Quebec City. She began her studies at Cégep Lévis-Lauzon in New Media and Fine Arts, but eventually shifted to the humanities. She completed a BA in Cultural Animation and Research at UQAM in Montreal.
It is back in Lévis that she acquired her first professional experience in events as Project Manager for the Corporation de Dévelopment du Vieux-Lévis. As such, she spent a year preparing intergenerational events, including a special day with a soap derby, a skateboard competition, an antique car exhibition and a show with local artists. She was happy to put her creativity to contribution. As the income from this work was modest, she also worked part time at the SAQ (our liquor board). She kept this job for a few years, in addition to working as a waitress in bars and restaurants.
Feeling a need for renewal, she walked the trail to Compostela with her boyfriend of the time along the Camino del Norte, a path north of the usual routes, steeper and less crowded. She told me that walking was not exhausting in itself, but the lack of sleep due to the snoring of other walkers in the dorms could eat away one’s energy.
As she loves to travel, she also did an internship in Vancouver and worked there a while to perfect her English.
Later, it’s a job as communication agent at Développement économique LaSalle that brought her back to Montreal, where she contributed to the organization of the Québec Entrepreneurship Contest at the local level. A significant increase in the number of participants that year gave her a good challenge.
Marie-Christine then undertook a Specialized Graduate Program in Management at HEC, Montreal. She says she likes group dynamics and psychology, project management, as well as the creative synergies that allow carrying out shared ideas. She believes that there are no limits to what we can accomplish together.
Afterwards, she joined the Centre d’Action Bénévole de Montréal-Nord as mobilization agent for the 55+ age group. The CAB-MN has been active in Montreal North for 30 years. It creates bridges between people who wish to contribute to the improvement of their living environment through volunteering and organizations that require their services. It also aims to promote social inclusion and integration of newcomers, to support citizen engagement and to provide services to the population through the action and commitment of its volunteers.
Her first task was to form a nucleus of senior volunteers. Together with these trailblazers she was then able to consolidate and expand the group. This now allows Marie-Christine to act as mobilization coordinator.
Despite her young age, she feels good in the company of seniors and wishes to continue to work with them. She spoke fondly about a one-hundred-year-old and alert lady she had recently met, but also about the death of a member of the first nucleus which was a sad event for the group. Sharing and support activities were organized to help them go through their mourning.
This event prompted a reflection on death for that young woman in whom I sensed a deep spiritual activity. Confirming my feeling, she then mentioned that she practices meditation on her own.
On a recent trip, she visited Scotland where again she walked a lot and saw beautiful scenery. She dreams that, one day, she will be able to make a long trip around the world.
Cette photo fait partie de mon projet 100 Strangers (100 inconnus). Apprenez en plus sur ce type de projet et voyez les photos d’autres photographes à 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
Cette photo a initialement été publiée sur mon blogue local dédié aux citoyens de mon quartier de Montréal quartiersnord.photos/les-gens-the-people/
C’est à la Place de l’engagement que j’ai pour la première fois croisé Marie-Christine P.-M.
Étant coordonnatrice à la mobilisation des 55 ans et plus au Centre d’action bénévole de Montréal-Nord (CABMN), elle m’a suggéré d’assister la semaine suivante aux activités entourant la Marche citoyenne 2015, dont le thème cette année était la mobilité et les déplacements sécuritaires des ainés à Montréal-Nord.
Le jeudi suivant, bien que je n’aie pas eu la possibilité d’assister aux ateliers en début d’après-midi, j’ai rattrapé le groupe alors qu’il était rendu à la porte de la Mairie d’Arrondissement pour présenter ses revendications. Dans une atmosphère joyeuse, les participants ont écouté quelques discours et chanté des chansons de circonstance avec trois dames très colorées du groupe les Mémés déchainées. Vous pouvez voir quelques photos de cet événement en cliquant sur le lien à la fin de l’article.
De nouveau, j’ai seulement échangé quelques mots avec Marie-Christine, qui avait un horaire très chargé ces jours-là. Avec le Service d’accompagnement aux nouveaux arrivants (SANA), elle aidait notamment à la préparation d’une activité de ciné-causerie avec projection du film Félix et Moira en présence du réalisateur dans les locaux du CABMN. Elle contribuait aussi à l’organisation d’un atelier-débat électoral avec les candidats locaux aux élections fédérales aux Habitations les Boulevards.
Ce n’est que la semaine suivante qu’elle a pu m’accorder un peu de temps.
Marie-Christine est originaire de Saint-Nicolas, municipalité aujourd’hui devenue un quartier de la ville de Lévis, en face de Québec. Elle a entamé ses études au Cégep Lévis-Lauzon en Arts plastiques et médiatiques, mais s’est cependant réorientée vers les sciences humaines. Elle a complété un Bac en Animation et recherche culturelles à l’UQAM.
C’est de retour à Lévis qu’elle a fait ses premières expériences professionnelles en événementiel comme chargée de projet à la Corporation de développement du Vieux-Lévis. À ce titre, elle a passé une année à préparer des événements intergénérationnels, dont une grande journée avec des courses de boites à savon, une compétition de planches à roulettes, une exposition de voitures anciennes et un spectacle avec des artistes locaux. Elle a apprécié pouvoir y mettre sa créativité à contribution. Les revenus de ce travail étant cependant modestes, elle travaillait parallèlement à la SAQ à temps partiel. Elle a d’ailleurs conservé cet emploi pendant quelques années, en plus de travailler comme serveuse dans des bars et restaurants.
Sentant le besoin de se ressourcer, elle a fait avec son copain de l’époque la marche vers Compostelle en suivant le Camino del norte, une voie au nord du parcours usuel, plus abrupte et moins fréquentée. Elle m’a raconté que la marche n’était pas épuisante en soi, mais que le manque de sommeil dû aux ronflements des autres marcheurs dans les dortoirs pouvait gruger son énergie.
Aimant voyager, elle a aussi fait un stage à Vancouver et y a travaillé quelque temps pour parfaire son anglais.
C’est un emploi d’agente de communication à Développement économique LaSalle qui l’a ramenée à Montréal afin d’assurer la tenue du Concours québécois en entrepreneuriat au niveau local. Une augmentation importante de la participation à ce concours, cette année-là, lui aura donné du fil à retordre.
Marie-Christine a ensuite entrepris un Diplôme d'études supérieures spécialisées en Gestion à HEC Montréal. Elle aime la dynamique et la psychologie de groupe, la gestion de projet, ainsi que les possibilités créatives qui permettent de mener à bien les idées mises en commun. Elle croit qu’il n’y a pas de limites à ce qu’on peut accomplir ensemble.
Elle s’est jointe au Centre d’action bénévole comme agente à la mobilisation des 55 ans et plus. Le CABMN est actif à Montréal-Nord depuis 30 ans. Il met en liaison des gens qui souhaitent contribuer à l’amélioration de leur milieu de vie, par le bénévolat, avec les organismes qui ont recours à leur service. Il vise aussi à favoriser le rapprochement social et l’intégration des nouveaux arrivants, à soutenir la mobilisation citoyenne et à offrir des services à la population par l’action et l’engagement de ses bénévoles. Sa première tâche a été de constituer un noyau d’ainés. Ces précurseurs ont ensuite permis de consolider et d’élargir le regroupement. Cela permet maintenant à Marie-Christine d’agir en tant que coordonnatrice à la mobilisation.
Malgré son jeune âge, elle se sent bien avec les personnes âgées et souhaite continuer œuvrer à leur côté. Elle m’a d’ailleurs parlé d’une dame centenaire encore alerte rencontrée récemment, mais aussi du décès d’un membre du premier noyau qui a été un événement tristement marquant pour le groupe. Des activités de partage et de soutien ont été organisées pour mieux vivre ce deuil.
Cela a poussé Marie-Christine à une réflexion sur la mort. J’ai d’ailleurs senti chez elle une activité spirituelle. Elle pratique d’ailleurs par elle-même la méditation.
Lors d’un voyage récent, elle a visité l’Écosse où elle a encore beaucoup marché et vu de magnifiques paysages. Elle rêve de faire un jour un long voyage autour du monde.
Lindo e tristinho menino que conheci ontem na comunidade de Colinas d´Oeste, em Osasco, fotogrando para a ong Um Teto Para Meu País. O trabalho deles é incrível, adoro !
____________
Natan, a beautiful and a little sad boy I met yesterday while working at Colinas d´Oeste , a poor but very organised comunity near to São Paulo. I went taking shots for Um Teto Para Meu País, a very special organization who provides new houses for people in need. Love them , really amazing work!
"Ombold" is a football tournament for clubs, where the players come from different types of abuse. The clubs are a fixed point, which is about friendship, away from the abuse environment. Ballerup Superarena hosted this year's championship, and of course the local politicians had to field a show team, with the mayor in goal (maybe the tallest goal keeper, ever). Former football star Michael Laudrup is a patron of Ombold, and played on the users' team.
Ballerup Super Arena, Ballerup.
North Central Bronx Hospital is a member of the NYC Health & Hospitals Corp. - the public hospital system serving New York City. NCBH offers a wide range of healthcare services to residents of the North Central Bronx and beyond.
This children are Born into Brothels .... their mothers are Sex worker... They live together in a School with an Aunty who look-after them.... Life is so tough there.... there is no light of future but still the children are happy with life.... where every living day is a festival .......
© Please don't use this image anywhere without permission.
All contents here in are copyrighted © 2012
Except where otherwise noted. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.
As always, thank you for all of your feedback and compliments, it's very much appreciated.
For More Info don't be Hesitated to Contact me @ +8801670196617 or +8801914269874
Email: rudroniel@gmail.com
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
This photo was initially published in my local photo blog about the citizens of my area in Montréal. quartiersnord.photos/les-gens-the-people/
François loved summer camps, both as a young participant, and, later, as an animator. He still keeps something of their spirit.
He is from the region of Chandler in Gaspésie. He grew up there and left only when time came to study at Cégep. At first, he didn’t go too far away. He earned his college degree in Social Sciences in La Pocatière. He then moved to Montreal to pursue studies in History at UQAM. Initially installed in Hochelaga, it took him some time to feel comfortable in the big city. However, he has since well acclimatized and has acquired a solid knowledge of the human and social backgrounds of its various neighborhoods through his jobs.
François has worked as a youth center animator in Centre Sud, Pointe-St-Charles and Rosemont. It is through a social services job as an outreach worker that he got to know Ahuntsic, Bordeaux and Cartierville.
He worked for five years for the Rap-Jeunesse youth organization, wich runs a mobile unit called L’Accès-soir in the northern boroughs of Montreal. Staffed by a group of direct intervention workers, this bus touring underprivileged areas on a pre-established schedule serves as a nocturnal meeting point for young people. Its crew seeks to reach out to socially isolate young adults who are going through hardships, but are reluctant to use the usual social services. According to François, working with and caring for people suffering from poverty, drug abuse and mental health issues, requires a great deal of integrity, availability and listening skills.
With a group of young people he met through his work at Rap Jeunesse, he got to know the Festiblues’ team. During an edition of this local blues festival, these young people and him were in charge of the site’s maintenance. This was, to some of them, one of their first working experiences.
Later on, François also worked on a personal basis with the site management team in subsequent editions the festival. For the sake of anecdote, when I pointed out to him that he had the right look to play as a sideman in the band behind Bernard Adamus - one of the stars of the Festiblues’ latest edition - he replied that although they actually lived in the same neighborhood, he unfortunately did not have the necessary musical skills to do so.
As the father of a young boy who is a little over 10 years old now, he eventually had to turn to a job with a schedule more compatible with family life. With his experience in youth centers and RAP Jeunesse, he was hired at the Carrefour Jeunesse emploi (CJE) of the borough. His work there was dedicated to a project named IDEO 16-17, an employability assistance program for this age group.
Today, thanks to his excellent knowledge of all local stakeholders, François is Director of the Maison des jeunes de Bordeaux-Cartierville. He has taken over this organization, which needed a new start after a six months shutdown. He sees to its financing and leads a team of animators who develop activity programs with the local youth. The offering ranges from cooking and audiovisual workshops to periods of free play. At the moment, sports are really hot. The soccer-basketball Friday night at the neighborhood YMCA is currently the most popular activity.
As the organization aims to develop independence, critical thinking and social integration among its young participants, François is particularly proud of the success of the Cooperative Jeunesse de services de Cartierville, a neighborhood project supported by the Maison des jeunes.
Cette photo fait partie de mon projet 100 Strangers (100 inconnus). Apprenez en plus sur ce type de projet et voyez les photos d’autres photographes à 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
La photo a initialement été publiée sur mon blogue local dédié aux citoyens de mon quartier de Montréal quartiersnord.photos/les-gens-the-people/
François aimait les camps d’été, autant comme jeune participant que, plus tard, comme animateur. Il en un peu a conservé l’esprit.
Il est originaire de la région de Chandler en Gaspésie. Il y a grandi et ne l’a quittée qu’au moment de partir étudier au Cégep. Il ne s’en est d’abord pas trop éloigné. Il a fait son DEC en sciences humaines à La Pocatière. Il a ensuite continué ses études en Histoire à l’UQAM. Initialement installé dans Hochelaga, il a mis un peu de temps à s’habituer à la grande ville. Il s’est cependant bien acclimaté depuis et a acquis une solide connaissance des milieux humains et sociaux de ses différents quartiers à travers ses emplois.
François a en effet travaillé comme animateur dans des Maisons de jeunes dans le Centre-Sud, Pointe-St-Charles puis Rosemont. C’est ensuite comme travailleur de proximité qu’il a connu Ahuntsic, Bordeaux et Cartierville.
Il a œuvré pendant cinq ans au sein de l’organisme Rap-jeunesse, dont l’autobus L’Accès-soir sillonne les rues du nord de Montréal. Spécialement aménagé pour recevoir les jeunes, c’est un point de rencontre nocturne. Cette unité mobile d’intervention directe et de travail de proximité visite selon un horaire établi des secteurs où l’on retrouve une population largement défavorisée. Elle cherche à rejoindre de jeunes adultes isolés socialement, vivant des difficultés personnelles importantes et souvent réfractaires à fréquenter les services sociaux usuels. Pour faire ce travail où l’on côtoie des gens souffrant de la pauvreté, de la toxicomanie et de problèmes de santé mentale, il faut avoir, selon François, une grande intégrité, de la disponibilité et une bonne capacité d’écoute.
Avec un groupe de jeunes qu’il a connus par son travail à Rap Jeunesse, il a fait connaissance avec l’équipe du Festiblues. Au cours d’une édition du festival, ces jeunes et lui ont été en charge de l’entretien du site du festival. Cela a été pour certains d’eux une de leurs premières expériences de travail.
François a par la suite retravaillé à titre personnel avec l’équipe d’aménagement du site Festiblues lors de quelques éditions ultérieures. Pour l’anecdote, lorsque je lui ai fait remarquer qu’il avait le look approprié pour jouer dans le groupe de Bernard Adamus — l’une des vedettes de la plus récente édition du Festiblues —, il m’a répondu qu’ils habitaient le même voisinage, mais qu’il n’avait malheureusement pas les aptitudes musicales nécessaires.
Comme il est père d’un jeune garçon qui a un peu plus de 10 ans aujourd’hui, il lui a éventuellement fallu se tourner vers un emploi avec un horaire plus compatible avec la vie familiale. Fort de son expérience dans les Maison de jeunes et au RAP-Jeunesse, il a été engagé au Carrefour Jeunesse emploi de l’arrondissement. Son travail y était dédié au volet IDÉO 16-17, un programme d’assistance à l’employabilité pour ce groupe d’âge.
Aujourd’hui, avec son excellente connaissance de tous les intervenants jeunesse locaux, François est directeur de la Maison des jeunes de Bordeaux-Cartierville. Il a repris en main cet organisme qui avait besoin d’un nouvel élan après une fermeture de six mois. Il voit à son financement et dirige une équipe d’animateurs qui élaborent des programmes d’activités avec les jeunes. Sa grille d’animation va de l’atelier de cuisine à l’audiovisuel, en passant par des plages de jeux libres. En ce moment, les sports sont en vogue. La soirée soccer-basket du vendredi au YMCA du quartier est l’activité la plus populaire.
Comme l’organisme vise notamment à développer l’autonomie, la pensée critique et l’intégration sociale chez les participants, François est particulièrement fier du succès de la Coopérative jeunesse de services de Cartierville, un projet de quartier porté par la Maison des jeunes.
The owner of this ship is the Kelly-family and stand in Rostock. It is opened for social youth projects.
I saw her sitting on a ledge on campus between classes and her eyes really drew me in so I turned back and introduced myself and my project. She looked at my contact card and in my introduction I mentioned I was a retired social worker. “I’m a social work student” she said with a smile. It’s a small world. Meet Julie.
I suggested we move one step to an adjoining part of the ledge in order to use the textured concrete wall of a university building as the background and we did the photos without much fanfare. It didn’t take long and I knew I had some nice portraits to I put the camera away and we chatted.
Julie is 19 and came from Ottawa, the nation’s capital, for university. She likes the social work program and hopes to work in the health/mental health system when she graduates next year. I met her between classes. She had just finished her practicum class and had some time to spend before going to her sociology class. Social work education involves a mix of classroom and direct practice (practicum). This year’s practicum will be with an agency that offers employment support and preparation to disadvantaged youth and Julie is quite excited about getting started next week.
Her current challenge is finding suitable housing – always a challenge in Toronto where the cost of living is quite high. She’s currently staying with her sister. Fortunately, they get along well but she really does want to be more independent soon. Her message to her younger self is “Believe more in your own strength.” I asked how her friends who know her best would likely describe her and she said “I hope they would say that I’m caring, optimistic, and a fun person.” All are good qualities for a social worker (or for anyone for that matter.) Julie’s message to the project is “Life won’t give you anything you can’t handle.” My impression of Julie is of a person who will make a great social worker and I pointed out that other careers might reap greater financial rewards, but very few will reap greater financial satisfaction.
When I asked Julie how she settled on a social work career she said "I've always enjoyed helping others so it just felt right." It seemed clear that her personal qualities are a great foundation sor a social work career and it is a field that certainly needs people like Julie.
Thank you Julie for sharing a few minutes of your between-classes break to meet and participate in my Human Family photo project. It was a pleasure meeting you. Good luck with your studies. If you would like a copy of the photo, don’t hesitate to drop me an email and I’d be glad to send it along.
This is my 326th submission to The Human Family Group on Flickr.
You can view more street portraits and stories by visiting The Human Family.