"We thought we’d rather die in a plastic boat than die there."

October 1, 2015 11:51 AM

"For the next several days, I’m going to be sharing stories from refugees who are currently making their way across Europe." Humans of New York went to Greece (and will go to other locations) to talk to newly-arrived refugees fleeing Iraq as well as some locals. It will be posting their stories and photos. There are spots of kindness, however, as you'd expect, they are largely terrifying and tragic. (Warning: Human suffering and death.)

(There appear to be no tags specifically for these stories. They are just going to be the only stories that appear on the index page for the next several days.)

posted by ignignokt (18 comments total)

I follow them on instagram, where sometimes they're my only jolt of reality in a universe of foster kitten pictures and videos.

You know that the new NY book will be out in a week or so?
posted by janey47 at 12:01 PM on October 1, 2015

I follow Humans of New York on Facebook and it is honestly the best thing on Facebook. They did a month on people from Afghanistan and Pakistan this summer too. It is just people matter-of-factly telling the stories of their lives be it good or bad. It doesn't feel curated or forced. There is no breathless reporting of harrowing tales just real people.
posted by Belle O'Cosity at 12:13 PM on October 1, 2015 [16 favorites]

Powerful images and stories.
posted by Gwynarra at 12:28 PM on October 1, 2015

. In the ocean, he took off his life jacket and gave it to a woman. We swam for as long as possible. After several hours he told me he that he was too tired to swim and that he was going to float on his back and rest. It was so dark we could not see. The waves were high. I could hear him calling me but he got further and further away. Eventually a boat found me. They never found my husband.

In a just world, anyone dying like husband would have the memory of their heroics celebrated far and wide.

In a just world, nobody would be out on the dark waters dying lonely deaths trying to reach the shores of my continent.

Every time, it breaks my heart that these people aren't just dying because of ISIS, but because of our own politicians and our own voters' xenophobia and refusal to share what we have.
posted by harujion at 12:37 PM on October 1, 2015 [15 favorites]

I am an enormous fan of Brandon and the HONY Project. He has taken something that went viral and could have been entirely self-serving to something that is the essence of tikkun olam (repairing the world). He could have stayed in Manhattan and photographed only UWS ladies and told their stories and it would have been fairly captivating, but when he took the photo of a child at Mott Hall Bridges Academy in Brooklyn, his feed exploded and he used that moment for something powerfully good. He has been all over the world telling the stories of people who are just people. Not important people, not famous people, people though who matter, who are citizens of the world and have lives and stories like each of us do.

I am intensely impressed by this young man and the work he is doing in relative anonymity.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:42 PM on October 1, 2015 [30 favorites]

The difference in the photographic approach here compared to this recent, similar undertaking is striking. The matter-of-factness puts the persons portrayed, and their stories, before the photography. Which makes this series that much more powerful.
posted by progosk at 1:26 PM on October 1, 2015 [4 favorites]

I follow Humans of New York on Facebook and it is honestly the best thing on Facebook.

This is so very, very true.
I love seeing it in my feed.
It reminds me that we're all connected.
It both uplifts me, and sobers me.
It is the goods.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 2:47 PM on October 1, 2015 [3 favorites]

I think this project is deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:52 PM on October 1, 2015 [4 favorites]

HoNY brings the ugly tears like pretty much nothing else can.

I love it.
posted by mynameisluka at 3:19 PM on October 1, 2015

I follow HONY on Facebook and the comments are generally positive, but some of the comments on the recent refugees posts have been awful. Why are people so terrible?
posted by Arbac at 3:31 PM on October 1, 2015

First rule of Comment Club: Don't read the comments.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 4:36 PM on October 1, 2015

I think this project is deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize.

Well, certainly Pulitzer, if they've loosened the rules enough for him to qualify.

I'm all about humor like most mefites, so you know something is transcendentally great if it kind of makes me angry to see the satire pages taking serious HONY photos and putting them with "funny" captions.
posted by Muddler at 6:34 PM on October 1, 2015

I remember a while back, there was some HONY backlash - I believe the argument was that it was hokey bourgeois pabulum or something like that. But this refugee series has been absolutely devastating and it's hard not to read these stories and feel some moral culpability.

I follow HONY on Facebook and the comments are generally positive, but some of the comments on the recent refugees posts have been awful. Why are people so terrible?

First rule of Comment Club: Don't read the comments.

But HONY is known as one of the few places (aside from Metafilter!) where the comments are usually really wonderful and supportive. So this is especially awful.
posted by lunasol at 8:01 PM on October 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

I mean i have a some-peoples-hatred-for-amanda-palmer level of dislike for HONY i could rant about for ages, and i still think these recent posts have been awesome.

They're just good, and he's doing good work.
posted by emptythought at 4:18 AM on October 2, 2015

'We started receiving text messages one day. They said: ‘Give us money, or we will burn down your house. If you tell the police, we will kill you.’

Exhibit 1 under "Why Having a Smart Phone Doesn't Mean Refugees Don't Deserve Our Help"
posted by drlith at 7:34 AM on October 2, 2015

This guy is awesome.

My next priority is to respect the dignity of the refugees. When they arrive, they are very anxious, so I want to make sure they feel like they have a place. We leave four meters of space between every tent. We also leave the camp open so they can enter and leave whenever they like. And I added this cover over the entry way, because I wanted to be sure they were shaded the moment they walk in.

posted by ignignokt at 7:28 AM on October 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

Jesus, today's 3-parter on the guy with the kidnapped son. There are no words.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:02 PM on October 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

Wow, yeah. What total absolute misery that must have been.
posted by ignignokt at 5:21 PM on October 5, 2015