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The Nest International

The other week we visited Nest International. Nest International (Reden International in Danish) is the biggest NGO in Denmark that fights against women trafficking and supports foreign women in prostitution in Denmark. They offer many things to the women including a center that they can visit to talk to people, eat something, see a doctor, and seek advice on social matters or getting a job.

                The visit was very interesting to me because I have learned before about the issues of sex trafficking but I had not had the chance to meet with someone who works with the trafficked victims personally. There were many very interesting things that our speaker talked about. One of the things that resonated most with me was that once a woman arrives in Denmark from another country such as Nigeria or Romania they often cannot go back home even if they want to. Often it happens that a woman will come to Denmark under the notion of making money only to end up in the prostitution industry. When they, with the help of Nest International, try to get back in contact with a family to go back home the family with think that they have disgraced them and they are not welcomed back. This is a huge eye opener for me because when I used to think of women in these situations after being trafficked I always thought that they were too afraid or had no option to go home. But after speaking to one of the Nest International workers it has opened my eyes up to a whole other side of the issue that I think many people don’t know that exists.

                I was very impressed with the way that Nest International was set up. They have available to all the women a doctor’s office, a social worker, food or tea, someone to talk to, help finding a job and even contacting their families. But what I found most impressive was the way in which they contact the women. The woman we spoke with and many other volunteers will often go out onto the streets to talk to the women or just tell them about the house. They do not try and take them off the streets, but allow them to come to them only if they want to. I think that this is a good idea because to me it is a much more safe option for the women. The location is kept a secret so you need to know someone who knows where it is, but that provides a safe haven the women can go to and not fear being dragged out by the pimps. Even though many people see these women as victims of a vicious crime, many of them knew what they were getting into and have no other option for jobs so it must be their choice how to live their lives, and I commend Nest International for providing a safe space for them without forcing anything on them.

                Overall I really enjoyed our visit and it made me think so much more about something I THOUGHT I knew a lot about. It made me think more about what other people can do to help and what I, in my own field of study, can do to try and help prevent this, or rather find an alternative for all the women that end up in this business.

Jeanne

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Plans fell through, better ones arose!

So, after a few weeks of struggling to figure out how to work this TumblrBlog, the Social Justice house is up and running again!  A few weeks ago, we had plans to visit an organization like most nights but unfortunately they did not have the time to meet with us. Inge, being the incredibly resourceful person she is, quickly rearranged our normal Tuesday night meeting into more of a social gathering where we could get to know each other better (I mean, we are a community, yes?). We started the night at a Thai restaurant just next to our LLC with some wonderful food, conversation, and a brief shrimp-allergy scare by yours truly, swiftly solved by a few benadryl tossed into the system. Aside from the hives and scratchy throat, I enjoyed the evening a lot more than I would have, as I had been disappointed when our previous plans were cancelled. I sat across from a few wonderful girls and we ended up having a very thoughtful and respectful discussion on controversial political/health issues in the United States. I relished in this opportunity to not only share my own opinion on topics such as abortion and birth control, but also to hear those which were differing and to recognize how each of our background's impacted our views.  We moved on to a cafe, where we enjoyed a nice cup of coffee and snuggles on a couch that should have fit about 5 less than it did. Though the night was not filled with the typical activist lecture and Q&A, I found myself learning just as much if not more about myself and my community. Deeper discussions are not meant to be had only within the four walls of a classroom, but can thrive in the warmth of a cup of coffee between friends. From that night, I've decided to start challenging myself to break out of the comfort zone of talking music and weekend plans, and instead, veer some of my conversations towards more serious and difficult topics. What about you? What kinds of talks can you challenge yourself to have this week? With friends, family, professors, random danes on the street, take a chance! Who knows when you'll learn something new?

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A Personal Response -- GreenPeace

The Importance of Critiquing Greenpeace While I thoroughly enjoyed the visit to Greenpeace on Tuesday night, I was equally disturbed and disappointed at the lack of discussion on the problematic aspects of their neo-colonialist attitude. At the meeting, I inquired about my own home country, the DRCongo, in order to gain more information on how they try to avoid a western-centric imposition while pursuing their goals. While the question was not answered to the extent to which I was seeking, the response clearly indicated a lack of discussion and reflection within the organization on the economic and cultural implications of their actions in "developing" countries.  Though I do not solely revel in criticism of Westernized forms of activism, I do believe that it is crucial to look at so-called "international" organizations with a critical lens and develop an opinion that is not thoroughly based on the presentation by their promoters. My issue with Greenpeace does not constitute a disapproval of environmental activism as a whole, as I am clearly aware of the ways we are fucking up the earth, for lack of a stronger word. However, we must all remind ourselves that the priorities of what we call "developed" countries do not always match those of the "under-developed". The hypocritical stance of many western countries that concern for the environment should become an international priority fails to recognize that much of western "development" occurred through the destruction of the earth (fossil fuels, coal, mining, exploitation of colonized "properties") and that other countries are merely beginning their development and will need to utilize the environment for their further progression in a modern world, like "developed" countries before them. Also, it is important to take into account the history of environmental destruction in many post-colonial countries. To speak specifically on the Democratic Republic of Congo, we were a kingdom which lived primarily off of the land in ways which would be considered "environmentally friendly" today. This symbiotic relationship with the natural resources in our area was thrown off balance by the imposition of Western (and some Eastern) forces in pre-colonial periods. The exploitation of the land by "foreign" kingdoms peaked from 1885 to 1908 with King Leopold's colonization of the kingdom for his own personal purposes. Commonly known as the "Butcher of Congo" due to the genocidal mass killings and torture that occurred during his "rule", King Leopold II privatized the area to increase revenue in the Belgian kingdom. Not only was he responsible for exporting enormous amounts of our natural resources to Europe, but he also participated in a common colonial practice of the time called forced mono-culture. The Butcher imposed regulations on land and required that a certain majority of it was used for the production of crops for Belgium's profit. This move led to great expanses of hunger among the Congolese people, as they were forced to turn fields formerly used for food crops into those producing goods such as palm for exportation without repayment to the local peoples. These "free" products reaped great profit for Leopold's kingdom which expedited the development of Belgium while simultaneously shaping the future political, industrial, and environmental degradation of the Congolese "Free" State.  Now, with that brief history in mind, ask yourself what gives Greenpeace the right, as a Westernized organisation, to dictate the priorities of nations that are still recovering from the severe effects of colonization by the same Western forces that occurred not 100 years ago? -- Personal response by Cassie Clemmer --  **This post does not reflect the views of the Social Justice house, or its members as a whole but is simply meant to provide an alternate perspective and promote more discussion through this blog**

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GreenPeace 9/10/13

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GreenPeace Visit 9/10/23

SOCIAL JUSTICE -- GreenPeace Visit 9/10/23

Greenpeace Visit- September 10, 2013

A couple of weeks ago, the Social Justice LLC visited Greenpeace Denmark. Greenpeace is an international organization with offices in over 40 countries that aims to protect and conserve the environment. While at this visit we were given a presentation by two Greenpeace employees, Nora Christensen who works for Greenpeace international and is currently the international leader for the Save the Arctic campaign and Ilona Marquard who is responsible for the volunteers in Denmark, who discussed with us Greenpeace’s history, goals, and current campaigns.

Greenpeace was founded in 1971. Their first campaign protested the use of atomic tests of the coast of Vancouver. Greenpeace then moved onto a an anti-whaling campaign followed be moratorium on high seas drift nets, protection of the Antarctic, and protection of the Amazonian rainforests.

Greenpeace currently focuses specifically on six different areas of the environment: forests, oceans, climate, energy, toxic, and agriculture. Although there are a number of other categories in which Greenpeace could focus their efforts as an organization, they chose to focus on a small number of areas because it allows them to be more effective in those six areas. Currently Greenpeace is working on a campaign called Save the Arctic in which they are focusing on a ban of oil drilling, ban on industrial fishing, and focusing on making this area around the North pole a global sanctuary.

I found the visit to be incredibly interesting. It was nice to see how an international organization works together both as independent offices in different countries and as a whole international organization. Although there is some disagreement among some of the actions Greenpeace takes in order to make their point, I still think it was interesting to hear from an organization that has been successful in many of its campaigns in the past and one that has a clear overall vision of its goals.

Read more about Greenpeace here:http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/

Hannah Olson-Social Justice LLC

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Play 31 - Week 1

This week we had our first meeting with a non-profit.  We had the opportunity to listen to the founder of Play 31, Jakob Silas Lund, and a director from the organization, Pel Koroma.  Play 31 strives to create peace and reconciliation in Sierra Leone after years of civil war through football (soccer).  They are giving the children of Sierra Leone the opportunity to practice their right to play.  Play 31 also runs workshops to inform the people of Sierra Leon about human rights and trauma healing. 

It was inspiring to meet Jakob who was able to create the nonprofit while he was not much older than us as college students.  He has been able to do so much, and impact the lives of many starting when he was about the same age as us.  Both Pel and Jakob were clearly very passionate about their organization.  Jakob also included helpful advice while he told us about his organization for how he was able to start his own nonprofit organization.  This included tips such as networking is not cynical, but useful.  Also a thought provoking Margaret Mead quote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.“  This certainly is very applicable to our theme as a Social Justice House consisting of only 14 people.

Since we have not been in Copenhagen for too long, it has been easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of meeting new friends and getting oriented with the new city.  We have all been getting our bikes and learning our way around, the meeting was a nice way to refocus and reflect on our community as a Social Justice house.  It was a way to remember why we joined this community to begin with.

As the Social Justice House is getting to know each other in the past week we have had two meetings and our first class.  It was a great way to kick off our meetings with organizations and see what impact individuals can have as we continue learning about social justice organizations in Denmark.  It also helped to show what great things we will learn and amazing people we will meet in the coming semester in Copenhagen. 

Read more about Play 31 on their website here! http://play31.org/ 

Kirsten Michel - Social Justice LLC 

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Welcome to the Social Justice LLC Blog Fall 2013!

A new semester has just started - and new adventures in Copenhagen, Denmark & Europe are just about to begin!

The Social Justice Living and Learning Community consists of 14 students from various American universities living together in the heart of the old centre of Copenhagen, St. Kongensgade 97.

The joint focus and passions for the community are social justice, activism & campaigning. Taking point of departure in these topics, we will explore Copenhagen, the Danish society & Europe - and reflect on intercultural differences - similarities and differences between Denmark and the US when it comes to social justice issues in the society and the way these issues are approached by activists and campaigners.

We will also reflect on what it means to be part of a community over a longer period of time. We will continuously reflect on our key learnings and key challenges throughout our engagement in this community and its activities.

On this blog, what surprises us, engages us, motivates us, excites us, provokes us in our meeting with social justice issues in the Danish society  - will take form as thoughts, reflections, and debates.

The fall in Copenhagen is full of promises and secrets waiting to unfold in front of our eyes and ears...

So now the blog for this semester has been launched - and the stories are just waiting to take form and be written down by you...

I look forward to read about all your new experiences and to spend a semester in your company. A warm welcome to everybody!!

from Inge Sidenius Petersen, Social Justice LLC coordinator

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Skipping

No, this post is not about frolicking through the fields in sunny Frederiksberg Park, but rather about digging through dumpsters (aka skips) under the moonlight.

Members of the Global Action House arrived at a house in Kastrup around 9:30 and sat and chatted with the housemates who were frequent skippers. As we chatted we drank earl grey tea that had been skipped. The housemates were not total freegans, but they said more than half of the food they ate was free (i.e. skipped). Being a freegan basically means you live off of things that you find that have been thrown out and is often part of an anti-consumerist ideology

Skipping is not illegal, but what is illegal is breaking any locks that keep dumpsters closed or trespassing property by going over a fence. There are dumpsters that are open and not gated off, but you have to know where to look. Of course stores do not like when people skip, but some care more or less than others. Some stores even go as far as pouring bleach in their dumpster or ripping open packaged food to keep people from taking it.

Around 10PM, after the big stores had closed, we split up into three groups. We each went out to different dumpsters in the Area, some closer and some farther. Unfortunately for my group, the Irma dumpster we went to was very empty and we debated if we’d even be able to get out of it because there wasn’t enough garbage to pile up and climb over the edge. We decided that it would be okay and we took our chances. Our guide, Ash, was very disappointed and said he’d never seen it so empty, but Sam and I were quite happy to leave with a box and two bags full of food. We decided that since this dumpster was unsuccessful that we would try one more on the way home.

We stopped at a Netto and got pretty lucky with what we found. We found two huge remote control helicopter toys in perfect condition, with nothing wrong but rips in the packaging. Unfortunately, we did not have enough room on our bikes to take them home with us because they were at least three feet long, but we also found full bags and boxes of food here. Some other things we found included hand soap, artichokes, zucchini, apples, bananas, perfectly packaged crepes and pancakes, bread, juice and more. There was also a lot of packaged meat in the dumpster, but they don’t skip for meat since it can be more risky.

We filled three bags all the way up, packed a full box of food, and had a huge bag of coal. While we were in the midst of skipping we ran into one of the other groups, but they headed home since we were already finishing up.

Riding home was noticeably more difficult with all the weight on my bike, but it was completely worth it. We got back to the house to find out that one of the other groups had been SUPER successful and found tons and tons of food. They found lots of Easter candy that had been thrown out just because Easter had passed, and they found bags of chips that had “expired” by a day, but chips don’t actually go bad. They also found loads of other vegetables, fruit, and bread. They definitely surpassed us and the other group combined in the amount of food they found!

You might be sitting there thinking about how gross it is that we’re planning on eating the food, but we got back to the most important part of the night – cleaning the food. They thoroughly go through all of the food and make sure that it is not expired or that there is no rip in the seals. They also wash off the outside of things that are packaged before they store them away, like chips. Once everything was cleaned we took our share and headed home. It was definitely a successful night and so much fun! Perhaps if our food stipend runs out before our time in Denmark is up we’ll all have to try again. Overall, this was also a good reminder not to waste food and that activism regarding food waste is such an important issue.

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Mannerisms of Danish NGO Volunteers

Yesterday, I experienced something, for the fourth or fifth time since arriving in Copenhagen, that has continuously left me baffled: I was approached by a UNICEF volunteer, and when I told him I didn’t speak Danish he told me to have a nice day and he walked away. While UNICEF is not the only NGO I’ve had this experience with, (I have had similar encounters with Greenpeace volunteers) this one particular instance left me particularly perturbed.

I certainly don’t pretend to have a vast reserve of knowledge about the NGO networking process. However, if I were running an international NGO, I probably wouldn’t be deterred from my chances of recruiting someone just because their first language was different from mine.

UNICEF has branches worldwide, and even if I were just visiting Denmark briefly, for all this guy knew I could have been highly interested in getting involved.

I understand that the volunteer may have presumed that I was a tourist, or perhaps the initiative he was advocating was Denmark-specific. Still, to be so presumptuous just based on five simple words--“sorry I don’t speak Danish”--seems so against the entire mission of an international NGO.

International NGO’s are supposed to be about bridging the gap between different cultures--east to west, global north to global south. It shouldn’t matter where you come from or what language you speak; what’s important is merely whether or not you’re willing to help make a difference.

I decided to do a bit of research and discovered that UNICEF is located in over 200 countries. Their headquarters of UNICEF is in New York City, 45 minutes from my home. Not only am I geographically closer to their epicenter, but, like any American of my generation, I spent my childhood Halloweens carrying around UNICEF boxes. I am very familiar with UNICEF and have been for virtually my entire life.

This guy appeared to have made some critical assumptions based on my nationality. Did he conclude that I am be lazy because I am an American? I clearly have an interest in social activism as indicated by my involvement in the Global Action House. Did he assume that I had no interest in Danish politics? This is not the case either considering I am here studying political science for the semester. Whatever conclusions this volunteer made through his quick observations only resulted in a loss for UNICEF.

  Jesse Shayne--Global Action House

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Ungdomshuset (Youth House) - The image on the left is where the Youth House used to be located; the image on the right is graffiti at the current youth house saying "Never forgive, never forget." The 69 in the eyes of the skull is the street number of the old Youth House's address and the saying represents the hatred towards the government for what they did. If you see 69 spray painted in certain areas it is probably the mark of the Ungdomshuset.

The anti-racist party at the current Ungdomshuset was really fun!

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Is Denmark islamaphobic?

We know that we cannot say "everyone in Denmark is racist" because each individual is different and cannot be categorized on such a large scale. But are there laws by the Danish government islamaphobic? Overall, poor areas in denmark are rich in resources from the government to provide equal opportunities for families growing up in worse parts of the country. The Global Action House is situated in Nørrebro near a "dangerous" ghetto and only a few bus stops away from a school that runs into lots of trouble integrating immigrant families into the Danish school system. I put dangerous in quotations because it really is not that dangerous and the ghetto looks like normal suburbia to an American. Likewise, the school is given lots of resources to deal with the issues that arise. The welfare state works in taking care of the poor in many ways; however, issues arise when people begin to believe that the immigrants (or as I would call them, second, third, or fourth etc. generation Danes) are abusing the welfare system. From what I have seen since I've been in Denmark is that there are some danes, typically on the right side of the Danish political spectrum, that want to restore the homogeneity of Denmark or that think if actions are not taken by the government that Denmark will become more and more populated with muslim immigrants.

Written in "Citizen in Denmark: Information about new citizens about Danish Society" by The Ministry for foreign refugees, Immigration & Integration Affairs [http://www.nyidanmark.dk/NR/rdonlyres/E7BE8949-EE9D-4F1E-9626-14AEA0687054/0/Medborgerengelsk.pdf], some things seem oddly written. For example, under "Marriage" it discusses that forced marriages are against the law. Is this targeting the Islamic culture around arranged marriages? A second example under "Equal rights for men and women" discusses that men and women have equal rights in all aspects of society. Due to the attitude of immigration and integration into Danish society, I wonder if gender equality is truly a danish value; or if it is a human rights value that Danes have adopted into their law to target and exclude cultures and religions with perceived sexism such as Islam to keep them out of Danish society. I know there are issues in the Muslim world of gender equality, but I also know that some of the perceived sexism in Islam to the western world is looked at as an outsiders perspective and is not what all men and women in Islam think and experience.

Anyways, the topic of immigration and integration is one of high relevance in Denmark right now - especially because of the economic issues that the welfare state is running into. I am interested in getting involved in and learning more about how activists in Denmark play a role in trying to create equality among all citizens as opposed to this 'second class citizenship' that Muslims seem to be a part of. Hopefully I might get some info at the anti-racist party tonight at the youth house with the rest of the students from the Global Action House.

Jess Holt - Global Action House

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Global Action House meets Action Aid Denmark

This past week the Global Action house met with a representative for Action Aid Denmark to discuss volunteering with the organization. Action Aid is currently organizing a campaign action on the topic of Bio-Fuel. Action Aid holds the stance that Bio-Fuel should not be used as an alternative energy source. This opinion differs greatly from a lot of the viewpoints of people in the United States. For years bio-fuel (i.e. corn oil) has been seen as the perfect energy to use in the process of phasing out gasoline. For Action Aid, using corn oil will only drive up the prices of corn (and other subsequent foods), making it even more difficult for developing nations to buy food on the international markets.

In order to raise awareness about the problems of using bio-fuel, Action Aid is doing a bicycling campaign across Denmark and throughout different cities in Europe. Starting in Jutland, major cities of Denmark will bike for a day and then end their ride at a rally/picnic. The ride through Copenhagen will conclude the bicycling campaign and will take place on May 16th. The Global Action House has been given the opportunity to volunteer with Action Aid and help make the campaign possible. Some of the volunteer positions include working with University students to raise awareness about the campaign, trying to collect signature from students staying in Student Hostels, or participating in pop-up picnics where food will be served and signatures in support of the campaign will be collected. It has also been brought up in the Global Action House that maybe we could do a pop-up picnic in the DIS courtyard to raise awareness of the downside to bio-fuels, alongside a little community building amongst Study Abroad students. That about sums up the week!

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The Global Mindset

The past week has been an interesting exploration into how our campaign ideas will be developing. We didn't meet for class this past Monday since it was core course week so we had a decent amount of time to independently formulate our ideas outside of a classroom setting. I'm glad I chose to work with a partner for my project because I have a feeling it will require a few varied perspectives on how to accomplish our campaign goal (or at least to set it into motion).

My partner Jess and I have decided that our project will revolve around the abhorrent lack of press freedom in Turkey. It has recently come out in the media that Turkey has the highest proportion of jailed journalists in the world. In a relatively well-developed country (Turkey is currently vying for status in the EU) this may come as a surprise, but the government has little tolerance for those who dare to speak out against it. 

What has been helpful to our project in the past week is the study tour that Jess and I went on from Thursday to Saturday up the west coast of Sweden with our core class (Cultural Diversity and Social Capital). Currently in class we are focusing on the effects that immigration in Denmark and Sweden have on the welfare state model that these countries have been able to maintain. Critics of immigration say that foreigners coming in reap the benefits of the welfare model (healthcare, public services, etc.) without substantially contributing in return. While this doesn't relate specifically to our project, it got our minds working in the same global mindset that we will need in order to grasp a finer idea of every different side's perspective in a cultural or political debate. We were able to get a direct, firsthand comparison between two different international policies on an issue, which is an approach we will need to apply when understanding how to tackle the issue of press freedom. Additionally, we got a feel for what to expect on our study tours. This was useful knowledge because later in March we will be traveling with the same class to, you guessed it, Turkey to analyze the same questions of how immigration is handled. While we're there, Jess and I will be able to see up close how the country is run and how its policies differ from our own and, in that sense, core course week gave us a great understanding on what lies ahead in our campaign design.

Sam Donnenberg- Global Action House

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Water Sustainability in Denmark

I was aware that Denmark is known for sustainability and eco-friendliness before I arrived here. A while ago I was informed of the fact that over a third of adults in Copenhagen ride their bicycles to work everyday, (which seems amazing compared to U.S. norms) and that most people don’t own cars, due mostly to the 180% sales tax on them (which I find quite a commendable policy for curbing emissions). So, upon arriving in Copenhagen I was a bit thrown off by the cultural differences when it comes to water--there is no such thing as a free drink here. Having watched the fruition of the efforts of the Ban the Bottle initiative and other anti-water bottle movements in the U.S. over the past couple of years, I assumed that Denmark would have some type of eco-friendly water system, given that it is light years ahead of the U.S. when it comes to sustainability. However, on my first day in Copenhagen I asked the snack bar attendant at a theater if they had a water fountain and he had no idea what those words meant. He told me I could buy a bottle of water. In the U.S., Ban the Bottle and other organizations fight for clean water refilling stations as a method of curbing plastic water bottle consumption. I know that recycling is much bigger in Denmark than in the U.S., so maybe that helps offset some of the environmental impact. However, the purpose of organizations like Ban the Bottle is to end production of plastic water bottles in the first place by curbing consumption. I couldn’t understand how people buying plastic bottles and then recycling them would do that. I talked to a Dane living in my friend’s Kollegium about this, and his perspective made the cultural differences that much more apparent. He told me that by not having free water available in Denmark it encourages people to bring reusable containers with water from home, which seemed logically backwards to me. I figured it was impractical to expect people to use refillable bottles if there is nowhere to refill them. He then explained to me that all water in Denmark is filtered, so I guess that means that people could fill up their bottles in bathroom sinks (which would be considered gross in the U.S. where a lot of water isn’t filtered). Again, cultural differences.

Jesse Shayne--Global Action House

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New Kids on the Blog

So this Sunday seven American students arrived to live in the Global Action House (GAH) for the spring semester - very exciting:) 6 years ago I travelled to US as a student to work as an activist for Amnesty International  - and now I get to hang out with American students wanting to experience activism and civic engagement here in Copenhagen.

To explain just a bit about the Global Action House then it's a place where students interested in civil society and global action can live together. It's located in central Copenhagen and it's right next door to Action Aid an international NGO working worldwide to fight poverty (they have an excellent café in the same building as where the GAH is located). So this semester the plan is for the GAH students to meet with different types of activists, go to relevant events and (if all goes well) make living in the GAH part of their lives in Copenhagen. But that's just the idea so far, it will all depend on the group, what they choose to do and how they see living in the Global Action House. For me as the Global Action House facilitator I look forward to meeting all the new students (on wednesday) and to see how American students look at activism and social change – is there a difference between being a Danish or American activist and how we look at the world or has the world become so global that we share the same world view?

Sigrid, GAH facilitator

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Play31

Last week, Jakob Silas Lund, founder of the nonprofit organization Play31, gave an inspiring and interesting talk at Global Action House on his organization's work and starting your own nonprofit.  Play31 is an organization that uses football (soccer to us Americans), to foster peace-building, reconciliation, and human rights education in Sierra Leone.  It takes its name from Article 31 of the UN Convention on Human Rights of the Child, which states that children have the right to play.  Play31 hosts football tournaments which bring together villages that were on opposing sides of the recent civil war, and in doing so helps build community where the war had broken it down.  The organization holds other events during the weekend of the tournament, including classes that teach about human rights, especially children's rights.  

Jakob started the organization when he was still in college.  He spoke to the challenges of starting your own nonprofit, but his work shows how it is possible for young people to take that step and put their ideas for change into action.  Jakob runs the organization from Denmark, but works closely with partners in Sierra Leone.

Read more about Play31 on their website!