The violent death of crime journalist Peter R. de Vries, who was shot on the streets of Amsterdam, has left a big impact on people in the Netherlands, and also on us at Saint Basics. Peter was a well-known media person and a very outspoken supporter of our Marhaban campaign that we started in 2016 together with Whocares. He was wearing 'our' Marhaban shirt on numerous occasions.
Just like us, he believed human dignity is a basic right for everyone and that no one should look the other way when people are in need of food, shelter and protection. Thanks to Peter and other supporters, we raised around €30,000 for refugee camps in Greece at the first campaign.
When a fire broke out in the Moria camp in 2020, we repeated the campaign. Sadly, we noticed that the needs of refugees had slipped from society's interest by then. And many well-known people were no longer eager to link their name to the case of refugees.
Peter R. de Vries had an unwavering commitment to people in need. With the attack on his life, the image of him wearing the Marhaban shirt was all over the media. And in our webshop, the shirt was suddenly back in full demand. We think Peter would have been happy with this renewed attention. But he also would have wanted you to buy the shirt for the right reasons. Not as a 'souvenir', but as a statement for humanity.
Here you can watch his speech from 2016, where he explains why this is important.
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