Solomon
A young refugee from Eritrea finds himself in one of the richest countries in the world, isolated in a small village. A story of adaptation and homesickness.
In Switzerland, people read and talk a lot about refugees. You can see them everywhere in daily life, but usually you never end up having direct contact with them. I wanted to change that for myself and listen to their stories and tragedies of their escapes.
When I met Solomon, a nineteen-year-old refugee from Eritrea for the first time, he hanged around at a train station with a bunch of friends. Approaching him without any particular reason was an utterly strange experience. The communication took place with a few words of German, hand signals and facial expressions. These guys were surely open to talk to me, but did not understand what I wanted from them and why I wanted to take photos of them. Eritreans usually build up their own communities and live in closed circles. I selected Solomon back then for the story because he was young and seemed to have an optimistic and open view of life.
Although he lived two hours away from where I lived, I visited him every week. Soon I helped him with bureaucratic matters or the language, gave him tips on how to deal with Swiss people and joined him for all kinds of activities: Language School, immigration authority, museum or I just went to his place to chill, cook Eritrean food and play card games. With a professional translator, I was able to hear the full story of his escape.
There was a friendship unfolding between us and photographing became easier. I always printed the photos and showed them to him. Although we could never talk about really profound topics, there was a feeling of mutual understanding. When I exhibited the work in a gallery and invited him to look at the photos on the wall of him, he was delighted and proud. We are still in contact today. He just successfully finished his apprenticeship as a carpenter.
Young Eritrean men today hardly have a chance to obtain asylum in Switzerland, although the security situation for them in Eritrea is very opaque. Many report years of limitless and unpaid service as forced military personnel, as it was the reason for Solomon’s escape.
