“My name is Ayham Bawadekji. I am a student at the University of Luxembourg, and I have been working on the REFUGOV research for about one year and a half as an Arabic interpreter for interviews with refugees residing in reception facilities in Luxembourg.

During this time, I was learning and absorbing the feelings that each individual has experienced during her or his stay in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. I was listening to all the good and the bad times that refugees faced here, all the resentment and the happiness, the longing for their loved ones back home and the new relationships that they have created in their new home. This reminded me when I arrived here in Luxembourg, in 2014, as a refugee myself before my life changed completely as I ended up becoming a citizen in this country.
When my work as an interpreter was over, my role was to take some photographs to document the research. This gallery will take you through the stories of some refugees in Luxembourg, giving you a glimpse of their lives. You might see for the first time Luxembourg through the eye of a refugee newcomer, maybe a side of Luxembourg that you have never seen, or decided not to look at. These photographs are all related either to places that refugees visit on a regular basis or that capture a special feeling which could be good or bad for them.
Photography is also special for me as it takes me back to the time when I was still living in Syria. I feel a lot of flashback at the moment I look through the camera. For me, photography is a moral duty more than a hobby. My goal is to show the pain that we, refugees, are suffering and the hard life that we are having. Here, I continue this path. In the end, our life here is just a consequence of war, and the world need to know more about the good and bad sides of our new lives”.