This is Mariam. She is fourteen years old and loves to take photos with her phone. However, on the surface most people only see her as one thing: a refugee. When I met with Mariam for the first time last November, she and her family had been in Berlin for almost a year, having moved between multiple refugee shelters. They had fled the violence in Iraq, including the threat that the so-called Islamic State posed to their safety. Mariam defines herself as both a Christian and a Muslim, and uses religion to guide her through life. The first impression you get of her is one of liveliness and happiness. She is often dressed very colorfully, and as you can see from this photo of her, she is also camera shy.
Mariam lives in a refugee shelter in Kreuzberg, Berlin, together with her brother, mother and step-father. I started volunteering at the shelter in September 2016. For a long time, the volunteer work I did involved simple jobs, like serving food or taking care of children. However, in the Kreuzberg shelter, I wanted to make an impact. In collaboration with the organizers of the shelter, I initiated a photography workshop that was intended to give refugees around my age a creative voice. Luckily for me, someone took interest: Mariam. Over various occasions, she used this project to show us who she is and how she sees her new life in Berlin.
In each of the following pictures, only a selection out of all the photos she took, we glimpse into the life of someone who is not just a statistic in the media, but an individual with hope and happiness. I hope you enjoy seeing these photos as much as I enjoyed being there when they were taken.
