“AZADI”

"Azadi" means "freedom" or "liberty" in Pashto. These young men are all from Jalalabad, Afghanistan, in the Nangarhar province. They arrived in Belgium in September after a 7,000 km journey, hoping to find the peace and freedom they lost due to the Taliban's takeover in 2021. Most of them are living in tents in front of the Petit-Château, waiting for support from Fedasil. I met some of them in September, and we quickly became friends. Since then, I have visited and taken photographs of them often. We had fun, and they enjoyed posing in front of my camera. They trusted me, and I trusted them.