Everyone in life has its own values.
The Syrian woman who took a toy turtle in Munich, in his pocket, the girl who brought the cat in the refugee camp idomeni in Greece — all of whom had run away from home and his native country, pose the question: “What to me is so important that I can’t leave?”.
Photographer from Basel, Gabrielle hill, invited the refugees to his Studio where he usually does corporate portrait photo shoot, and asked them to bring the most important thing they carried with them on the way to a safe place. As a rule, it turns out that this is the only thing they took from the house.
Shirin, 21, fled from Afghanistan in 2010.
“I live in Switzerland for two years. My family could pay for only one ticket out of the country, so here I am all alone. To live here is very expensive, so parents won’t be able to come to me. When I left home, dad gave me a cell phone. This phone and the clothes I was wearing, were the only things I could take with me. Thanks to this mobile phone I was able to contact relatives and inform them that you made it safely. He also gave me the feeling that I’m not alone. He became my everything.”
Sayle, 33, escaped from Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992.
“When I was little, dad often traveled to Africa for work. Once when I was three, I asked him to bring me a live monkey, but he brought me stuffed rabbit, bought while on a layover at Zurich airport. I always carried a rabbit. When the war started, everything happened so fast that I could not understand what was happening, nor to think about what I would like to take with me when we ran. So I forgot my rabbit when we left. Dad left and I wrote him lots of letters, which was: “You found my Bunny? I miss you!” I can’t describe my feelings when I again saw her father three years later, in 1995. I was shaking when I saw his face at the airport in Zurich and realized that it keeps my hare.”
Tagi, 27 years old, escaped from Iran in 2011.
“Five years ago, I had to leave Iran. I could take only what fits in the pockets of his trousers. A few months later I came to Switzerland. Most of the routes I did by foot. We constantly had to cross the river in a rubber boat. I only took these three pictures. Each reminds me of different periods of life before I had to flee, leaving warm memories. I would have brought more things if I had the choice, but it was not.”
Joseph, 20, escaped Eritrea in 2014.
“Escape from Eritrea was quite long and exhausting. We had to walk for several days in a row, sit behind bars in a few countries and cross one of the world’s largest deserts. However, we were lucky. All survived. I took a few dear to the heart of things, but I had to throw away most of them before crossing the desert to bring as many bottles of water. I left a small notebook with phone numbers and a few photos from my childhood. Phone numbers had a great significance because several times I was detained and had to pay a ransom to let me go. I am lucky that I have an uncle in the United States: he sent me the money and I could pay. So his phone number was the most important thing in my life.”
Nazim, 26, fled from Afghanistan in 2011.
“Five years ago, I had to leave from Afghanistan. There I studied to be a policeman, but soon after I started working, I had to leave the country. With me was a backpack with my personal belongings, but the traffickers said to throw it away. The only thing I have left is a little book from the police Academy and beads that my mom gave me. I always wanted to be a COP. This little book is the only thing I have left of this dream.”
Ahmed, 23 years, fled Eritrea in 2013.
“I boarded a ship in Libya, which was to take us to Italy. I couldn’t take anything with me except the clothes I was wearing, and a small piece of paper with a phone my family. I was told to contact them as soon as I get to Italy. About halfway the ship rolled over and sank. Clothes got wet and became so heavy that I had to take it off. She disappeared into the sea with a piece of paper with a phone of my family. I survived, as another 200 people. More than 250 people since the ship sank. A few months after escaping from Eritrea, I found a man in Switzerland who was able to contact my family. They thought I didn’t survive the journey. This piece of paper with their room was the most important of my things.”
Marie-Therese 62 years old, escaped from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2008.
“I had to run out of the house with any minute. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to take something with you.”
Rohulla, 24, fled from Afghanistan in 2010.
“Five years ago I escaped from Afghanistan. When I left, I couldn’t take anything with me except the clothes I was wearing. I was very young when dad was killed, so I barely remember him. He always wore a gold chain on the neck, and after his death, my mother gave it to me. I came to Switzerland, and this chain — the only thing I have left of family and country. It has for me huge value, it gives me a feeling that I am not alone, as if dad is always with me.”
Farhad, 27 years old, fled Afghanistan in 2007.
“I gathered some things from home, but carriers told us to throw everything away. I don’t have the guts to throw a picture of his mom, so I hid it under clothing. I haven’t seen mother since I left, so this photo means a lot to me”.
Vinasiam, 64 years old, escaped from Sri Lanka in 1984.
“I had to leave our home in Sri Lanka in 1984. Most of the way I walked, but to get to Switzerland, I traveled by boat, by plane and by train. I couldn’t take anything with me except the clothes I was wearing. Since I had to leave my family there, these photos were the only important things for me, and fortunately, I was able to carry them myself. The photographs of my parents, my brother and my sister, who is already dead.”
Migmar, 59 years old, escaped from Tibet in 1959.
“In 1959 I escaped with my father, mother, sister, grandmother and grandfather from Tibet to India. Then I was two years old, although I don’t know what day he was born. I made it to India only with his father, grandparents: we lost a sister and mother on the road. The most important things we took, fled, was the torches, illuminating the way through the crossing of the Himalayas”.
Suleiman, 18, fled from Afghanistan in 2014.
“It took me almost nine months to get to Switzerland. I wanted to get on a boat from Turkey to Greece, but in Greece, we kept the coast police and sent back. I tried five times, and one day the boat capsized and drowned. Of all the things I took with me, leaving only this mobile phone. My mother bought it before I escaped from Afghanistan. She had spent 3000 Afghanis (about $ 45). This is half of the monthly income of my family. The phone was the only way to tell my family what I step of the way and with me everything is in order. Mother was very worried, so I called periodically, and it comforted her. The phone also gave me the opportunity to feel more safe and not so lonely”.
Mahmood, 20, fled from Lebanon in 2014.
“Actually, I’m Palestinian, but I ran away from Lebanon. A few years ago I converted from Islam to Christianity, and the priest gave me this Bible. During the trip, the boat in which I sailed, was in trouble, and our master told us to throw everything away in the sea. Somehow I managed to hide my Bible. This is the most expensive thing to me, she gives me strength in difficult moments. It got soaked in sea water and quite dirty, but I wouldn’t trade it for a new one. Here in Switzerland, I live in the orphanage, mostly Muslims. My family are the only people who know that I switched to another faith. So I can’t show face, I’m living a double life.”
