#

France. Anaïs, Vincent, and their son César, host Afghan refugees Zulfeqar and Battarine, in Saint-Priest. This portrait is part of the No Stranger Place series, which portrays locals and refugees living together

Anaïs and Vincent, parents of César, 2, left Paris in 2016 to settle in the Lyon region. Their new life has allowed them to open their doors to an Afghan refugee couple, Zulfeqar (second from left) and Battarine.

‘In Paris, we felt somehow helpless, we wanted to do something, but our small flat didn’t allow us to host other people,’ the couple, in their thirties, said. ‘When we came here, we had a spare room, so we thought it was a good opportunity to get started.’

Zulfeqar and Battarine fled Afghanistan, where their families had been persecuted by the Taliban. They recounted their long journey into exile: ‘We walked all night long in the mountains. We were afraid of the police, then we crossed the border and stayed in Turkey for one month. In Izmir, we slept in the elds under the rain. Then we went to Greece, then Hungary and nally France.’
Once they had arrived at their destination, Zulfeqar and Battarine believed they were at the end of their ordeal but they were homeless and had to alternate for months between street life and emergency accommodation. The family’s welcome has been a great relief for them: ‘Anais and Vincent are so nice to us. It’s going well,’ the refugee couple said.

Portrait: Anaïs, Vincent, and their son César, host Afghan refugees Zulfeqar and Battarine, in Saint-Priest, France.

Other Stories
  • Sweden. Married couple Gabriella and Candel Webster host Syrian Ahmad Lababidi, his son, Ali, 18 and daughter, Hiba (16) who is not pictured, in Malmö.
  • Susanne (52) and Stefan (47) host Fady (35), a Christian refugee from Egypt, in Nikolassee, Germany. When their children moved out, Susanne and Stefan decided they wanted to help by giving one of the spare rooms to a refugee, but didn't know how to go about it. Then they received a newsletter from their local church, which was trying to find families in the area to host newly arrived refugees. Through the church they met Fady, a Christian refugee from Egypt who'd fled religious persecution. They got along well and he moved in with them in August 2015. While he waited for his papers to arrive, he couldn't work, so he used the time to learn German, which he now speaks very well. And it's already paying dividends. In March he starts work as a coach and supervisor to Arabic-speaking refugees at a school for professional development in Berlin. And he's also on the verge of moving into his own home, a small flat Susanne and Stefan own in Reinickendorf and that luckily, their previous tenant has just moved out of. When Susanne and Stefan's children were still small their landlord decided to sell the building that houses their apartment, so Stefan and Susanne found four likeminded families, also with young children, to club together and buy it. Today, the same four families still live there, providing a stable community in which Fady was quickly integrated. But at first, Stefan says, “people where a little surprised that we would give our keys to a stranger.” Although he didn't like the city at first, Fady says “I love Berlin now”. Now he has friends and knows the city, he appreciates how multicultural it is. Although this was initially difficult for him, due to his negative experiences in Egypt, he now counts many Muslims amongst his friends. Fady has also found a home in the congregation of the local Syrian Orthodox church and is an active member of the recently founded “Begegnungschor”, a choir in which locals and refugees learn and perform songs from
  • Austria. Sabine David, husband Dominique and daughter Nora, 1, host Afghan refugee Nooria Youldash and her 2-year-old daughter, Aysu, in Lavanttal.
  • Germany. The Jellinek family hosts Syrian Muslim Kinan from Damascus, in Berlin Mitte.
  • Sweden. Single mother and librarian, Linnea Tell, hosts Syrian gay Muslim artist, Alqumit Alhamad, who is now thriving in Malmö.
@