Finding Home (2022)

Afghan refugees play football at dusk in the former military Hospital of Ajuda, Lisbon, Portugal, where students and staff of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music lived in for 8 months.
June 2022

Zhora Ahmadi, gets ready for ther trumpet practice at the former military Hospital of Ajuda, Lisbon, Portugal. May 2022

Farida Ahmadi created this memorial to her grandfather in the room she shares with her uncle and cousin at the former military Hospital of Ajuda, Lisbon, Portugal where students and staff of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music lived in for 8 months. May 2022

Afghan refugees line up to receive the 150 euros the Portuguese government gives them every month. Most of the money is spent of food and what little remains is sent back home. July 2022

Shogufa Safi, 18, poses for a portrait after orchestra practice in the former military Hospital of Ajuda, Lisbon, Portugal. May 2022

A music room in the former military hospital of Ajuda, Lisbon.

Shogufa Safi, conducts the few girls that are still left in the all female Zhora Orchestra on the 7th floor of the former military Hospital of Ajuda, Lisbon, Portugal. An estimated 150 students have fled to Germany due to the poor conditions of the Hospital where they are staying. May 2022

Students from Afghanistan s National Institute of Music nervously wait before the first concert in a major music hall since they were forced to flee their homeland. This was an emotional celebration of Afghani music and their traditions Lisbon, Portugal. October 2022

Students from Afghanistan’s National Institute of Music play and sing their national anthem at the Gulbenkian Foundation, the first concert in a major music hall since they were forced to flee their home. This was an emotional celebration of Afghan music and their traditions. October 2022

Ali Sina Houtak, 15, poses for a portrait with his violin at the former military Hospital of Ajuda, Lisbon, Portugal. April 2022

Safia Azghari and Jamila Azghari, two musicians from the Zhora Orchestra, ANIM’s all female orchestra. July 2022

A former teacher and a student from ANIM enjoy a beach day. For many students and staff, they had never seen the ocean before coming to Portugal. July 2022

Pidgeons fly in the entrance to the former military Hospital of Ajuda, Lisbon, Portugal, where students and staff of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music lived in for 8 months. July 2022

Shogufa Safi, 18, has a lunch consisting of french fries at the former military Hospital of Ajuda, Lisbon, Portugal. May 2022

Hassan Reza poses for a portrait with his rubab, an afghani instrument, in his room at the former military Hospital of Ajuda, Lisbon, Portugal, where a group of about 100 Afghan refugees has been living since December. At one time he shared his room with 8 other students. July 2022

One of the few things that Juma Ahmadi brought to Portugal was soil that he collected from the music School’s courtyard.
Juma came with his two nieces Farida violinist and Zhora trumpet player and left behind in Kabul his wife and his son who at the time was one month old. June 2022

Juma Ahmadi holds up the a portrait of his wife, who stayed back in Afghanistan. Juma came with his two nieces, Farida, violinist, and Zhora, trumpet player, and left behind in Kabul his wife and his son, who at the time was one month old. June 2022

Shogufa Safi, 18, hugs a teddy bear at the former military Hospital of Ajuda, Lisbon, Portugal, where a group of about 100 Afghan refugees has been living since December. June 2022

A chess board that was left behind by students of ANIM after they moved to Braga. Lisbon, Portugal. July 2022

Pidgeons fly in the entrance to the former military Hospital of Ajuda, Lisbon, Portugal, where students and staff of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music lived in for 8 months. July 2022

A famed music school from Afghanistan attempts to rebuild itself after fleeing the Taliban. In Portugal, they found a new home, but for many of the traumatized teenage musicians, the extended stay in a rundown military hospital in Lisbon proved too much to bear. Out of 273, about 90 students remain with the school, with many others have fled to other countries in search of the European Dream they were promised.

Before the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the Nation’s Institute of Music (ANIM) played in some of the most renowned concert halls in the world. Founded more than a decade ago by ethnomusicologist Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, ANIM was Afghanistan’s most important music school. It formed hundreds of male and female students from all ages and social strata, braving terrorist attacks and pressure from extremists. In 2021, as the US pulled its troops out of the country and the Institute’s headquarters turned into a Taliban command center, the 273 students and faculty were forced into exile in what was one of the largest evacuations since the beginning of this crisis. “When the Taliban came to Kabul we had to leave” - says Dr. Sarmast, the Director of ANIM - “Now, here in Portugal, we dare to hope.”

In December 2021, these talented refugees found a new home in Portugal, with a renewed hope that music would again fill the halls of their prized Institute and that stage fright would be the only fear its students face.

As Russia's war in Ukraine ramped up, the Portuguese government struggled to deal with the influx of refugees. A rundown military hospital in Lisbon, which was supposed to be a temporary solution, became home for almost a year to the students and staff. This extended stay proved too much to bear for many of the traumatized teenagers. Out of 273, about 90 students remain with the school, with many others having fled to other countries in search of the European Dream they were promised.

“My dream is to keep Afghan Music alive“ says Shogufa Safi, 18, conductor of the all female Zhora Orchestra, now living in Braga, north of Portugal. With Afghanistan now a silent society, a huge weight has been put on this group of refugees. They are to be the protectors of Afghan musical traditions, making sure the ancient sounds of their home country continue to be heard in the future. Their regeneration in Europe is something they are still fighting for, living as refugees in a strange land.

For almost a year, German journalist Florian Sturm and Portuguese documentary photographer Gonçalo Fonseca followed the lives of theses students as they began their exile. In October 2022 we went to visit them in Braga, and in November we met a student and a teacher that had fled to Germany. This project is ongoing and was recently published in Annabelle Magazine (Switzerland)