Senegal. Saint Louis. 12 juni 2013. Dancer Foto: Inge van Mill

Japan. Awaji Island. 28th of April 2018. A Macaques family is sitting close to each other in the Awajishima monkey forest. This forest is located at the Kashiwara mountain in Sumoto city on Awaji Island. In this place are living about 300 Macaques monkeys. Aside from humans, the Macaques are the most widespread primate genus around the world. Macaques have a very intricate social structure and hierarchy. Photo: Inge van Mill

Nederland. Den Haag. 11 april 2015. Het stagehuis in de Schilderswijk motiveert jongeren uit de wijk om in beweging te komen voor een leefbare omgeving. Yassin en Salim hebben een preventieteam van jongeren uit de wijk op gericht die de wijk ingaan om elkaar te ontmoeten en misstanden aan te kaarten. Iedere zaterdagavond gaan ze de wijk in. Het team wordt met enthousiasme onthaalt. Na afloop gaan de jongeren samen koken en eten.Foto: Inge van Mill

The Netherlands. April 13th, 2017. The Hague. Portrait: Rachid. The play ' Strijders’ (Fighters) shows a reflection about how Moroccon-Dutch Muslim boys growing up in the Schilderswijk: a poor, multi-ethnic neighbourhood in The Hague in the Netherlands. Their parents and grandparents were often born in Morocco, and came to the Netherlands in the sixties and seventies as migrant workers. The intention was to work and earn money and go back to Morocco, but most of the men and families stayed in the Netherlands. Integration was slow, and they found little connection to Dutch society. Since decades most of the boys feel branded as second-class citizens, they feel discriminated against: it's hard for them to find a job or an internship. In addition there is a lot of unemployment and crime among boys of Moroccan descent, this shows also in the crime statistics. Many pieces from the play came from their own daily lives and experiences and were turned into this play. The performance is about dreams, discrimination, radicalisation, identity, religion, friends and a battle: the fight with yourself, the fight with other people's opinions about you, the struggle to survive and the fight for your ideals. The five boys in the play, raised in the Schilderswijk, have no previous acting experience whatsoever, the main character of the play is Achraf (17 years). ‘One of Achraf acts in the play are his job interviews, in which he is rejected again and again, because he is Muslim and he has a Moroccan descent. These and other setbacks, frustration, sadness and anger does him eventually radicalized, his clothes and his behaviour showing this in the play, finally he decides to leave.’ This play and what I saw since decades in the Schilderswijk, brought me to talk to the second and third generation of Moroccan-Dutch boys, born and raised in the Schilderswijk, and portraying them in text and photo. In the Schilderswijk reigns a macho and street culture; showing vulnerability is risky, so these boys mainly showing their tough sides. For me it was important to capture their human and personal side, this provided me with an insight into their world. The problems that I heard are complex, the distrust of the guys is big. They have experienced a lot of negativity in their lives, and have often been disappointed by society, police, media, etc., which has damaged them. Restoring trust takes a lot of time, and besides that: something actually has to change into their situation and in society. These boys told me that they want to be accepted for who they are, they experience that this rarely happens, what finally can happen is that they withdraw into their own religion, group and neighbourhood.

Nederland. Den Haag. 17 april 2015. In de Schilderswijk staat de Moskee El Islam na het vrijdag middag gebed lopen de mensen naar buiten. Foto: Inge van Mill

The Netherlands. April 7th, 2017. The Hague. Portrait: Achraf. The play ' Strijders’ (Fighters) shows a reflection about how Moroccon-Dutch Muslim boys growing up in the Schilderswijk: a poor, multi-ethnic neighbourhood in The Hague in the Netherlands. Their parents and grandparents were often born in Morocco, and came to the Netherlands in the sixties and seventies as migrant workers. The intention was to work and earn money and go back to Morocco, but most of the men and families stayed in the Netherlands. Integration was slow, and they found little connection to Dutch society. Since decades most of the boys feel branded as second-class citizens, they feel discriminated against: it's hard for them to find a job or an internship. In addition there is a lot of unemployment and crime among boys of Moroccan descent, this shows also in the crime statistics. Many pieces from the play came from their own daily lives and experiences and were turned into this play. The performance is about dreams, discrimination, radicalisation, identity, religion, friends and a battle: the fight with yourself, the fight with other people's opinions about you, the struggle to survive and the fight for your ideals. The five boys in the play, raised in the Schilderswijk, have no previous acting experience whatsoever, the main character of the play is Achraf (17 years). ‘One of Achraf acts in the play are his job interviews, in which he is rejected again and again, because he is Muslim and he has a Moroccan descent. These and other setbacks, frustration, sadness and anger does him eventually radicalized, his clothes and his behaviour showing this in the play, finally he decides to leave.’ This play and what I saw since decades in the Schilderswijk, brought me to talk to the second and third generation of Moroccan-Dutch boys, born and raised in the Schilderswijk, and portraying them in text and photo. In the Schilderswijk reigns a macho and street culture; showing vulnerability is risky, so these boys mainly showing their tough sides. For me it was important to capture their human and personal side, this provided me with an insight into their world. The problems that I heard are complex, the distrust of the guys is big. They have experienced a lot of negativity in their lives, and have often been disappointed by society, police, media, etc., which has damaged them. Restoring trust takes a lot of time, and besides that: something actually has to change into their situation and in society. These boys told me that they want to be accepted for who they are, they experience that this rarely happens, what finally can happen is that they withdraw into their own religion, group and neighbourhood.

Nederland. 18 januari 2017 Den Haag. Theatervoorstelling Strijders. Jongeren en Yassine Abarkane van het Stagehuis Schilderswijk hebben samen met professionele acteurs en de regisseurs Yu Lan Leffers en Hans Lein een voorstelling gemaakt over dromen, discriminatie, radicalisering en identiteit. Zij laten zien dat de loop van een mensenleven bepalend is en niet de grote verhalen. Radicalisering wordt in deze voorstelling dichtbij de werkelijkheid getoond. De jongeren van Het Stagehuis uit de Schilderswijk zijn: Hamza Mahdaoui Achraf Abba, Samad Kalai. Foto: Inge van MillNederland. 18 januari 2017 Den Haag. Theatervoorstelling Strijders. Jongeren en Yassine Abarkane van het Stagehuis Schilderswijk hebben samen met professionele acteurs en de regisseurs Yu Lan Leffers en Hans Lein een voorstelling gemaakt over dromen, discriminatie, radicalisering en identiteit. Zij laten zien dat de loop van een mensenleven bepalend is en niet de grote verhalen. Radicalisering wordt in deze voorstelling dichtbij de werkelijkheid getoond. De jongeren van Het Stagehuis uit de Schilderswijk zijn: Hamza Mahdaoui Achraf Abba, Samad Kalai. Foto: Inge van Mill