Upside Down. From Norway To Mongolia.

My Scholarship entry - Upside Down. Mongolia Before The Shift.

Mongolia | Sunday, November 23, 2014 | 5 photos

I grew up in East-Germany, a country where travelling, acting and talking freely was pretty much impossible. Neither my great-grandparents, my grandparents, nor my parents have ever left their home villages. I did.

In my mid-20's, 15 years after the Berlin Wall had come down, I left Germany and moved to Norway which for centuries as well had been one of the poorest countries in Europe until they found oil in the 60's. Until then people had lived and worked closely with nature. Within only a few decades Norwegian society and life changed dramatically.

Last July I left Oslo and moved from one of the wealthiest capitals in the world to Mongolia where I work as a volunteer with kids who grow up quite similarly to how I did myself. I discover this country's stunning nature, its warm-hearted and welcoming people, but also the development and change it currently is going through. Is it another country which will gain great wealth and growth through natural resources as Norway did? Or will Mongolia and its entire identity be sold out and eventually vanish, just like my birth country?

I want to capture views of the worlds which might be gone tomorrow, and preserve them for the people who never left from home - and those who are about to lose it.