Portraits of Belgrade's Immigrants and the Phones They Can't Live Without

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Portraits of Belgrade's Immigrants and the Phones They Can't Live Without

The phones help them keep in touch with their families and friends back home, as well as local contacts that are their key to reaching their ultimate destinations.

This article originally appeared on VICE Serbia.

Thousands of immigrants from Asia and Africa pass through Belgrade every day on their way to what they hope will be a better life in one of the more stable European countries—like Germany or the United Kingdom.

Their stories are tragic, sad, and often unbelievable. Hanging around Belgrade's Central Park alone or with their families, often hopeful but sometimes hopeless, there is one thing they all have in common—they never stop staring at their mobile phones. The phones help them keep in touch with their families and friends back home, as well as local contacts that are their key to reaching their ultimate destinations. Sometimes though, they just need those phones to play Candy Crush Saga.

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Photographer Aleksandra Ajdukovic spent a day in Belgrade's Central Park getting to know these tired and bored-looking travelers who spend their days waiting for a sign that it's OK to move on.