Refugees
How is it for kids to flee their country from war and ethnic violence? What do you play with when there are no toys around? And how can you learn when there is no school in the refugee camp? For Samsam Magazine, I interviewed Aliyah (blue headscarf, 3rd photo) who fled from El Geneina, Darfur (in West Sudan).
A migration deal that goes further than just stopping migrants – if it were up to the German government, this would be the aim of an agreement that they want to conclude with the government of the West African Gambia.
The Germans want to prevent migrant workers from doing business with human smugglers, who bring them to Europe via often life-threatening routes. Moreover, Germany has a labor shortage – so a migration deal could be a win-win situation.
'Legal migration' is the key, says a recently appointed 'representative for migration agreements' in Berlin. His plan for a Gambia deal, which comes from the man who also devised the Turkey deal, seems simple: Germany gives more work visas to Gambian migrants and sends new 'irregular' migrants straight back to Banjul.
However, that is exactly where the problem lies, I heard in Gambia: many Gambians do not want those 'failed migrants' to be sent back at all, and are putting pressure on the government to stop returnees. I have written down what is behind this in this report for the Volkskrant.
With the collaboration of Kebba Ansu Manneh and photos by Guy Peterson.
In Egypt, the huge Sudanese population hosts hundreds of thousands of fleeing compatriots. Out of charity, but also out of self-preservation. I wrote down how that works for the Volkskrant.
After a "journey from hell", tens of thousands of Sudanese are trying to cross the border with Egypt. Women and children do not need a visa, but most men do. For the Volkskrant I traveled to the south of Egypt, where I spoke with torn families who are looking for safety.
The report, with beautiful photos by Rene Clement, is in the paper newspaper today, and online here.
In ‘Crisis Update’, a webcast by refugee organization Stichting Vluchteling that focuses on the conflict in Tigray, I spoke about our trip to the refugee camps in Eastern Sudan. In conversation with Dutch presenter Hadassah de Boer, I shared some insights on what it was like to work there. Check out the whole interview below.
Fleeing the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, tens of thousands of people walked days to get to neighboring Sudan, where they are staying in crowded refugee settlements. On assignment for British newspaper The Telegraph, I traveled with Africa correspondents Saskia Houttuin and Will Brown to eastern Sudan, where we were some of the first journalists to talk to refugees.
The Tigrayans told us horrifying stories, about indiscriminate bombings, machete attacks, decapitations and executions. But it’s hard to check if their stories are true, as in Tigray, the electricity and communication services have been cut off for weeks. On top of that, journalists are not allowed to enter the region to do their work independently. And so the only way to get an idea of what might have happened in Northern Ethiopia, is to talk to the many refugees that we found in the camps.
To read some of the stories that Will and Saskia wrote for their newspapers, click through the screenshots below. To read the story I wrote for Trouw’s De Verdieping segment, click here. To hear the radio interview I did for ‘Met Het Oog Op Morgen’, in conversation with Wilfried de Jong, click here. To hear the conversation I had in the ‘NOS Radio 1 Journaal’ with Jurgen van den Berg, together with Africa correspondent Bram Vermeulen, click play on the video underneath the newspaper clippings (or click here). To listen to NOS podcast ‘De Dag’ about the situation in the Sudanese camps, click play on the player below.
In addition to the work I did for The Telegraph, NOS and Trouw, I also worked for NGOs, who are working on the ground to help the Ethiopian refugees. To see some of the work I did for World Food Programme (WFP), click here. The photos I took for Save The Children can be seen here. To see the video interviews and pictures I created for Dutch refugee NGO Stichting Vluchteling, click here. And to see the pictures I took for ZOA, click here.
