Open Encounters Pamela Kerpius

What’s at stake when you enter a state housing system as an asylum seeker? Join MotM Lead Correspondent, Pamela Kerpius, in conversation with Abraham (Nigeria), Abdul Mohammed Ali (Somalia), Anas (Ghana) and Mohammed (Syria) in Middelburg, Netherlands, in this episode, the last of the year and our most urgent to date, on the mental health crisis in the migrant community.

Please meet more of those from the rescue community. Miguel Duarte worked aboard the Iuventa through the now-defunct German sea rescue operation Jugend Rettet from 2016-2017 on four missions. On his final mission, the Iuventa came to port and was immediately seized by Italian authorities who falsely claimed he and his shipmates had participated in aiding human trafficking, among other unfounded charges. It is part of the narrative to criminalize NGO rescue ships, which are seen as acting against the political interests of Italy and the EU, and leaving thousands of lives in the Central Mediterranean hanging in the balance. Miguel's important testimony will move you.

You've met many people over the years who were rescued at sea. But what about the people who rescued them? Who are they, and what was their role in this arc of migration history? Today we take a departure from our usual interviews with people in the migrant community to meet one of those rescuers, Francesco Tripoli. Francesco worked aboard the Sea Watch 2 and Sea Watch 3 ships from 2017-2018 on five different missions. Hear his testimony about what it was like, and the gratitude he has for the people who were onboard with him. With a special guest appearance from his rooster crowing on his farm in Portugal, where he spoke to Open Encounters in late February 2021 in New York City.

This is what it’s about. This is what makes what we do so valuable: connecting with human beings in a real, meaningful and intimate way. In this episode we might find the very definition of Humanitarian Storytelling, in a reunion after a years-long gap. Alagie (Gambia) and Pamela met in November 2016 on Lampedusa at the very moment he stepped off the rescue ship and onto land. It was the next day when they really met in person on the streets of the tiny island town, where she recorded his Journey Story. He lost her contact information, she never heard anything about him. Until one day in mid-July 2020, a mutual contact saw his story on the site and put us back in touch. Today’s episode is that phone-reunion conversation with Alagie and Pamela after three-and-a-half years.

"I call it another pandemic," Bapa (Sierra Leone) said about racism in Europe and around the world. We spoke via phone from his home in Passau, Germany as the global debate surges around systemic racism and police brutality after the murder of George Floyd. He talks about being an outsider, being denied entry to clubs and bars for being black and a migrant, and remembers friends from his time in Libya whose whereabouts are unknown.

"You have to fight for what you like...Try, even if they tell you it's not possible for you, leave them. Don't argue. Keep fighting. Fight in a positive way," said Bapa (Sierra Leone) from his home in Passau, Germany. As lockdowns keep lifting and we continue to make calls to our friends in the migrant community in Italy, Germany, and in Belgium. When Bapa arrived in Italy before crossing to Germany in 2016, he had a dream for his life. And even though the reality is different than what he first imagined, he continues with resiliency and a lot of heart. Tune in to Part II of our conversation, on racism, tomorrow.