Living as Neighbours

Marianna, a psychologist and anthropologist, moved from Warsaw with her family to a house in the forest on the Polish-Belarussian border. In 2021 she began helping humanitarian workers who were arriving in the region to support thousands of asylum seekers and others seeking refuge in Europe. 

Alarmed by a rise in populism and anti-immigrant rhetoric in his country, Polish journalist and university lecturer Karol Wilczyński co-founded Salam Lab to give voice to marginalized people, promote reliable reporting and build bridges between different national and religious communities.

Bosnian journalist and humanitarian workers Senad Piríc was sent to cover a story of migrants arriving at the bus station in Tuzla in May 2018. That encounter with people on the move changed his life and six years on, he is still supporting those in need of a helping hand on their journey through his native city.

Sanela was a teacher in 2018 when police in her northern Bosnian town of Cljuč began stopping buses to turn back migrants seeking to cross the border into Croatia. With her father, a policeman, she began providing food, water, blankets, shelter to help those stranded on the road in freezing temperatures. Now, together with some of those refugees and migrants, she runs a social integration center in the city of Sarajevo.

A Greek citizen, Thanasis was driving in his car in 2014 when he first heard about migrant children, who survived a shipwreck, being pushed back into the sea by coastguards. He says he felt "a calling" and signed up as a volunteer to do sea rescue work in Lesbos. Nearly a decade on, he says "it is dangerous work, but we have to do what is right."

Originally from Wales, Philippa moved to Greece with her husband and young daughter in search of a quiet life by the sea. But in 2014, on the way to school, she stopped to help a distressed woman and child who had just crossed from Turkey on a boat. She says "it is impossible to drive past people in need and do nothing."

Originally from Congo, Rouddy was detained in Mória refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, before founding RAD (Refugee African Dance) Music International to help others find joy and solidarity amid the most challenging circumstances.