Open Encounters

Read Babou’s original journey story on the site––anche disponibile in italiano. His followup story and photo essay is forthcoming.

Gran Ghetto, the worst of the migrant ghettos in the agricultural south, is now where Peter lives after going homeless days after recording Part I of our conversation. "This is against humanity," he said about staying in its squalid conditions. Read MotM's full story and see our video coverage, ground rarely seen by outsiders, on the site. Recorded 8 October 2019, in Foggia, Italy.

I met "Peter" (name changed) in his home city, Isernia, a place in the Molise region east and south of Rome in May 2019. He sat alone in the piazza taking a break from a day that was otherwise uneventful. That moment, part of a regular circuit of places to visit across his day was his way of creating structure and purpose where there was none. We met again in September 2019, when this episode was recorded, just days before he would be asked to leave his state housing on account of the negative verdict of his asylum hearing. He now resides in a notorious ghetto in Foggia, his homelessness, a direct result of his denied asylum case. Part II of our conversation will be recorded there and released soon.

Read Pazi’s original journey story on the site––anche disponibile in italiano. Plus, his follow-up story from November 2017 and our documentation of his asylum hearing in Rome, April 2018.

Read Moses's original journey story on the site––anche disponibile in Italiano!

Ebrima was 14-years-old when he fled The Gambia for Europe. He was kidnapped twice in Algeria before he was sixteen, and was tortured and starved in Libya before he successfully made the Mediterranean crossing for Italy. He landed in Lampedusa where I met him in the days after his rescue, but was transferred from the island hotspot before our scheduled interview the next day. Two years later, I met him in Agrigento, Sicily, where he emerged onto the piazza bearing no resemblance to the 16-year-old I met on the island, then so tired and traumatized. Here, he speaks about housing and food quality, integration and racism, and cracks up at the idea of a border wall. Recorded in Agrigento, Sicily in February 2019.

Plus, read Ebrima's original journey story + see photos of our first meeting in Lampedusa, live on the site with more to come!

Amadou arrived in Lampedusa in Nov 2016 after rescue on the Mediterranean. A year-and-a-half later we reunited in his transfer city in the south of Italy to continue his story. We discuss what it’s like to be rescued on the sea, his missing family members who he fears drowned in Dec 2017 and his prospects for work in Italy.

Plus, read his story on the site for accompanying words and photos:
www.migrantsofthemed.com/motm-reunion-meet-amadou-two-years-later