Tales from the Border

You could say that migration is in Sicily's DNA. The largest island in the Mediterranean and a gateway to Europe for people crossing from North Africa, it has been a melting pot for centuries. Migrants continue to arrive on the island in their tens of thousands each year, after risking the dangerous Mediterranean journey in unseaworthy boats. Across the island migrants from Africa, South Asia and elsewhere have formed well-established communities, running businesses and becoming part of Sicilian society. There are also migrants who have no legal status, scraping an existence in abandoned buildings and exploited by unscrupulous employers in Sicily's main industries – fishing, farming, hospitality and tourism. In this special podcast edition made in September 2022, InfoMigrants catches up with migrants from different parts of Sicily who are living very different lives, and we hear from some long-term residents who are trying to help newcomers with the many challenges they face.

Credits

Reporters: Emma Wallis and Arafatul Islam

Presenter and Producer: Emma Wallis

Editor: Marion MacGregor

Studio production: Jürgen Kuhn at DW studios

Music: Chinese Man Records, France

Calais. A city where the roads are lined by high fences topped with barbed wire. In Episode Eight we have arrived in this northern French port, where migrants can see the white cliffs of Dover, their destination, just the other side of the Channel. Those who have run out of money try their luck on the lorries, others hope to pay smugglers thousands of euros to cross in small boats. The police patrols are everywhere. Migrants here are regularly evicted from camps in the scrubland, by the side of the road, or in the forests, but still they stay and wait for the day their luck might turn.

Credits

Reporter: Emma Wallis, Mehdi Chebil, Calais

Presenter and Producer: Emma Wallis

Editor: Marion MacGregor

Series Editors: Charlotte Hauswedell and Sven Pöhle

Studio production: Gerd Georgii and Jürgen Kuhn in the DW studios

Music: Chinese Man Records, France

Jean Gabriel is a mountain man. He has walked the mountains of the world and now tries to make sure that the migrants who walk his mountains arrive safely in France and are well looked after. For those migrants who do make it over the border a refuge in Briançon awaits. Some migrants stop a few days or weeks here before continuing their journey on to other parts of France, the UK, or elsewhere in Europe – migrants like university student Ayoub from Morocco, who hopes that in Europe he can make his parents proud and one day have a family of his own.

Credits

Reporter: Dany Mitzman, France

Presenter and Producer: Emma Wallis

Editor: Marion MacGregor

Series Editors: Charlotte Hauswedell and Sven Pöhle

Studio production: Gerd Georgii and Jürgen Kuhn in the DW studios

Music: Chinese Man Records, France

High in the Italian Alps, more and more migrants attempt to take remote and dangerous snowy paths through the mountains to evade police detection and make it into France. Many stop for a day at the volunteer refuges in towns like Oulx before taking a bus up to the border at Claviere to begin the trek on foot in the dead of night. Temperatures often drop below freezing in these mountains and migrants are given warm clothes and boots by the volunteers who want to try and prevent more dying or getting injured on their journey.

Credits

Reporter: Dany Mitzman, Italy

Presenter and Producer: Emma Wallis

Editor: Marion MacGregor

Series Editors: Charlotte Hauswedell and Sven Pöhle

Studio production: Gerd Georgii and Jürgen Kuhn in the DW studios

Music: Chinese Man Records, France

In Episode Five, we arrive in the Serbian capital Belgrade with András Léderer from the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Idro Seferi. Near the bus station in the center of town is a spot known as ‘Afghan Park’ where people gather waiting to catch a bus to the border on the so-called ‘Balkan route’.

In this park we hear from Amir, a pharmacist who fled his country after militias threatened to kill him. Traveling with Amir are his wife and two small children. We also meet a renowned lawyer, Nikola Kovačević, who talks about why he is helping migrants who have been pushed back at the borders.

Credits

Reporter: Idro Seferi, Serbia

Presentation in Serbia: András Léderer

Presenter and Producer: Emma Wallis

Editor: Marion MacGregor

Series Editors: Charlotte Hauswedell and Sven Pöhle

Studio production: Gerd Georgii and Jürgen Kuhn in the DW studios

Music: Chinese Man Records, France

Tales from the Border Episode Four takes us to an informal migrant camp in the woods not far from the Serbian border with Romania. Here we meet a group of men – most from Syria or Iraq – who have decided to leave the official camps to squat in an abandoned house in the forest.

While they cook over a campfire the men talk about how the police and army from various countries work to push them back, and the trials of their journeys after leaving their home countries.

Credits

Reporter: Idro Seferi, Serbia

Presentation in Serbia: András Léderer

Presenter and Producer: Emma Wallis

Editor: Marion MacGregor

Series Editors: Charlotte Hauswedell and Sven Pöhle

Studio production: Gerd Georgii and Jürgen Kuhn in the DW studios

Music: Chinese Man Records, France

Tales from the Border Episode Three begins outside a migrant camp on the border between Serbia and Hungary. With András Léderer from the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and reporter Idro Seferi we visit three places in Serbia that reflect the harsh reality of life for so many migrants on the Balkan route. We hear from Jalal who made it over the border to Hungary only to suffer a terrible accident. His injuries are so bad he can barely walk, but Hungarian police force him back to Serbia. As Jalal tells his story, András gathers evidence for a potential court case.

Reporter: Idro Seferi, Serbia

Presentation in Serbia: András Léderer

Presenter and Producer: Emma Wallis

Editor: Marion MacGregor

Series Editors: Charlotte Hauswedell and Sven Pöhle

Studio production: Gerd Georgii and Jürgen Kuhn in the DW studios

Music: Chinese Man Records, France

ABOUT US

InfoMigrants is a news and information site for migrants to counter misinformation at every point of their journey: in their country of origin, along the route, or in the places where they hope to start a new life. InfoMigrants is available in six languages: French, Arabic, English, Dari, Pashto and Bengali.

InfoMigrants is a collaboration led by three major European media sources: France Médias Monde (France 24, Radio France International, Monte Carlo Doualiya), the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and the Italian press agency ANSA. InfoMigrants is co-financed by the European Union.

Climb on board the private rescue ship Ocean Viking for Tales from the Border’s second episode. Listen to the relief as the ‘Big Boat’ arrives to rescue a group of migrants adrift in the

Mediterranean. Imagine the hellish fire from the oil rigs at night as migrants drift towards them, believing they have reached land.

Hear tales of suffering and sexual violence as rescued migrants visit the nurses on board the Ocean Viking and reveal what they have experienced.

And share in the joy as a stand-off ends and the time finally comes to disembark.

Presenter and Producer: Emma Wallis

Editor: Marion MacGregor

Series Editors: Charlotte Hauswedell and Sven Pöhle

Studio production: Gerd Georgii and Jürgen Kuhn in the DW studios

Music: Chinese Man Records, France

Sounds and interviews provided: SOS Mediterranée, Flavio Gasperini, Sandy McKee, Hippolyte, DW

ABOUT US

InfoMigrants is a news and information site for migrants to counter misinformation at every point of their journey: in their country of origin, along the route, or in the places where they hope to start a new life. InfoMigrants is available in six languages: French, Arabic, English, Dari, Pashto and Bengali.

InfoMigrants is a collaboration led by three major European media sources: France Médias Monde (France 24, Radio France International, Monte Carlo Doualiya), the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and the Italian press agency ANSA. InfoMigrants is co-financed by the European Union.

Tales from the Border begins in Senegal. We look out across thousands of kilometers of Atlantic Ocean. As the waves crash, migrants who have tried and returned, and those who still have hope, talk about what it is like to dream of a better life in the Canary Islands and Spain.

Feel the fear after 10 days drifting in a pirogue on the Atlantic Ocean and passing ghost ships full of bodies, wondering if you will ever make it to land.

Even after arriving, the tales of poverty and hardship make some wonder whether the dream was worth it.

Reporter: Emmanuelle Landais, Senegal

Presenter and Producer: Emma Wallis

Editor: Marion MacGregor

Series Editors: Charlotte Hauswedell and Sven Pöhle

Studio production: Gerd Georgii and Jürgen Kuhn in the DW studios

Music: Chinese Man Records, France

ABOUT US

InfoMigrants is a news and information site for migrants to counter misinformation at every point of their journey: in their country of origin, along the route, or in the places where they hope to start a new life. InfoMigrants is available in six languages: French, Arabic, English, Dari, Pashto and Bengali.

InfoMigrants is a collaboration led by three major European media sources: France Médias Monde (France 24, Radio France International, Monte Carlo Doualiya), the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and the Italian press agency ANSA. InfoMigrants is co-financed by the European Union.

Launches November 11

InfoMigrants presents season one of its podcast Tales from the Border. In a series of eight episodes, Tales from the Border takes listeners on an audio journey to some of the borders – the political and physical barriers – that confront migrants as they attempt to reach their destination in Europe.

On sea, on land, different journeys, one aim. These are the tales of migrants as well as some of the people they meet along the way. All want to reach a place of safety and start a new life. Join us to hear the stories of their journeys.

Launches November 11, 2021. Subscribe now.

Presented and produced: Emma Wallis

Edited: Marion MacGregor

Series Editors: Charlotte Hauswedell and Sven Pöhle

Studio production: Gerd Georgii and Jürgen Kuhn in the DW studios

Music: Chinese Man Records, France

ABOUT US

InfoMigrants is a news and information site for migrants to counter misinformation at every point of their journey: in their country of origin, along the route, or in the places where they hope to start a new life. InfoMigrants is available in six languages: French, Arabic, English, Dari, Pashto and Bengali.

InfoMigrants is a collaboration led by three major European media sources: France Médias Monde (France 24, Radio France International, Monte Carlo Doualiya), the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and the Italian press agency ANSA. InfoMigrants is co-financed by the European Union.