The Messenger

By The Wheeler Centre

Personal Journals Society & Culture Technology

What's The Messenger about?

From Behind the Wire and the Wheeler Centre, The Messenger brings you into the Australian immigration detention centre on Manus Island – and reveals, in intimate detail, one man's experience of what it's really like to flee tragedy and seek asylum by boat.

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The Messenger episodes:

12.16.2019
#13 A Stranger in Geneva
Aziz in the snow, in Switzerland — Photo: Michael Green 'Hard to imagine. Start your life again. Have your own house, your own family.' – Abdul Aziz Muhamat Incredibly, Aziz is in Switzerland. And he’s just won a major international award for human...
12.16.2019
#12 Flight from Manus
Aziz, in a hotel room facing onto Genève-Cornavin railway station — Photo: Michael Green 'I just feel like I left my soul back there, you know. Personally I'm here, but my heart is still in Manus.' – Abdul Aziz Muhamat Aziz is shortlisted...
02.07.2019
#11 We Lived as a Nation
The men demonstrate their improvised well — Photo: Michael Green ‘Twenty four days we lived as a nation … The only way I can describe [it] is that we were a nation.’ – Abdul Aziz Muhamat The detention centre on Manus Island might...
12.18.2017
What I Can See Right Now
It's raining on Michael's last afternoon on Manus Island, and Aziz drops by to catch up. They discuss where things are at with Aziz and the other men, and what he expects will happen next. Then, it's time to say...
11.28.2017
I'm Not Really Settled Right Now
‘I’m safe and I’m alive.’ Abdul Aziz Muhamat An eventful week has passed. After PNG immigration officials and police entered the decommissioned detention centre, destroying food, water and belongings, the 421 men remaining there are forced to relocate to the other facilities...
11.21.2017
We Are Looking After Each Other
Rain comes. In his voice messages, Aziz sounds unwell – but speaks at length about how, in spite of their living conditions, the men finally feel they have some control over their lives. He tells Michael about how they're cooperating...
11.17.2017
It's Been 17 Days
Seventeen days into the stand-off with authorities, Aziz tells Michael about how men in the detention centre are dealing with the lack of water after tanks and wells were destroyed – as well as the men's medical needs, many arising from...
11.15.2017
We Are Just Living on a Daily Basis
Aziz reports that Papua New Guinean immigration officials have been entering the detention centre to destroy tanks and wells. Meanwhile, the men remaining in the camp have tried to avoid provocation and confrontation. Daily protests have moved to a cooler...
11.11.2017
Everything That We Have Built
Hundreds of men remain in the decommissioned detention centre – refusing to be relocated to camps which many (including the UN's refugee agency) have said are unfinished or unsafe. Papua New Guinean immigration officers have removed fences, shade and clotheslines from...
11.07.2017
There is a Reason
After Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court rejects an appeal to restore power, water and food to the decommissioned detention centre, Aziz says the men never held much hope for a positive outcome in the first place. When Michael expresses concern...
11.04.2017
We Are Hoping to Find a Way to Communicate
As the detainees' isolation intensifies, Aziz tells Michael about the burden of his responsibilities – and his hope of some negotiation to end the stand-off. Like many of the other men, Aziz has tried to shield his family from knowing about his...
11.03.2017
We Wait for the Day to Make a Plan for Us
Three days after the official closure of the detention centre, several hundred detainees remain barricaded inside the gates without water, power or food supplied. Aziz describes the scene, and explains some of the ways the men are getting by. 'It's really...
10.30.2017
We Are Just Ready
Mere hours from Australia's deadline to close Manus Island's immigration detention centre, tensions are running high amongst detainees. Why does Aziz seem calm? 'I feel like in 24 hours I will know something exactly, either positive or negative.' Abdul Aziz Muhamat Detainees shelter...
10.27.2017
We Never Had Any Storm Like This
The security guards and other staff are leaving the detention centre. Aziz explains how the detainees are preparing for life without power. Damaged by rough weather, a tree has fallen across the perimeter fencing of Manus Island Regional Processing Centre —...
10.23.2017
Position is Clear
Abdul Aziz Muhamat — Photo: Michael Green As the days count down to the end of October – when Australia has promised to close the detention centre on Manus Island – Aziz's short voice messages outline the situation as he understands it,...
10.21.2017
Hello Hello
With just ten days left before Australia closes the detention centre on Manus Island, Aziz leaves a few short voice messages, explaining how he is feeling. Abdul Aziz Muhamat — Photo: Michael Green In this update Abdul Aziz Muhamat Michael Green Our theme music was...
09.28.2017
#10 It Runs In My Blood
Aziz — Photo: Michael Green 'This place has become part of me. It runs in my blood.' Abdul Aziz Muhamat After seven long months in Port Moresby recovering from knee surgery, Aziz finally returns to Manus Island. He’s overjoyed to be home in...
09.22.2017
#9 Freedom Is Not Free
Abdul Aziz Muhamat and Michael Green on Manus Island — (Photo: Behrouz Boochani) 'Freedom is not free. You have to pay for it. And we pay; now we are paying for our freedoms.' Abdul Aziz Muhamat Just before Christmas of 2016, Aziz is...
07.07.2017
#8 Kind of a Dream
Behrouz and Aziz at Hauwei Island — (Photo: Michael Green) 'I’m excited because … for almost three years I haven’t left the centre, and I was just locked inside there … Now, I’m walking on the streets – every two steps...
05.10.2017
#7 A Small Village
‘I have got energy, so … why can’t I just keep in touch with the outside world?’ Aziz Photo: Michael Green Even though Aziz is in detention, far away from both his home and from the country whose government is holding him, he’s...
04.09.2017
#6 A New Plan
‘I'm just pretending … as if I'm preparing for a space journey, and the space journey, it takes many years.’ Aziz After months of interviews, Aziz finally sits facing an immigration officer and an interpreter, about to find out whether he’s been...
03.13.2017
#5 A Safer Place
Stopping the boats. It's one of the most fraught topics in Australian politics, and most of the time it comes out in two soundbites: saving lives at sea, and securing our borders. Abdul Aziz Muhamat 'I was instructed to … select the...
02.23.2017
#4 Today I'm Really Smiling
A major ruling by the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court offers hope for Aziz – but, amidst the promise, the men receive devastating news from Nauru. Meanwhile, they’re encouraged to accept the option to resettle in PNG. So why doesn’t Aziz...
02.09.2017
#3 I Have Got Some People Waiting For Me
Aziz’s life has been a story of chance – and choice. As Michael pieces together Aziz’s journey from Sudan to Manus, he realises Aziz has been searching for a safe place for about eight years. So what gives him the...
02.02.2017
#2 I Need to Format My Memory
As the world reacts to the Trump administration’s new US border policies, Aziz’s situation is as uncertain as ever, with no end in sight. Life on Manus grinds on. ‘When we see someone who is just hurting himself or he is...
01.23.2017
#1 Aziz, Not a Boat Number
As a journalist, Michael Green had spoken to a lot of people who’ve been held in detention centres. Some were there for a few weeks, and others for as long as six years. But he’d never spoken to someone who was...
01.23.2017
#1 Aziz, Not a Boat Number
In episode 1 of The Messenger, Aziz and Michael make contact – and Aziz begins sharing some of the smaller details of life in detention on Manus Island.
01.18.2017
#0 Welcome
Welcome to The Messenger. The series begins from Monday 23 January 2017 – but you can subscribe to the feed now in iTunes or your favourite podcast app. Sign up to the Wheeler Weekly for updates via email. #messengerpodcast See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
01.18.2017
#0 Welcome
The Messenger is a new podcast series from Behind the Wire and the Wheeler Centre. It's about Abdul Aziz Muhamat – and his life inside the Australian-run immigration detention centre on Manus Island. The series begins from Monday 23 January...