BY SEAN HANSEN Forty-two miles off the Libyan coastline, the Ocean Viking races towards a sinking ship full of refugees. Acting on information reported to the Libyan Coast Guard, the ship’s crew prepares for a rescue effort in the bleak…
Tag: Africa
Reflections on an Asylum Seeker in Cairo
BY MARJORIE TOLSDORF I was hopelessly lost in the center of Old Cairo with a dead phone, a handful of useless Arabic words floating around in my head, and an escalating fear that I would not find my way back…
A Different Experience of a Minority Group
BY BASBIBI KAKAR When Ramzia, a pseudonym to protect her identity, sees people migrating from one country to another, she doesn’t blame them. “You can’t be in a place where your life is not guaranteed,” she says. “You have to…
Kidnapped by a Libyan Militia: One prominent gay rights blogger recounts his detention by a conservative militia.
BY SEAN HANSEN “Are you a mule, or not?!” His kidnappers shouted, using a derogatory slang word for a gay person in Libyan Arabic. Abdough Ilbosiphi cowered in the back of a blacked-out Toyota, as it drove away from his…
Journey Into Israel
By Nicole Schilit About 12 meters from the end of the bridge stood the fence separating Egypt and Israel. Zebib, 27 years old, born and raised in Eritrea, was alone. Alone except for the 36 other African refugees who had…
Ethiopia Chokes Refugees
By NICOLE SCHILIT Genet’s soft voice makes it difficult to make out the words she is saying. The young Eritrean refugee avoids eye contact, and when she speaks she turns toward the empty space in her small one-room home rather…
Israel Struggles to Absorb Africa Refugees
BY NICOLE SCHILIT Johannes (name has been changed) is a twenty five year old refugee from Eritrea who came to Israel four months ago through Sudan and then Egypt. He lives not far from South Tel Aviv Bus Terminal, an…
Should Sudan’s Leader Go On Trial?
BY EAMON KIRCHER-ALLEN Images in the Save Darfur Coalition’s television advertisements tug at the heart: a child who has been raped; a man with a bloody stump where his arm should be; another man, in tears, recalling the death of…