Worldwide, more than 79.5 million people have had to leave their homes. And here the words «have had to» are not used accidentally. By definition, refugees are those who leave their countries for reasons of force majeure: religious persecution, political, or cultural reasons, or due to wars, human rights violations, and other situations that make life in their country of origin impossible. The migrant population, on the other hand, is made up of those who leave their country voluntarily in search of a better quality of life, often to avoid poverty (UNHCR).
In Argentina, there are 3,400 refugees (mostly women) and 2.2 million of its inhabitants are migrants (UNHCR).
However, arriving in a new place has common challenges for both groups; such as access to healthcare, quality education, and decent work. Furthermore, they often experience first-hand episodes of racism and discrimination in the places that receive them.
On the topic of this last point, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to speak with Marina Serafini, project coordinator of Marcas que Marcan. It is an organization that developed #EncontrAR, a project that helps to break down prejudices about the migrant and refugee population, and proposes a change of narratives around this issue: from what differentiates and distances people to what unites and brings them closer.
“#EncontrAR tells stories of people with an entrepreneurial attitude that shows that all of us, regardless of origin, suffer and love in the same way,” says Jessica Oyarbide, executive director of Marcas que Marcan.
#EncontrAR is an Marcas que Marcan initiative, with the support of IOM Argentina, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the National Secretariat of Human Rights, and the Delegation of the European Union to Argentina, which seeks to change the perspective that people may have about migrants and refugees, showing the human side of migration and appealing to empathy as a transformative emotion.
“Empathy is finding echoes of the other person in you” (Mohsin Hamid).
#EncontrAR is an impact project that adds value in three aspects: social, economic, and cultural. In terms of the social aspect, which intersects with the entire project, a communication campaign was created that invites to adopt a more inclusive perspective with an emphasis on the idea of shared humanity. In relation to the economic aspect, a platform has been created with valuable resources to promote the enterprises of this population and contribute to their economic empowerment. Finally, regarding the cultural aspect, 4 murals were created in partnership with SebaCener, in different cities of Argentina. At the bottom of each work, a QR code can be scanned to learn more about the stories of migrants and refugees with an entrepreneurial attitude that inspired the murals. At Efecto Colibrí we participated in #EncontrAR through writing the stories of the four migrants and refugees. «Frankly, there is no one you can’t learn to love after having heard their story», goes an anonymous saying and we believe it to be true. We set out to learn from each person interviewed, hoping to capture in words the essence of their story.
We dived into the reality of young Kethya, who arrived in Argentina from Haiti. Today she prepares typical food of her country in «Mamam meals that migrate», and during quarantine she signed up for a second career in Justice and Human Rights, dreaming one day to change the situation in her country: «In Haiti people have no knowledge of their rights. They are deprived of basic rights, such as education, and are victims of manipulation and mistreatment». Kethya likes to work with people, to show them that they are unique, that they have rights, and that they must enforce them.
Serafina left Bolivia when she was middle-aged with her three children to work in the textile industry in Argentina. With her voice cracking, she says she felt discriminated against when she said she was from Bolivia and worked as a seamstress. «They looked at me as if I was nobody, nothing,» she recalls. Eventually, she began working with Fundación Mediapila and says that the work gave her economic independence and, above all, ignited her self-esteem. Serafina says that she still needs to feel at home. She doesn’t complain, she just asks directly and simply: «To be accepted as I am, not to have to change or lie about myself to be accepted».
“Entrepreneurship is often the path taken by a large number of migrants and refugees. Many of them create enterprises with a strong cultural imprint from their country of origin, as a way to stay close and receive the warmth of their mother culture, even when they are far away”, explains Marina Serafini.
Diana, for example, left Venezuela and after living in Buenos Aires for a while founded Cuales Cambures. It is a website that shows where to find typical Venezuelan products (such as the banana that she and her partner missed so much) in the city of Buenos Aires, and at the same time, allows Venezuelan entrepreneurs living in the city to publish a free ad and show the products and services they offer.
From another continent came Idrissa, who at an early age left his hometown in Senegal to study different styles of dance. He worked as a dance teacher for children and people with disabilities, with the goal of awakening joy in them and sending part of the money earned home, where his mother and his 6 siblings were waiting for him. He knows the steps, the techniques, and deploys them according to the music presented to him. And, in reality, we all do the same thing: we put the best we have into each situation and try to enjoy as much as possible.
«What do you see in common between Senegalese and Argentines, Idri?», we asked him curiously. He answers with another question, «What color is your blood?». «Red.» «Mine too», he says with a simple smile that is, in turn, an invitation to see beyond culture.
Read the full stories here.
