MSF, Doctors Without Borders, International Migrants Day

migration

“Try being in my mind for 20 seconds” – stories from migrant journeys

Psychological experience of migration to and within South Africa

The following stories, illustrated by South African artist Balekane Legoabe, give us a glimpse into the emotional and psychological experience of migration to and within South Africa.

To better understand the experiences of migrants and to provide medical assistance according to their needs, MSF staff in our migrant health projects in Tshwane, South Africa, and Beitbridge, Zimbabwe, have recorded hundreds of testimonies since 2019. Their stories very often detail harrowing journeys marked by intimidation, ill-treatment and abuse, including long periods in detention with poor access to healthcare services.

“Having gathered such testimonies with full consent, we share our concerns with authorities to advocate for better migrants’ conditions,” says Rinako Uenishi, Project Coordinator of the MSF Migration Project in Beitbridge.

Story 1: I Am Burning To understand suffering, people say you must walk in another person's shoes. That's nothing, try being in my mind for 20 seconds.

Story 1: I Am Burning I have a son, but no money. I needed to get to South Africa, I had to, but I had no money. In Harare, the truck driver said, "give payment in kind." I had one thought: for my son, I'll do this.

Story 1: I Am Burning At Beitbridge border post it was hot as hell, there is a bed in every truck cab, a stinking mattress, I had to wrap myself in to hide from the police, such heat.

Story 1: I Am Burning I had one thought: I am boiling, I am burning, I am made of fire, I am going to die.

Story 1: I Am Burning #InternationalMigrantsDay 2021

A picture of a migrant resting in a tent at a temporary shelter where migrants entering South Africa through Musina take refuge. — A migrant rests in a tent at a temporary shelter where migrants entering South Africa through Musina take refuge.

Migrants' Challenges

Migrants returning to Zimbabwe carry hard stories of journeys to and within South Africa, but little else.
"The deportees, especially, are visibly exhausted when they arrive – their wide gazes reflect despair, extreme stress and boredom. They have been detained in prisons and police stations, but most embarked in South Africa’s notorious Lindela Repatriation Centre. Our interviews revealed that many migrants spend protracted periods in detention facilities – a quarter of respondents had spent more than a year locked up, with limited access to healthcare and basic needs. This is a real problem, both from a medical and human rights perspective," - Rinako Uenishi, Project Coordinator of the MSF Migration Project in Beitbridge

Story 2: Shoes and Pills In Beitbridge, I survived by selling clothes and shoes. In October, police confiscated my goods. When I went to the police station to ask for my property, I was arrested and sent to Lindela Repatriation Centre.

Story 2: Shoes and Pills For 22 days I had only one thought: my shoes and my pills. The shoes they confiscated from me that I depend upon to feed my family, and the ARVs I depend upon for my health.

Story 2: Shoes and Pills For 22 days I could not take my ARVs. For 22 days, I worried and lost weight. They refused to do anything about it... Shoes and pills, shoes and pills.

A migrant from the DRC sitting in a tent at a temporary shelter for migrants travelling into South Africa. — A migrant from the DRC sits in a tent at a temporary shelter for migrants travelling into South Africa.

Health Gaps for Asylum Seekers and Migrants

msf.org.za

“MSF has had operations in the region on both sides of the border off and on since 2000, but a clear and comprehensive view of migrants’ medical needs was lacking, and so a study was designed with the objective of highlighting the gaps in medical care received by migrants." - Rinako Uenishi, project coordinator for the MSF Migration Project in Beitbridge.

Story 3: Come Tomorrow 'Come tomorrow'. These were the first English words I learnt in a South African hospital. Travelling from the Congo my little girl got sick, I thought it was malaria.

MSF, Doctors Without Borders, Migrants testimonies

Story 3: Come Tomorrow At the hospital in Durban, I did not understand the signs, I did not understand what anyone was saying so I waited the whole day. Then the hospital closed.

Story 3: Come Tomorrow The next day we came back and waited. I thought my daughter would die. A doctor eventually spoke to us, but I couldn't understand. She wrote on a piece of paper, 'come tomorrow'. Someone translated for me; 'venez demain'.

Story 3: Come Tomorrow Today, when one of us is sick, I have one thought: come tomorrow; venez demain.

A picture of South African soldiers detain a group of people suspected of having illegally crossed into South Africa at the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. — South African soldiers detain a group of people suspected of having illegally crossed into South Africa at the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Migrants Detained in masses in South Africa

msf.org.za

“Many of those whose papers expire before they are able to renew them must endure inhumane and often illegal conditions of arrest and detention prior to deportation, heightening the risks of contagion during the COVID-19 pandemic.” - Vinayak Bhardwaj, Regional Migration Adviser for MSF in Southern Africa

Story 4: I am Meat At school, we were taught that humans are different from animals... but I am no longer sure about this.

Story 4: I am Meat After school I was desperate and I left Zimbabwe for South Africa, I was just 17. At the border I climbed into a truck with 40 people, travelling to Chibako, an area of wild animals, rhinos and elephants.

Story 4: I am Meat Soldiers were there, protecting animals from poachers. They stopped us. They made us kneel on the road, they took our money.

Story 4: I am Meat We crossed the Limpopo River into a game reserve. We drank from the watering hole for animals. The water was bitter, it was hot. I had thought: I am an animal, I am meat.