Exploration 3The Journey
Some of the questions we had while watching Malak’s story were specifically related to the actual journey she takes while fleeing Syria on a boat. We wondered:
- Was Malak found in the boat alone or was the scene representing how alone she felt?
- Why did Malak leave Syria by boat? Was that the only option?
- Who were the other people in the boat with Malak?
- What other dangers did Malak face during this journey?
- Where was Malak headed? Where do Syrian refugees flee to?
As per usual, the more we learn the more we want to know! One of the things that really stood out to us was how perilous Malak’s journey was. It struck us that in an effort to get somewhere safe, refugees like Malak had to put themselves in great danger.
We began to think about the specific ways refugees flee, in this case from Syria, and about how the basic needs of refugees are met along the way. How do they deal with the dangers? Basically, we really want to understand what Malak’s journey was like.
Our Google search began and it was to the point. We searched “Journey of Syrian refugees”
We hit the jackpot and found two sites that gave us great insights.
We started here with this site which outlined the journey of one young girl, Salma, and her family, as they made their way from Syria to Germany through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, and Austria. Part of this journey included a harrowing boat ride that reminded us of Malak’s story.
We then explored this amazing learning tool, hosted by the BBC. It puts you in the shoes of a Syrian refugee and has you make choices along the way about which routes to take, how to travel, and how to negotiate with smugglers.
We also wanted to hear from other Syrians. So we searched: ‘Syrian refugees in their own words’ and it led us to this story in The Guardian. This article gave firsthand glimpses into the journeys of adults forced to flee and we began to learn about the details of their journeys along with many of the challenges they faced when they arrived at their destinations.
While our focus for this round of research was really on the journeys of refugees and migrants, we know that we will want to learn more about what happens when they arrive--so we began to highlight in pink some of those questions for later.
We noted the following questions to investigate later: What are the laws and policies that exist to support refugees and migrants? How are they enforced or not? What happens when refugees arrive somewhere that they are not wanted?
Next, we wanted to know more about children and their experiences as well so we searched: ‘Syrian children refugees in their own words’ and found this excellent piece from Save the Children. Again, we found that while this piece discussed aspects of children’s lives during their journeys, it also focused on life in refugee camps and general resettlement.
Still interested in understanding the dangers refugees are challenged with, we entered a new search term: Dangers Syrian Refugees Face. Author Seema Jilani documents the perils of the refugee crisis along with challenges we hadn’t thought of before--including what happens when they arrive somewhere they are not wanted.
These articles were really helpful and while reading them we began to reflect through discussion and in our own note taking. Once again, we had more questions that were the result of observations. The questions we have are mostly about what happens to refugees and migrants upon their arrival. Let’s go find some answers!
Rock Your World is a program of Creative Visions
Rock Your World is a Program of Creative Visions, a 501(c) (3) organization that supports creative activists - individuals who use the power of media and arts to create positive change in the world.
