Who We Are

Migrants of the Mediterranean (MotM) is an Humanitarian Storytelling NGO documenting the individual Journey Stories of the world’s most impoverished and vulnerable people, first in Lampedusa, Italy, and now across Europe. The organization’s Humanitarian Storytelling methodology is a hybrid of humanitarianism, journalism and contemporary history affecting an immediate and ongoing impact for participants in its migrant community.

Why We Exist

When Migrants of the Mediterranean began interviewing people in the migrant community in 2016, we were struck by their need to connect. The encounters happened upon their arrival on Lampedusa island in Sicily, after they’d been rescued in the Mediterranean Sea, and after enduring extraordinary violence, abuse and exploitation in Libya, and elsewhere on their journeys.

For many people it had been weeks, months, maybe even years since they had been greeted in a safe environment. Most had just escaped arbitrary detention,  prison, and in some cases, slavery. The wounds on their bodies were often not yet healed.

In the news in Europe and in the United States, on the other hand, we had been taught to fear the newcomers at the borders. To see them as invaders and criminals. To see them as abstract, faceless crowds on boats. Not, in short, as people with experiences—and stories.

What was revealed then was an essential need for a kind of humanitarianism that would express as much personal, human connection (a kind of “compassion triage”) as it would create authentic documents of this valuable time in history. Humanitarian Storytelling was born.

This method would, in essence, take the dehumanizing institution of a news headline that reads, “X migrants arrive in Lampedusa, Italy,” and ask: Who are they? And then answer it.

The people in this community have traveled in irregular, distressed and inequitable ways that many of us will never undergo. That is our privilege. And that means it is also our duty to humanize the vulnerable and impoverished people who do not share our same fate; to extend ourselves as people who say no one is worth less than us; and to share a platform where the voices and stories of the people who are silenced and victimized may be empowered, dignified, and maybe even healed.

We have now documented over 100 stories in the Journey Story Archive of people in the migrant community. These are Journey Stories and extended profiles of people who we still know from those first days on Lampedusa in 2016. And further, the work has expanded to represent communities beyond Italy, in countries all across Europe, setting precedent for Migrants of the Mediterranean’s global reach.

As long as vulnerable people are on the move in ways we would never accept for ourselves, the work of Humanitarian Storytelling goes on.

Our Methodology

The Humanitarian Storytelling methodology happens in three steps, which encompass the relationship arc we keep with each participant in the MotM migrant community. They are:

1. Compassionate Encounter
   The initial impact where experiences of those in the migrant community are spotlighted in our first meeting. Until this point, people may have only been silenced, exploited or abused. Our introduction is made. We gain their consent to participate and record step one of their narrative arc, the Journey Story. These encounters frequently take place at points of arrival or landing post-rescue (e.g. Lampedusa island), but may also happen after the fact.
   

2. First Followup
   A breakthrough moment. Life for those in the migrant community in the immediate months, or even years, after rescue is defined by isolation. When we arrive to greet people in their new city or place of residence as their asylum cases get underway, there is a revelation of light, hope and belonging. They understand we are there for them. We document an update, a Reunion Story on their settings, life, and challenges of existing in a still-foreign place.
   

3. Ongoing Reunions
   Trust is firmly established. We maintain contact with our community, meaning, wherever people go, we follow. The trust and intimacy developed over the months and years (some since 2016) of these shared encounters gives us direct access to the issues those in the migrant community face after arrival or rescue, including navigating asylum procedures and other legal issues; housing, labor, education and language, mental health and issues in numerous other areas related to integration and wellbeing.

How We Apply It

The arc of the Humanitarian Storytelling work at Migrants of the Mediterranean is applied in three areas:

1. Documentation – Expand our encounters and create new documentation of Journey Stories. We do this through a team of national or regional correspondents, and with the support of local fixers to make new connections when circumstances require it.
   

2. Advocacy – Create change for our community and the migrant community at large by leveraging the support of key figures in specialized areas of advocacy, from diplomacy to scholarship to tactical initiatives with partnering NGOs, and more.
   

3. Preservation – Institute and manage a permanent archive to preserve the moments of encounter captured in written stories, photographs, and audio or video recordings. In short, creating space in the historical record for marginalized people’s experiences that would otherwise go unseen.
   

This arc may stretch indefinitely, with ongoing updates on current participants (as long as they consent to stay in touch, are alive, etc.), as well as invite new migrant community members who may join as we introduce new geographical areas of coverage.

Humanitarian Storytelling is geographically agnostic. So although our work began in the Central Mediterranean region and Europe, the methodology can be applied in any of the shifting geographical hotspots where human movement is happening, or is on the rise.

Regions we envision expanding our work include, for example, US-Mexico, Colombia-Venezuela, Ukraine-Europe, and countless others. As long as humans on earth are on the move in irregular, distressed or inequitable ways, our work will continue.

Our Impact

The migrant experience for impoverished and vulnerable people is defined by insecurity and trauma, and regularly leaves them isolated and unseen on the margins of society. Humanitarian Storytelling shatters this. It has resulted in dignifying the experiences of vulnerable people in the migrant community by way of compassionate encounter and documentation in effort of a more complete historical record since 2016.

Because our methodology enables us to move with the people in our community from first meeting into indefinite future points, we are able to develop authentic portraits of their lived experiences and an expansive catalog of the issues they face therein. This is essential information that drives migration scholarship, informs diplomatic and policy efforts, enables tactical support via partnering organizations, and finally is preserved as a unique ancestral record for the very people who count themselves a part of the MotM migrant community.