Digital Stories - Migrants' Stories from Southern Africa

The digital stories were created through a participatory format during a workshop involving 8 men and women from South Africa and neighbouring countries. Prior to the workshop, the IOM and CDS held a series of orientation sessions in Lesotho, Swaziland, and in several rural areas in South Africa. During these sessions, participants were provided with disposable cameras, taught some photography basics, and asked to take photos of their homes and neighbourhoods. Later, the group gathered for a 4-day digital storytelling workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa. This session included a modified digital story development process in which participants wrote and recorded their own stories, supported by students from the Market Photo Workshop who provided hands-on computer help on request. The resulting stories, recorded in several languages, present a picture of the challenges of moving to a new place far from home and contending with language barriers, workplace exploitation, health risks, loneliness, and poverty, as well as finding friendship, assistance, and hope.

The stories were screened in Johannesburg, and can also be viewed and downloaded online. Click here to access the stories on YouTube.

The project also involved the production of a DVD, "A Better Life Than Me", which features all the stories in English as well as in the first languages spoken by the storytellers, with English subtitles. An accompanying Facilitators’ Guide is designed to help presenters use the stories to help raise awareness about labour migration and build skills to better assist and advocate for migrants and family members in issues related to health, community development, and policy contexts.

Migration

According to the organisers, the Department of Education for the Gauteng Province of South Africa has committed to incorporating the documentaries into their school programme. The Mindset Network, an educational channel broadcast on the satellite network DSTV, has also expressed interest in broadcasting the documentaries over their channel.

Organisers say that livelihoods within Southern Africa are increasingly based on mobility, with many moving within countries and across borders in search of income opportunities. These labour migrants, many of whom are women, make significant economic and cultural contributions to the countries or communities they migrate to. However, they often encounter various human rights abuses such as exploitation, harassment, xenophobia, and discrimination by employers and the people they encounter.