Resettlement Ambassadors (2014-2015)

Originally from Eritrea, Filmon and his wife spent time in Ethiopia, Sudan and Libya, before being resettled to Antwerp, Belgium from Shousha camp in Tunisia in 2011.  They were part of the first group of refugees to be resettled in Belgium.  In early 2015, Filmon worked together with ICMC and Caritas International to produce a short film on his life in Antwerp  visiting and talking with the organisations and individuals that have supported him with his integration into life in Belgium and helped him to pursue his goals.

The Doors, The Portraits’
'I visited asylum seekers in a reception centre and I chose firstly to take pictures of the doors to their rooms and then paint them full size. People were so contained that they did not want to talk with me. So I always stayed at the door; I heard their voices coming from inside. I felt their room was their world, and this building had become their new frontier between their world and the outside world. This work is about the transfer of the identity and personality of the people living behind those doors. I made recordings of conversations and stories of some people.'

You can listen to the recordings here.

“Hi, I am Abdulkareem.  I am 49 years old, and from Iraq.  I was resettled with my family to Germany in 2009.  As I come from an inflamed region in the Middle East, I know exactly the ugly face of war and the tragedies that it produces.  So I joined the Share Network to raise awareness about it, and to advocate here in Europe that there is a place for the “others“ if we have a place for them in our hearts.  So let us care about the others, because only when we care ... we can share.”

“My name is Chaza - I am from Syria, and since late 2014 I've lived in Germany.  In the past I worked with many different NGOs, in the areas of humanitarian work and environmental protection. My goal is to continue working in the humanitarian field, and to be active in trying to bring more peace into the world.”

Fasil is a journalist from Ethiopia, resettled to the Netherlands in 2007, where he completed a Masters in European Studies in 2009.

“My name is Iman, I am 30 years old and I’m originally from Sudan. My parents travelled to Libya in 1980, and I I was born and grew up in Libya. When the war started in Libya, we were displaced to Tunisia and we lived there for five months in a refugee camp from March 2011, where I worked there as an interpreter for UNHCR. Before we came to Tunisia, we already had refugee status in Libya, which really helped us to be resettled to Norway so quickly. (…) I decided to be an Ambassador for resettlement because I would like to help the refugees who are suffering at the borders and in camps everywhere.  I want to present their case and their needs to governments and other actors whose job it is to take care of them.”

Abdi was born in Somalia, and fled with his family to Kenya when he was 9 years old, where he lived with his family in Dadaab refugee camp until 2011.  During 2008-11 he worked for the Norwegian Refugee Council, on training programmes for camp elders focused on gender equality and access to education, and advocating with the Kenyan government to improve refugees’ access to higher education.  In 2011, Abdi was resettled to the UK with his family.