After fleeing Afghanistan as a child, Nadia Nadim turned to football while living in a center for asylum seekers in Denmark. In 2009, she became the first foreign-born player to play football in the Danish national team. She believes that sport can help migrant and refugee children better integrate in their new societies.
When 19-year-old Fatim Jawara embarked on a dangerous journey across the Saharan desert in 2016, her goal was to make it big as a footballer in Europe. But the aspiring athlete from the Gambia never got to follow her dreams: Her life ended when the dinghy she travelled on sank in the Mediterranean Sea. The memory of her lives on in her football team in the Gambia.
The Italian island of Lampedusa has been an arrival point for migrants for decades, given that it's closer to Africa than to Europe. A museum on the island pays tribute to these people, who risk their lives in search of safety and better opportunities.
Mariam, a 23-year-old woman from Liberia, was rescued by the Sea-Watch 3 in June and taken to Lampedusa. InfoMigrants spoke to her shortly after her arrival on the Italian island.
Being hugged, wrapped in a blanket and offered a cup of tea: This is how migrants who are rescued at sea in Italian waters are received on the Italian island of Lampedusa. It is not the authorities who organize this warm welcome, but a civil society group. Irene Caselli visited the Forum Lampedusa Solidale in June.
After spending 27 years as the first doctor to examine migrants reaching Europe’s shores, Pietro Bartolo is now about to take over as a member of the European Parliament in Brussels. InfoMigrants caught up with Bartolo on Lampedusa and asked him about the Italian government's policies vis-a-vis NGO migrant rescue ships and his hopes as an MEP.