{"id":6893,"date":"2021-06-11T05:49:34","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T05:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peoplebeyondborders.org\/?p=6893"},"modified":"2021-06-18T11:47:38","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T11:47:38","slug":"out-of-sight-out-of-mind-a-radio-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peoplebeyondborders.org\/es\/out-of-sight-out-of-mind-a-radio-documentary\/","title":{"rendered":"Out of Sight, Out of Mind: a radio documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the Summer, I travelled to Belgium and Cardiff to speak to people who are seeking asylum in Europe to find out why they wanted to settle in Belgium and the UK.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a sleepy port town 3 hours from Antwerp in Belgium, people are risking their lives to try and reach the UK in order to seek asylum. Zeebrugge found itself\u00a0in the news in October 2019<\/a>\u00a0when 39 people were found dead in a lorry container in Essex. The lorry had traveled from the Belgian town the day before and the little community was front-page news in British media. But the lives and experiences of the 39 people were scarcely discussed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An image mounted in St Donas Church, Zeebrugge<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In August, it was <\/span>reported that 1,000 migrants<\/span><\/a> arrived in the UK between 4th and 13th August. Media outlets <\/span>also discussed the UK\u2019s \u00a35.5 million<\/span><\/a> budget dedicated to stopping crossings to the UK from France (and Belgium).<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the tragic events in Essex and its subsequent media coverage, Belgium is barely mentioned in these news stories.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mehdi Kassou, founder of Citizens\u2019 Platform for the Support of Refugees in Belgium, <\/span>estimated that there were over 1,000 migrants-in-transit <\/span><\/a>(people moving from one country to another but staying in a third country during their journey) in Belgium with approximately 600-800 individuals in Brussels. If people are embarking on such dangerous journeys, surely they have stories to tell and surely they are worthy of recognition?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My family has spent a lot of time in Belgium over the last 2 years. Having previously volunteered with refugee charities, I wanted to find out more about the experience of people seeking asylum who are presently in Belgium and why they continue to try to reach the UK.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I can cross to England, maybe the first thing I will do is to get to a university, to a college to continue my studies\u2026 Many companies I worked in [Algeria], but without a certain level of studies, you cannot advance. That\u2019s why I\u2019m trying to get a little bit more of knowledge to try to stabilise my life.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farid*, a 28-year-old from Algeria who I met at Zeebrugge, was visiting the home of Pastor Fernand Marechal. When we chatted, he told me why he wanted to go to the UK. He said that he had tried to enrol at universities in France and Belgium before he started trying to go to the UK and that the goal of reaching England was not his first choice.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to Pastor Fernand about this, I asked him his thoughts. He said that the people trying to reach the UK tell him,<\/span> <\/span><\/i>\u201c<\/span>In England, we can work, we can do everything<\/span><\/i>\u201c. He said that, for them, it is \u201c<\/span>England or dead<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Fernand dedicates much of his time to providing food, clothes and weekly medical consultations to asylum seekers who are visiting Zeebrugge. When discussing this work, he told me that the town was accustomed to the community of itinerant people trying to reach the UK. So ingrained in their community history was this journey of people seeking asylum that they had art installations in the church commemorating the lives of those who died trying to cross the sea.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A stark example of this was the poem \u2018Nickname Refugee\u2019 beside a sculpture and art installation including a dummy on a stretcher wearing a lifejacket made of plastic bottles \u2013 as was worn by the young man nicknamed \u2018Massoud\u2019 who drowned in the North Sea and washed up on the shores of Zeebrugge.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n