Rehab Darwish used to be a political journalist in Egypt. Now she is doing a traineeship in project management and volunteers to help Arabic-speaking newcomers navigate Dutch bureaucracy. The distance between those two sentences contains eleven years, three countries, four children, a violent divorce, a brother who has been in prison for seven years without…
When Saima left Pakistan in 2021 to move to Italy, she carried more than just a suitcase. She carried dreams, fears, and the hope of building a meaningful future. Saima had already worked on women’s empowerment initiatives in Pakistan after completing her bachelor’s degree in Gender Studies. Later that year, she moved to Italy through a…
Samar Zeb is a 24 year old Pakistani migrant currently living in Siena,Italy. He arrived in 2023 after two years of long travel, entering through Trieste with the hope of building a better life, he did not have a clear destination, a detailed plan, or certainty about what would happen next. What he carried instead…
Simmi (a pseudonym chosen for her safety) and I met through a mutual friend who was also a migrant. As we shared South Asian descent, we bonded over our shared culture and language. The stories told by Simmi were difficult to listen to; her time in Serbia has often been boiled down to intense moments…
Wessam and I met through the ‘Introduction to Arabic Language and Culture’ class she is teaching at University College Utrecht (Spring Semester, 2026). In many ways, I am simply a student of the Arab language. However, this holds true only if one could confidently say Wessam’s lectures are just classes. While she is teaching me…
Zeynnep is a Turkish woman who has been living in Utrecht for the past three years. She asked to remain anonymous, and so we have given her the name Zeynnep for this story. I met her through the MILAGRO project, and from conversation it was clear that she carries both the weight of an extraordinary…
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