Hardship of young refugees

WAR, f amine and xenophobia are a reality for some teenagers and young adults who are forced to flee their homes in parts of Africa and seek refuge in South Africa. Their stories are told in a book on the lives of 40 refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers.

Titled In My Shoes: A Collection of Stories, it is written by African refugee students of the English School at the Scalabrini Centre in Cape Town.

The book, the brainchild of English teacher Melanie Govinda, was recently launched at The Book Lounge in the city.

Govinda said: “One student approached me because he needed someone to talk to. He had no one else in this country, and wanted to share his experience of coming to Cape Town.”

Govinda listened to his story, detailing the events that made the student flee his home and come to South Africa.

“Members of his government wanted him dead. They had killed his friends, and he had to flee.

“Alone in SA, without papers but hope for his future, I promised to support him and teach him English the best I could,” she said.

“This conversation made me sad, and I actually felt very helpless.”

The next day, Govinda suggested to her students that if they needed someone to talk to about their lives before coming to South Africa, she would be there to listen. A few days later, several students approached her.

Because there were so many of them, she didn’t have the chance to listen to all their stories as other teachers needed to use her classroom. So she told them to do a photo project through which they could tell their stories.

They completed their projects, which Govinda described as a great success but still felt it could be taken further. “I literally dreamt of a book where students could tell the rest of the world what happened to them, including the injustice; to spread their voices and stories about being a refugee, asylum seeker or migrant worker in Cape Town, coming from different sub- Saharan African countries like the two Congos or Somalia.

“It was not an easy task, but we made it happen,” said Govinda.

In My Shoes was the result of their efforts. A collection of the students’ stories was compiled by Govinda and four other people.

The book can be purchased from The Book Lounge, Rotary Club AM Kap, the Scalabrini Centre, and on the centre’s website, https://inmyshoes-scct.weebly.com/