hidden woman

1. Hidden WomenSeeking Women Migrants to Speak about Abuses Faced on the Migration Route.
23 October 2018
by: Pamela Kerpius
WAVE Conference
Valletta, Malta

2. What is
Migrants of the Mediterranean?
the Humanitarian Storytelling Organization.
To see the trauma people have suffered on their journey as a reality
we see as our own.
Humanitarian
Storytelling: The qualitative measure of the migration flow.
We Cover: Individual’s migration experience from country of origin to Europe.
Our Mission:

3. the Migrants of the Mediterranean (MotM) Storybank.
www.migrantsofthemed.com

6. four reasons the disparity exists:
Why the Gender Gap?
1. Arrival Logistics
2. Religious Restriction
3. Lack of Education
4. General Subjugation

7. What We’re Missing
• Victim emotional release
• Victim self-awareness
• Complete historical record
as a result of gender gap in storytelling we lose:

8. four females from the MotM storybank:
Key Representations
1. Maiama + Mariama (Gambia)
2. Mary (Sierra Leone)
3. Blessing (Nigeria)

9. arrived: November 2016, Lampedusa, Italy.
Maiama + Mariama

10. LACK OF EDUCATION
1. Spoke mostly tribal dialect.
Little/no formal English language
education.
2. Brother served as translator.
He had received some education.
SUBJUGATION
1. Deferred to brother’s authority.
2. Complete record of their journeys
are incomplete; no
acknowledgement of sexual
violence (either witnessed or
experienced first-hand).
Maiama + Mariama
from: The Gambia

11. arrived: April 2017, Lampedusa, Italy.
Mary

12. from: Sierra Leone
EDUCATION
1. Spoke good English; educated.
2. No translator required.
NOT SUBJUGATED
1. Did not defer to husband’s
authority.
2. Provided explicit, comprehensive
detail of journey story.
Mary

13. arrived: June 2016, Crotone, Italy.
Blessing

14. from: Nigeria
LACK OF EDUCATION
1. Good English language ability, but
more comfortable using dialect.
2. Male friend was nearby to translate
occasionally.
SUBJUGATION
1. Diminished self-importance and
importance of her story/
victimhood.
Record of journey is incomplete.
2. Experienced sexual violence;
habitual rape by traffickers.
Blessing

15. making women visible. legitimizing their experiences.
Our Impact So Far
MOMENT OF RELEASE
We allow them to acknowledge
what happened; they acknowledge
their feelings; we legitimize their
stories.
BUILDING THE HISTORY
Women are given a voice. Women
are given a face, an identity in a
male-dominated historical record.

16. ways we’re learning to connect.
Going Forward
• New Gateways
amends for first-reception
restrictions
• Expanded Fieldwork Area
beyond Lampedusa island
• Safe Space to Communicate
women’s home communities

17. Thank You.
grazie :: danke :: gracias :: merci