Migrants’ History and Heritage in South Africa – Interview with Dezz van Niekerk (Part 1)
To celebrate and commemorate Heritage Day on September 24th, SIHMA interviewed Dezz van Niekerk – life coach, mentor, writer, popular educator, and specialized counsellor – and asked him about his thoughts on the history of migration and internal displacement in South Africa and how these are considered in contemporary society, especially when celebrating South African culture and heritage on Heritage Day. Dezz was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s,...
Female Migrants in the Informal Sector (Ghana)
Of the 272 million migrants worldwide, 47.9% of them are females (1). Most are workers in the informal business sector, and oftentimes face different challenges than their male counterparts (2). Published in the most recent African Human Mobility Review, Fabian Sebastian Achana and Augustine Tanle of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, document the circumstances, motivations, lived experiences, and future aspirations of female migrants engaged in informal sector businesses in...
Lessons still to be learned from the pandemic.
Let us put it this way: every crisis is an opportunity to learn, change and transform ourselves, our society, our country. This could be applied to the actual pandemic, which indeed has provided an enormous chance to pause and reflect, urging us to find new ways and to rethink social, political, and economic macro-structures. According to this approach, then, Covid-19 should teach us some lessons we still need to learn from Africa, the first one is...
Statelessness of Migrant Children in South Africa and the Impact and Opportunity for Social Workers
Statelessness is an increasing phenomenon around the world and particularly on the African continent. At SIMHA, we are active in promoting research and awareness on statelessness in South Africa and beyond. In our latest edition of the African Human Mobility Review Journal, in a joint effort with the University of Western Cape, SIHMA published Ajwang Warria’s research paper titled “Stateless Transnational Migrant Children in South Africa: Implications and Opportunities for Social Work”1. This is the first time that...
Remote internship experiences
In responding to this peculiar moment during the Covid-19 pandemic, SIHMA’s team has been working remotely since the lockdown started in South Africa. SIHMA managed to face the quarantine time by starting virtual collaborations and giving the opportunity to students to be part of SIHMA though remote internships and volunteering experiences. In the last few months Felipa Schmidt joined the team, working from Germany from May for three months, Jeremiah Masaya started in August and is currently working...
Female Migrants and Refugees Leaving a Positive Mark within their Communities
Over the past 60 years, there has been an increase in the number of females migrants migrating for work, education, and as the heads of the households (1). Currently, 47.9%, around 130 million of the international migrant stock are females (1). In Africa, 48% of migrants are females, with male migrants experiencing more growth in the recent years. Many news stories have warned about the possibilities of female migrants facing stronger discrimination, often having to face double discrimination...
