World Day for Migrants and Refugees – Forced like Jesus Christ to Flee
16 Sunday, September 27th is the 106th World Day for Migrants and Refugees. On this day, the Vatican invites the world to look at migrants and refugees’ plight and highlights the role of the Church in their protection. This year, Pope Francis dedicated the day to the pastoral care of internally displaced persons with the message “Forced like Jesus Christ to flee. Welcoming, protecting, promoting...
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Heritage Day and Migrants’ History in South Africa - Interview with Dezz van Niekerk (Part 2)
Happy Heritage Day! On September 24th, South Africa celebrates Heritage Day! Through events all over the country, this day recognises, celebrates, and remembers the cultural diversity and heritage of all people in South African society. Heritage Day is a celebration that is quite specific to South Africa. Only a few countries around the world celebrate their cultural heritage and traditions in a national celebration, mainly in the Americas and the Caribbean – such as National Heritage Day in Turks...
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...
