Conscripted Souls It’s a scary world we’re living in, in a world where love has become a computation as to who gets the most exes Where did the long loving true love go? or did our parents hide it only for their generation? I read a quote that goes “when you find your first love…
On 2nd July, the GRABS team hosted an online panel part of the 22nd IMISCOE Annual Conference Decentering migration studies, organised by the Institute Convergences Migrations, at Paris-Aubervilliers, France. Our panel Growing Up Across Borders: Experience of Young People in Forced Migration was chaired by Jane, and the three papers presented included: Discussing the use…
On 20th of June, Jessi took part in the PhD Conference ‘Reimagining Migration: Decolonisation and Identity Across Time and Space’, organised by the Migration Research Group at the University of Sheffield, UK. Jessi contributed to the panel on Temporalities and Geographies with a presentation entitled ‘Temporality and Geographies’ with a presentation titled Temporality and Borders:…
On 20 May 2025, Izzy and Jane from the GRABS team presented our project to the Asylum and Refugee Research Group at the University of Manchester. The presentation was followed by a discussion and questions. We were delighted to engage with other researchers working on similar topics and exchange about our research in progress. Thanks…
Borders Crafted with Care: Biscuits, Trains and Little Ships The title of this piece is inspired by the packaging of the biscuits provided to our team while staying in Dover during a scoping trip in the UK. The biscuits were called “Borders” with the tagline: “crafted with care”. Besides the irony of biscuits in Dover…
Of fenced playgrounds, happy places, and contained spaces Of fenced playgrounds, happy places, and contained spaces is a reflection from a recent field trip part of the GRABS team did to eThekwini / Durban and eGoli / Johannesburg in South Africa, in early May 2025. I wrote about this influenced by my position and experiences…
Veils of Silence : The Hidden Stories of Young Refugee Women in South Africa I have been a refugee in South Africa since 2013. As an activist for refugee rights I have participated in different platforms and events that exposed me to traumatic experiences of refugees and women in particular. What struck me as different in…
Polaris 14 is a non-profit organisation working to improve the reception and integration conditions of refugees in France. Founded in 2018, under the name “Light Towards Future” and then “Association LTF” it will become Polaris 14 in September 2023. Polaris stands for “POur l’Accueil des Réfugiés et leur Insertion Socioprofessionnelle” (For the Reception of Refugees…
The Refugee Children’s Project (RCP) is a homegrown humanitarian organization, established in 2002 by a dedicated group of refugees in Johannesburg-South Africa. RCP initially aimed to ease the integration of refugee children and unaccompanied minors into South African society. However, the organization’s mission has broadened over time. Today, RCP extends its reach to a wider…
Refugee Social Services (RSS) is a Durban based registered NPO (not for profit organization). The organization provides social services primarily for refugees and asylum seekers in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province. Services are mainly located in Durban and Pietermaritzburg as these two cities are the largest in Kwa-Zulu Natal and host the majority of refugee communities.…
