How this project was created

Being aware of the great sensitivity of the question to write a letter, we first consulted friends who once had fled themselves, colleagues, and Peter Scholten, a doctor who occasionally works in crisis areas for Medical Volunteers International.

We also put our question to Because We Carry, an organization for mothers and children who have had to flee from their homelands. They carefully polled a few parents in camp Moria on the greek island Lesbos. When these parents indicated that they wanted to participate, we decided to go for it.

After our arrival we first met the parents where we could explain the idea again, after which the parents could decide whether they still wanted to participate. If yes, they carefully chose from our bag with writing utensils what type of stationery suited them best and what color pen, because that is something very personal. Then the parents had a few days to be able to write their letter.

No, the content of the letter is from the parents themselves. The only help we offered was in the form of a list of questions that could possibly help them during the writing process, should the need arise. This included questions such as: What was the day like when your child was born? What is your best memory of your home country? What are you most worried about? What do you wish for your child’s future?

No, when the parent read the letter aloud to the camera, the children were playing elsewhere. The parents wrote these letters for later - when their child is an adult - to better understand what happened back then.

First we visited the families in their tents in the camp, but because the authorities strictly forbade us from filming in or around the camps on Lesvos and near Thessaloniki, we always picked up the parents and children a few hundred meters from the camp. Then we drove together to a quiet place nearby, such as a beach or a playground. Often the whole family went along, as well as the translator.

We always made a full day of it, so there was plenty of time to chat, eat and film/photograph. It was also a bit of an getaway. For the kids, we kept the atmosphere lighthearted and playful. Kids - especially little ones - are the same everywhere. They follow their own path, and the tension is short. It was often a lot of playing and filming in between, and then just seeing what works.

With the parents no longer living in camps, but in rooms or apartments in Athens and Thessaloniki, we were able to film in their homes.

Yes, when the films were ready, the parents were the first to watch their own film, and we were happy when they all responded that they liked their films so much. We are and remain in close contact with everyone, and keep them updated about everything that will happen with the project.

After most families had to wait 2, 3 or 4 years in tent camps during which they received multiple rejections, some good news came in the past year. Greek authorities rapidly gave allocations to a number of parents on Lesvos, probably to relieve pressure on the islands.

With this passport, valid for a stay of usually three years in Greece, people can live and work anywhere in Greece and the children can attend regular schools. They are also allowed to travel and fly throughout the EU. However, they are not allowed to stay in another European country for more than 90 days, nor are they allowed to live or work there. So it is not a European passport.

One would hope that this would end the uncertain time for these families, but it’s not. Status holders (former refugees) must leave the camp within a month and their cash card (about 75 euro per month per person for living expenses) will be discounted. Because once you are a status holder, you have to find your own way.

Status holders start at the very bottom of Greek society, a society that is already struggling with an unemployment rate of 12.7%. Their diplomas from the past are not valid and they have no network. For these reasons, the circle of finding a job and thus being able to rent a house is not achieved by many of them, despite integration programs from organizations such as the IOM. This once again causes many families to live on the streets, but now wíth a residence permit, completely dependent on local NGOs. It is estimated that over 25% of the status holders in Greece are without housing.

Because of these poor prospects, most status holders - including a number of parents from this project - who have some possibility take the risk of traveling to a better-functioning EU country in the hope that they will be allowed to submit a new asylum application there, despite the ‘Dublin Regulation’ which states that people can only apply for asylum in the first European country of arrival. So there is a risk that they will be sent back to Greece.

So far there are five families who did make it out of the labyrinth: Nazir-Ahmad and his family traveled to Switzerland because the mother of his wife Asma was in an asylum seekers center there. To their great surprise, they were informed after only 3 weeks that their application had been granted (while in Greece they had to wait 3 years). Zahra received a residence permit for Germany after waiting for 4 months. During those months, her daughter Kimiya taught herself fluent German through an app on her phone which now gives her a chance to enter the Gymnasium. Fabiola managed to get on a list from the Canadian government that allowed a group of refugees to come over. She is now in Victoria, trying to built up her life. Latifa and her family got a residence permit in Germany, after waiting for a year.

All in all, that sounds very positive and it is. The parents write us that they are happy to see that their children do pick up the rhythm, learn the language and make new friends at their school. But we also hear the parents. For them, after surviving for years in life-threatening situations, it’s not easy to end up in a new country with no network, a foreign language and a different culture. In the calm that prevails, the past resurfaces. The realization that life will be forever different without their homeland, family and friends, then sets in.

Even though the parents are now fortunate in a better environment, we and the parents all agree that their stories need to continue to be heard. Even right now there are thousands of parents and children in exactly the same situation in Greece as these parents were once before. And there are lots of pushbacks on the sea between Turkey and Greece.

The 'team' consists of the two of us: Philip and Marieke. We each have our own tasks by filming, photographing, sound, producing and writing. But we would never have made it this time without the help of others:

Rosa (Because we Carry) was our rock on Lesbos. She made sure everyone felt comfortable during the filming days. Translators Asma and Ahmed went everywhere with them. In addition, there was Olimpia Trakelli, born and raised on Lesbos and worked for years on Kara Tepe. She knew all the beautiful places on the island where we could film, and spoke to the police if we were stopped.

In Athens we worked with Lisette (BWC) and Sophie (BWC) who introduced us to different mothers, played with the children while filming, and maneuvered us through the heavy traffic. Fabiola and Rami were our translators.

In Thessaloniki we met Shafiq and Mobu, two translators from Medical Volunteers International. They introduced us to families, explained the plan to the parents, and translated all day long.

Once back in the Netherlands, we spent every free hour editing with editor Annelien van Wijnbergen. Pianist Joep Beving composed three pieces of music especially for this project. Erik (De Grot) did the color correction, and Sharkee (HaaiFaai) spent days editing the sound.

Lisa Dupuy edited all our Dutch texts, and then translated everything into English and French. Natascha translated the letters into Farsi, and Zuhoor and Reem did the Arabic translations of the letters.

No, this project is self-initiated, and there is no commercial or fundraising goal associated with it. We were able to make this possible with a crowdfunding action on social media via ‘Voor de Kunst’, a small contribution from broadcaster BNNVARA, all the help from our creative network, and simply not counting our hours.

Having traveled intensively around the world for many years on behalf of NGOs like Unicef and our own projects, one thing has stayed with us the most: the inequality. With ourselves always on the safe side of the line, we saw many times how hard other people had to fight all their lives for the same basic rights and needs we already got for free.

It taught us that the simple belief that ‘there is nothing we can do about the fact that the world is coincidentally made up of lucky people and unlucky people’ is not true. Rights and opportunities depend completely on the passport you have, and unfortunately there is a hefty ranking in it. This causes an unequal distribution of wealth, knowledge, access, opportunities and freedom, and ensures that the world is only accessible to a small part of the world's population.

For the parents in the project, this system crushed them completely: they were denied access to international travel, pushed back, faced closed borders, had to wait for years in scorching hot or freezing cold tent camps, were scolded, and their children could not attend school. Ironically, their fate was determined by the very system they themselves were not allowed to be a part of. And as an individual, it’s impossible for them to circumvent that system.

These days, the many international political discussions around migration are mostly about how to stop migration flows and how to build walls even higher, but too little about why people are fleeing. While that is precisely what should be at the heart of it. Together with the parents, by telling their stories, we hope to bring back feeling to these tough debates. Because their stories are the outcome, the reality of political decisions that have been made, and that is something we must never forget.