RefVoice

There is a moment in Tim De Keersmaecker and Jakob Brossmann’s documentary “Lampedusa in Winter” when a journalist asks one of the locals about the refugee crisis and the inhabitant of the island answers the question with another question: “Why don’t you ask the refugees themselves?”. I was watching this particular documentary when it suddenly struck me. It really was a question that needed to be put. Why don’t we ask them, really? Is it because we are afraid of these people invading our country? Is it because we are afraid of their answers? Whatever the reason might be, there really is a gap in the field of journalism as far as the voice of the refugees is concerned.

RefVoice is an orchestrated effort, not only to help refugees, but also to acknowledge them as fellow humans. One does not simply need food and water to have a decent life. RefVoice is a web platform where refugees can voice their opinions and tell their stories to the public, not through a representative, but speak for themselves.

The problem RefVoice is solving is that there are many stories for refugees, but there aren’t many stories from refugees. Through the communication of their stories they can establish a position in our society and gain respect from the public.

When I heard about SWEJ, I thought “That’s it!”. A place where I could take the idea that had begun to shape in my head a step forward, meet people keen on working with me on this project and ask for advice from acknowledged journalists and entrepreneurs. And that’s exactly what happened. I managed to gain votes, created a surprisingly strong and hardworking team and in only 2 days we already had a website, facebook page and about 200 followers. We also had time to conduct a survey through interviews and google form in order to learn what our possible readers consider about RefVoice and modify our idea in order to make it more successful. In this point it is my obligation and joy to give special thanks to my journalist team ( Eleni Evelyn, Manoloudis Foivos, Perisnaka Fisorela) and also to my developers (Giannakis Giorgos, Tsiaras Konstantinos) who were willing to help me although they weren’t participating in SWEJ.

During this weekend I learned much, but the most important thing was a quote by Stavros Messinis who constantly reminded us that the most important day is the next day. When I woke up the day after SWEJ I sent e-mails to various non-profit organisations oriented at helping refugees, in order to find people interested in sharing their story. My first story came from Piraeus and more specifically from a 25 year old Syrian named Hekmet. I worked with a translator and the story was uploaded along with a sketch by Anastasia Karagiorgi, because Hekmet prefered to remain anonymous.

After nearly 2 months RefVoice includes several stories- one of them is also filmed with my mobile camera- not only from adults, but also from children through their drawings. During these months I have learn many things, not only from a professional point of view, but also from a humanitarian one. Of course we still have a long way to go.

Special thanks to Marios Lolos, City Plaza and all the refugees that have trusted me and told me their story.