“Travellers” is a collection of perspectives of mainly Black and People of Color shifting through Europe for various kinds of reasons. The stories they tell are truely heartbreaking. They are located in Berlin, Basel, London and Lampedusa, they take a peek at New York, Lusaka, Abuja, Damascus, Tripoli as well as Detention Centers in Bulgaria and on the greek mainland. The people in these stories cross borders on foot, by boat (that’s actually an euphemism!), on rails and across the sky. The paths that the refugees, immigrants and travellers take, lead to places where they hope for a better life, but many of these experiences are more likely to destroy our faith in humanity.

Although “Travellers” is a collection of very different stories of numerous people, they all are somehow connected to the main protagonist, a nigerian expat who is now based in Berlin. He meets most of them, hears their stories and tells its own story about making decisions and losing control. The reader learns from Manu, a Zimbabwean doctor who bounces doors in Berlin and goes to Checkpoint Charlie every day, hoping to reunite with his wife and son whom he lost while crossing the Mediterranean Sea. He or she attends Portia’s trip from Zambia to Basel to meet her brother’s exwife who has been charged with his murder. The reader learns about Juma, who will soon be deported and who is willing to share his experience of the devilishly excruciating escape from Libya, only to end up facing the lack of humanness of Fortress Europe. He or she listens to a story about an amnesic woman, who is taught to believe to be someone else because of alleged love. And he or she sits on the french TGV train with a father whose daughter was about to be forced to marry an al-Shabaab commander in Somalia.

These stories teach about privilige, they give an understanding of the devastating obstacles that closed borders are for so many and let the reader empathize with despair, hope and resilience.

So listen to the Travellers - those seeking refuge, for answers, for their loved ones, for hope and for a future in general. Take their perspective and educate yourself, even though it’s heartshattering.

Eine Besprechung von Laura.