Migration Media Award: First Place Online (Arabic)
Author: Abdelrahman Ayyash
Media: HuffPost Arabi, Egypt
Date of publication: 9/3/2017
Title: 20 Days in the Sea of Darkness! .. “HuffPost Arabic” Meets the Shabby Migrants’ Boats
Short Summary: I spent three weeks in the Mediterranean on a Search and Rescue ship with two teams from Doctors without Borders and SOS Mideteranee and I wrote this story in Arabic out of this trip. My story is almost a 7000 words (published into 3 different articles) telling the story of the African immigrants coming to Europe, and the violations they face in their home and Libya, stories about smugglers and the different routs to reach Europe. I also tell the story of the “Angels of the Mediterranean”, the doctors, rescue workers, pilots (I managed to fly with an amazing crew from Denmark on one of their patrols over the Mediterranean for FRONTEX), and I also wrote about some immigrants who arrived safely to Italy and their stories after reaching Europe. I spent another week in Sicily gathering stories and talking to officials, immigrants and Italians on the immigration issue. I believe my work is the most extensive piece that was written in Arabic on the subject.
Link to original publication (in Arabic)
20 يوما في بحر الظلمات!.. رحلة “هاف بوست عربي” مع قوارب المهاجرين المتهالكة في المتوسط
كل الطرق تؤدي إلى البحر، وكل الآمال متعلقة به. هو المارد الذي يقف شامخاً ليحجز الظلام عن النور والفقر عن الثراء والبؤساء عن السعداء أو هكذا يظنون. الحكايات التالية مركزها البحر الذي جمعت فيه الأقدار لاجئين من بقاع شتى مع مراسل “هاف بوست عربي” على متن سفينة الإنقاذ (أكواريوس).
