Mediaboss Marketing

Members of a caravan of migrants from Honduras to the United States were arrested in Guatemala and deported before they could reach Mexico. Although their journey was shortened, the formation of a new caravan shows that as in 2018 and 2019 Central Americans are still fleeing violence, hunger and climate change en masse.

The crisis on the border between the USA and Mexico is also continuing. As a scholar of Mexican migration, I have witnessed how the pandemic has brought new hardships for immigrants, while at the same time leaving the Trump administration room for further restrictions on the rights of migrants and asylum seekers.

The result is a continuation of the dehumanizing and dangerous conditions at the border, with less public control than ever before.

Crisis at the border

During my research for a 2019 documentary film, Waylaid in Tijuana, I observed first-hand the difficult conditions faced by thousands of migrants and asylum seekers who were stranded on the US-Mexico border long before the pandemic.

Under international and domestic law, the United States must offer asylum to people who have a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of their political beliefs, racial or ethnic background, religion, or other particular characteristics that make them targets of violence.

But in April 2018, the Trump administration began measuring asylum seekers by requiring them to be placed on a waiting list for their first appointment with U.S. officials. By August 2019, 25,000 people were on the list, most of them in Tijuana. In February 2020, just before the global pandemic was declared, 15,000 people were still waiting.

Nine months after the measurement began, the Trump administration introduced Migration Protection Protocols that require asylum-seekers who have passed their first hearing to return to Mexico to await any further court hearings. By March 2020, over 65,000 asylum-seekers had been returned to Mexico, mostly through ports of entry in Texas.

Under pressure from the Trump administration, the Mexican government endorsed this policy and gave asylum seekers the right to wait for their hearing in Mexico. Migrants in the caravans arriving in late 2018 and early 2019 also received special work permits.

Since then, however, the Mexican government has drastically reduced these permits, and todays migrants receive almost no government assistance. The lucky ones find room and board in a church-run migrant shelter, an informal job as a waiter or in construction, and access to health care and legal advice from local or U.S. nonprofit organizations.

Most migrants are not so lucky. Housing cannot keep up with demand, leaving thousands on the streets or in tent camps without sanitation or electricity, especially along the Texas border. Asylum-seekers outside the shelters rarely have access to social welfare or legal counsel.

Asylum seekers are also targeted by criminals and local police for extortion, robbery, kidnapping and assault adding another layer of trauma to the violence they suffer at home and on their journey. During the interviews with asylum seekers conducted for Waylaid in Tijuana, my colleagues and I were able to recognize the fear and anxiety in their body language.

Prevented by the pandemic

These two policies-the measurement system and migration protection protocols-had already significantly reduced the chances of Central American migrants receiving asylum in the United States before the pandemic. In August 2020, only 570 of the 44,000 asylum-seekers returned to Mexico whose cases had been decided were given refuge in the United States. This represents an approval rate of 1.3 percent, compared to 21 percent in 2018 for asylum seekers from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

The pandemic has now enabled the Trump administration to effectively end asylum as a way for Central Americans to legally enter the United States.

In March 2020, the Department of Homeland Security closed the waiting lists for asylum hearings and suspended asylum hearings. The Trump administration also invoked Title 42, a little-used rule of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that aims to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, in order to immediately deport all migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border without the hearing to which many of them would normally be entitled.

Under this rule, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol

Read the original:
Migrant caravans are starting again as the pandemic exacerbates the crisis on the border between the United States and Mexico. - The Washington...

Our editors weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.

Ethiopias Tigray conflict is little more than a week old, but the number of people killed and displaced is rising fast. On 12 November, Amnesty International said scores and likely hundreds of day labourers were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra, a town in Tigray. TNH could not independently verify the killings, but witnesses who spoke to the rights group blamed militia aligned to the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, an ethnic Tigrayan party fighting against the government. One witness who inspected ID cards of victims said the dead were mostly ethnic Amharas, from a region that is supporting Addis Ababas offensive. Hundreds of combatants from both sides are also thought to have died in air raids and clashes in the region, while banking, transport, trade, and telecommunications services remain cut off. Some 11,000 people half of them children have fled to neighbouring Sudan, where local authorities told TNH they are struggling to cope. The capability of Sudan is very limited and the number of refugees is very big, said one Sudanese official. Read our latest on the conflict for more.

They faced the worlds second deadliest COVID-19 outbreak per capita and one of the tightest lockdowns, leaving 40 percent of the population jobless and many scrambling to return to their home communities from coastal cities. On 9 November, Peruvians added politics to their list of woes. After impeaching President Martn Vizcarra whose approval ratings were amongst the highest in the region Congress, opposed to Vizcarras anti-corruption reforms, quickly swore in the head of the chamber, Manuel Merino, as the new president. The controversial removal of Vizcarra on moral incapacity and graft charges which he denies and the quick power switch set off street protests throughout the country. The UNs human rights office says it has received worrying reports of arbitrary detentions and the excess use of force by state forces during the protests, and called on the police to respect international norms. Few countries have recognised the transition.

Drug-maker Pfizer this week announced its candidate for a COVID-19 vaccine may be 90 percent effective a welcome boost during a chaotic year. The early results may be promising, but they also raise other questions: Will vaccines reach vulnerable communities? Is there infrastructure in place think cold freezers, transport networks to handle shipments? And what about conflict zones especially areas controlled by armed groups? An analysis by the International Committee of the Red Cross tries to tackle the issue of vaccine access in conflict. It emphasises that states (and armed groups) are obliged to ensure vaccines are distributed without discrimination under international humanitarian law. In practice, of course, that doesnt always happen. Civilians in conflict zones, or areas controlled by armed groups, have struggled to access treatment or healthcare throughout the pandemic. In Taliban-controlled parts of Afghanistan, for example, aid access comes down to ground-level negotiations (and access denials frequently derail polio vaccinations). In Myanmar, some armed groups have had to source their own protective gear and COVID-19 tests. The World Health Organization (WHO) and others are trying to ensure equal access to whatever vaccine emerges. But in crisis hotspots, global agreements may still find roadblocks at the last mile. We have seen greedy scrambles for access to therapies before, from HIV to H5NI influenza, bumping the most vulnerable countries those in the grips of armed conflict to the back of the queue, the ICRC notes.

Russia pledged $1 billion in reconstruction and humanitarian funds at a widely boycotted online conference about the return of Syrian refugees. In a speech, Syrian President al-Assad said the refugees fled not because of the actions of his government, but due to the largest barbaric Western aggression which the world has ever known in modern history. Only about 27 countries took part, emphasising international divisions: Turkey was not invited and Jordan did not take part. Together, they host three quarters of the 5.6 million Syrian refugees in the region. The UN says the situation is not good enough for it to recommend returns, but about 115,000 refugees chose to go home to Syria in 2019 and 2020 anyway. The UNs refugee agency, the United States, and the EU all skipped the conference, but the UN sent an observer. Few Syria conferences get all the players: In June, the EU hosted a fourth event about aid to Syria without the Syrian government.

New estimates from World Bank economists say at least 125 million people worldwide will fall this year below the extreme poverty line ($1.90 per day), and as many as 257 million will fall into poverty, with the line set higher, at $3.20. Calling them the COVID-19-induced new poor, a recent blog warns that in a truly uncertain environment one critical factor can push even more into poverty. If the pandemic widens inequality within countries, for example between those who can work remotely and those who cant, tens of millions more would become the new poor. Despite these threats posed to low-income and emerging economies, there is no big new aid funding on the horizon. A high-level 9-10 November meeting of donor countries declared financing for sustainable development risks collapsing, but came up with no specific promises of new cash. Oxfam said they had missed a wake-up call.

In January, 90,000 people were displaced by conflict in Mozambiques northernmost Cabo Delgado region. As the year draws to a close, that number has passed more than 400,000. Attacks by Islamist miliants are behind the surge: This week, local media reported the beheading of 50 men and boys by jihadists on a soccer pitch in the town of Muatide. UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres called the killings wanton brutality. From a small group of disaffected youth, the militants now number several thousand, have seized various towns including the key port of Mocmboa da Praia and are launching attacks on Tanzania, which borders gas-rich Cabo Delgado. With Mozambiques army struggling to contain the violence, local communities are forming self-defence militias. But the groups are reportedly committing their own abuses, the jihadists are only growing stronger, and the number of displaced people keeps on rising. Read our reporting for more.

AFGHANISTAN: More than 13 million people a third of Afghanistans population may face crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity through March 2021, according to the latest projections. Conflict, COVID-19 economic impacts, soaring food prices, and climate disasters are pushing more people toward hunger, analysts say.

THE CANARY ISLANDS: Asylum seekers and migrants arriving in the Canary Islands are being held on a pier in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions by Spanish authorities, according to Human Rights Watch. A record 2,200 people arrived in the islands by boat between 7 and 9 November. Located off the coast of West Africa, the Spanish archipelago recorded around 2,500 arrivals all of last year compared to more than 14,500 already this year.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Ex-president Franois Boziz submitted papers on 9 November to stand in presidential elections slated for December. Boziz was deposed in a coup in 2013 and spent years in exile before returning to CAR last year. He is currently under UN sanctions for his role in the 2013-2014 crisis.

THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN: More than 110 asylum seekers and migrants died in shipwrecks off the coast of Libya between 10 and 12 November, including one that claimed the lives of at least 70 people. At least 522 people are known to have died in the Central Mediterranean in 2020, while European countries have obstructed the work of search and rescue NGOs and ignored or responded slowly to reports of boats in distress.

CTE DIVOIRE: More than 8,000 Ivoiriens have fled to neighbouring countries, according to the UNs refugee agency, UNHCR, as fresh clashes broke out this week following disputed elections that saw Alassane Ouattara win a controversial third term in a landslide. UNHCR said the refugees requested to remain close to the Cte DIvoire border so they can return home should the situation stabilise.

ITALY-TUNISIA: Italy is considering deploying ships and planes to monitor Tunisian territorial waters in an effort to reduce the number of migrant boats leaving the north African country. More than 12,300 Tunisians have arrived by boat in Italy so far this year, compared to just over 2,600 in all of 2019.

MEASLES: Cases of vaccine-preventable measles soared in 2019 to the highest global level in 23 years, research by the WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. Experts fear disruptions to vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic could make matters worse.

SOUTHEAST ASIA STORMS: Typhoon Vamco brought extreme rains and roof-high floods to parts of the Philippine main island of Luzon the countrys fifth big storm since October. Vamco continues westward and is projected to threaten central Vietnam around 14 November. Vamco is the latest in a barrage of storms that have churned across Southeast Asia, worsening seasonal floods. The UN says at least 2.7 million people need urgent aid in the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

Indigenous leadership and experience during disasters is often overlooked or misunderstood. And yet, as the coronavirus pandemic has overwhelmed healthcare systems and crippled economies worldwide, Indigenous communities have often had to fend for themselves, turning to traditional medicine in some cases, and peaceful protests in others. Indigenous communities in rural areas of Guatemala have now been dealt yet another challenge: Hurricane Eta. After making landfall on Nicaraguas Caribbean coast on 3 November, Eta caused widespread destruction across Central America. In Honduras, nearly 1.8 million people have been directly affected, while more than 200 people have been killed mostly by flooding and landslides across the region. For Indigenous communities in Guatemala, the slow official response to Eta is seen as just another example of long-standing neglect by the central government. Find out how theyre organising their own responses, and about the combined threat ahead of COVID-19, drought, and hunger.

The United States may face an electoral mess on home soil, but you wouldnt be able to tell from reading State Department press releases. The US continues to weigh in on other countries votes, offering stern scoldings, or avuncular kudos, with no apparent appreciation for irony. The latest missive this week professes concern for the mass disenfranchisement of the Rohingya population and voting cancellations in Myanmars elections which granted de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi another term yet likely added to grievances among ethnic minority communities. Others question Tanzanias commitment to democratic values, or pledge to keep a watchful eye on upcoming elections in Africa (yes, all of it). A tweet from the US embassy in Abidjan urges commitment to the democratic process in Cte dIvoire. Its not all dour warnings, however. An October statement greeted elections in the Seychelles with a hearty congratulations, and hopes for a peaceful transfer of power.

pdd-er-bp-pk-kp-il/ag

Our journalism has always been free and independent and we need your help to keep it so.

As we mark our 25th anniversary, we are launching a voluntary membership programme. Become a member of The New Humanitarian to support our journalism and become more involved in our community.

Find out more

View original post here:
Ethiopia's worsening conflict, Peru's political crisis, and ironic US election advice: The Cheat Sheet - The New Humanitarian

New Delhi: After coming up with a surprising performance by bagging 16 out of the 30 seats contested in the recent Bihar Assembly elections, the Left parties, which fought in alliance with the RJD, have gone back to re-strategising for themselves ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections in Bengal which was once a CPM stronghold.

Sources in the Bengal unit of the CPM said that the Bihar results have come as a surprise to them as well, since they were not expecting such an outstanding performance by the party and this has in itself helped energise the cadre in Bengal which is going to take on the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress and the BJP just six months from now.

We are trying to figure out the factors that worked in favour of us. We will replicate the same methods that worked for us in Bihar. As per our preliminary understanding, migrant issues, the issue of Covid-19 pandemic which we strongly raised, where millions of people were left to fend for themselves, have caught the attention of the marginalised sections of the society. It seems that they have once again reposed their faith in the Left ideology that constantly works for the upliftment of the downtrodden, a Left leader from Bengal told this correspondent.

For the first time in Bihar, the Left partiescomprising the CPI(M). CPI and the CPI(M-L)fought under an alliance and this, the Left leaders believe, worked in their favour. Some Left leaders that this correspondent spoke to said that earlier, the Left votes, which used to be fragmented, have been consolidated this time since they decided to fight as one. Left leaders also credit RJD chief and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is currently in jail, for bringing all the Left parties together this time around and solidifying the Mahagathbandhan alliance.

In the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, the Left parties together were able to garner just three seats. While the CPI and the CPIM scored zero that year, it was only the CPI(ML) which managed to get three seats. Left leaders from Bengal also say that, as part of their re-drawn strategy for Bengal, all the Left parties this time are likely to fight the 2021 Assembly elections together, unlike in the previous years when the CPI(ML) and the SUCI would contest on their own. Apart from this, the CPM, which is already in an alliance with the Congress in Bengal, would continue with the alliance and go into the 2021 Assembly Sabha polls with the Congress.

Taking a cue from Bihar, the Left is also pushing towards garnering the young voters in the state for which the party has already started reaching out to the youths in Bengal. According to CPM leaders from Bengal, the party has garnered a lot of votes from the youths this time around in Bihar and keeping that in mind, the Left parties, which have already been promoting youth leaders since the last few years, will work towards pushing more young faces forward.

Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Dr Fuad Halim, senior leader of the CPM from Bengal, claimed, It has been decided that we have to strengthen the Left parties and include the broader Left intelligentsia and then construct a Left and secular democratic alliance and this is what the Mahagathbandhan is all about. We will do the same thing in Bengal, as we appeal to all the secular democratic forces to come forward and form a formidable force to take on the BJP and the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government. As in Bihar, people have found that the only reliable and concrete alternative to the BJP is the Left organisation; this will also be seen in Bengal. We have also got six times more number of seats in Bihar compared to last time and this shows that the consolidation of the Left has benefited and this is what will be done for Bengal as well.

The Left also believes that the distribution of tickets, which were mostly given to people belonging from the intellectual community, has helped them in Bihar and the party is likely to repeat the same in Bengal. Left party sources from Bengal hinted that they already have a sizable number of intelligentsia with them, they would consider giving tickets to them since they appeal to the youth voters. Apart from this, the Left parties are also going to reach out to the most marginalised sections of society in Bengal who have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Amphan super cyclone in Bengal that devasted parts of the state earlier this year. Since then, they say that a huge number of young cadres of the CPM has been working on the ground with them and they believe that the party has been able to win their trust as the alternative party in the interiors of Bengal. There has been a resurgence in the support base of the CPM and Left parties in various districts in Bengal and this has been primarily because of the migrants who have come back with a great degree of discontent with regards to the handling of the migrant crisis by the state as well as the Centre and the CPM has been with them ever since the pandemic has hit. Our cadres have been on the ground with them, taking care of their needs; so definitely, they are going to repose their faith in the Left parties. Dr Fuad Halim claimed.

Read this article:
Left to replicate 'Bihar model' in Bengal - The Sunday Guardian

There has never been a whole lot of overlap between the social realism of Ken Loach and the twisted horror of A Nightmare on Elm Street. But thats about to change with the release of His House, a strikingly original debut from the gifted British film-maker Remi Weekes, which was snapped up by Netflix at Sundance earlier this year for an eight-figure sum.

His House follows a South Sudanese couple Wunmi Mosaku as Rial, Sope Dirisu as her husband Bol who are dumped on a bleak Essex housing estate while their appeal for asylum is considered. Their temporary home is blighted by peeling walls, dodgy wiring and hostile neighbours. Worse than that, its haunted. If they flee, Rial and Bol risk deportation for violating bail. Stay, however, and they will need to do battle with the wall-dwelling creatures, which appear to have followed them from Africa.

This isnt the first film to use the conventions of horror to address this modern crisis: Mati Diops Atlantics imagined the women of Dakar being possessed by the ghosts of migrants who had perished at sea. But it is undoubtedly the scariest. His House thrives on two types of threat, the social and the supernatural, each intensifying the other. Horror audiences will be accustomed to figures lurking in the back of the frame its just that, in this case, theres no knowing whether it will be a scuttling monster, a meddling immigration official, or a lout.

When the idea of a horror story involving asylum-seekers was first proposed to Weekes by producers, he was unsure if he had any personal connection to the material. Although his grandparents are from St Lucia and Sierra Leone, he was raised in London. But once I thought about it, I was reminded of how I felt growing up in this country, says the 33-year-old, sitting in his home with a bicycle leaning against the wall behind him.

Youre torn. Theres one side that wants to assimilate and be accepted by a culture that is ambivalent toward you. Then another side wants to reject that, to be proud of where youre from, to rebel against the norms. Thats always been in the background of conversations with my family and friends: which parts of us are English and which are from other places?

The theme of tribalism underpins His House. Back in South Sudan, Rial scarred herself with the markings of two warring factions to improve her chances of survival. Now in Britain, she finds it harder to move between tribes. In the films most provocative scene, she approaches a group of black British teenagers for help, only to receive a chastening reminder that skin colour is no guarantee of solidarity.

Weekes consulted with Waging Peace, an organisation that opposes genocide and human rights violations in Sudan, and Right to Remain, which helps people navigate the UK asylum system. This was to ensure a realistic grounding for a story that takes flight into the nightmarish. It was important to know how asylum seekers are treated, he says. The draconian rules, the uncaring bureaucracy, it all shows this lack of empathy.

Physical displacement and disorientation become, in the film, a breeding ground for internal horrors. Being effectively under house arrest, you can really take a battering psychologically. All the spooky stuff that happens in the house I wanted to treat as tangible. Whether its real or not doesnt matter it feels real to the characters.

Weekes first made his name as one half of the partnership Tell No One, turning out playful, effects-driven video shorts with his childhood friend Luke White. The duos name suggests the sinister or the secretive, though nothing could be further from the truth. We just wanted to put stuff online without telling anyone, says Weekes. It was more a reference to our psychology, to not letting ego get in the way. Were very understated people. Get us in a meeting and we go quiet.

Posting their shorts on YouTube and Vimeo, the pair attracted commissions from fashion and advertising. Those films have an enchanting simplicity: in one, coloured umbrellas pop open like vibrant floral blooms, while another shows arms layered digitally on screen to create a tree of limbs.

I thought the laughter caused by tickling could make a horror film

His House also features a multiple-arm scene, as does Weekess Channel 4 horror short Tickle Monster. Does he have a fear of limbs? I dont think so, he says with a sheepish giggle. Tickle Monster came from a conversation I had with a friend. He was dating someone who kept tickling him. Even though he hated it and it made him feel awful, his laughter seemed to the other person like some weird form of consent. I thought, That could be a horror film.

He has also encountered another kind of monster: Harvey Weinstein, who was desperate to get his paws on His House, back when it was a hot script doing the rounds. When I turned the Weinstein Company down, they got upset and tried to sue me. Theyre very aggressive about getting the rights to films. If it wasnt for the #MeToo movement that blew up the company, they probably would have had their way. Now thats a scary story.

His House is in selected cinemas now, and on Netflix from 30 October.

Go here to read the rest:
Nightmare on asylum street: His House, the horror film about the migrant crisis - The Guardian

When India announced a national lockdown at the end of March, it caused an exodus of migrant workers and their families from Delhi back to their villages across the country.

This mass movement, combined with vanishing wages and the coronavirus pandemic, sparked a humanitarian crisis. When the lockdown was extended until the end of May, multimedia news outlet Asiaville decided to take a different approach to cover the crisis.

Two journalists set out on a 600km trip to document the journey many Indians were facing: uprooted families, disrupted work and fears for their health.

Armed with their mobile phones and bicycles, Asiaville associate editor Sruthin Lal and journalist Dibyaudh Das created a three-part documentary series called Corona Cyclips.

Lal spoke to Journalism.co.uk about the project, its inspiration and its challenges. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

At what point did you decide you wanted - or needed - to go out into the field and do this documentary?

The main tipping point was the visuals. We were seeing all these city-centric visuals of the migrant crisis, like around Dehli, so we wanted to know what happens to the people travelling through all the routes. We wanted to find out what happens if you travel like a migrant.

Even though the idea came in the first week of May, we had to come up with a workable plan first. We set out on 21 May because it was a logistical nightmare. There were no hotels, people would not allow you to stay at their own places because of coronavirus and Dehli was having a huge infection rate.

You were witnessing a humanitarian crisis happening in your own country. What went through your head in terms of how you wanted to cover the stories of migrant workers?

We did not want to be that person describing the plight of the other person from a car, with a TV crew and everything packed. This was such a significant moment in our history that we thought we should experience it first-hand.

The old-school way of doing it meant you needed expensive equipment to send out into the field. But you cannot do this as a single person or two people. Mobile phones allow you to do any sort of crazy journalistic experiments. We immediately wanted to make use of this minimal gear.

First, we wanted the first-person narrative to put ourselves in the story - some journalists may not agree with this style. Secondly, we wanted to make use of new media, the power of mobile technology and social media. We were live-tweeting and live-blogging. With certain stories we put out, people instantly reached out. We were reporting in four languages, and the Hindi vertical gained the most traction.

Mobile phones allow you to do any sort of crazy journalistic experiments.Sruthin Lal

That is one of the things which kept us going: it was 600km. I had some training but my colleague, Dibyaudh Das, never did anything like that. But he has got the attributes of a young journalist: very hard working and just wants to go out and do it.I did not know if we would be able to finish it physically, but that instant feedback drove both of us to do it.

The physical toll of the journey could have been matched by the mental toll. Which one was greater?

Both were tough. In the initial days, our bodies were tired but as days went on and we started witnessing these stories, it took a toll on us mentally, especially on Dibyaudh who is much younger.

I had that editor's job of telling him what was the story and when not to get emotionally attached. I said to him 'Our job is to get the story out. If you start feeling the pain of what you see out there, we won't be able to finish the trip'.

There was one particular moment when we met migrant workers that were really hoping to be reunited with their families for Eid, but they had been walking for three days in 45 degrees heat. There were a lot of similar situations. It was very difficult.

You managed to speak to so many people during your trip and they all seemed so willing to stop and speak to you. How did you do that?

This was the advantage of the way we travelled. Nothing was planned besides our route, our only plan was just to go after what you see. Whenever we saw people walking, we just got our phones out, started talking and they told us their stories. Everything was so natural.

Everyone appreciated that we were on the ground reporting, they were more receptive to us and realised they we were travelling like them. That really helped us connect with people more because we understood their pain. Even the police in Uttar Pradesh could not believe we were journalists and doing this trip. When we showed them our press passes, they thought we were crazy.

What tech did you bring out on the road, and what were the pros and cons?

Dibyaudh used an iPhone 11, and I used an iPhone XR and a GoPro on my helmet. We also used lapel mics because we wanted good audio quality.

We carried a tripod as well but we never had the time use it properly. It was a monopod - like a selfie-stick - that we mainly used for interviewing at a distance because of the coronavirus. We just tied the mic around it as an extension, not the purpose it was made for. It was a lesson for us because it ended up being extra baggage, you only need the bare minimum. We were so worried because we were travelling from Dehli and talking to so many people, we did not want to spread anything.

We also had two or three mobile charging banks for emergency purposes. At night we put everything on charge, and then put the power banks in our bags to try and solar charge. A heatwave was going on so most of the time mobile phones stopped working. iPhones cannot work in 45 degrees heat, so there was a lot of turning off and on. GoPro was better in those situations.

Where did you manage to sleep and charge up?

I knew two or three people with government connections, so again, the fact that we travelled on bicycles helped because they felt like they had to help us. One government official called up some people in districts to open up government guest houses just for us.

We initially thought we could sleep rough but in the end, that would not have been possible because proper sleep proved necessary.

How did you assure the safety of yourself and your colleague?

We were really worried because Uttar Pradesh has a bad reputation. My room-mate is from this state and he gave me a very bad impression of it. Generally, he was saying, people are not that friendly to strangers and we might get attacked by the gangs out there. Now that people have lost jobs and we were carrying expensive equipment, they might try to rob us. Nothing like that happened, fortunately. People were so friendly because they appreciated what we did.

We avoided travelling at night, so we planned our trips to start at 5 oclock in the morning and cycle until 11 o'clock. We would then break and set off again until about 4 or 5 oclock to start recording. We would stop cycling by about 7 oclock.

Reflecting on the journey, which moment stands out to you?

It is hard to think of one, the whole trip was amazing. But one moment that comes to mind is a woman I met. I told her I was a journalist and she invited me to her house. She showed me another two children living next door, they were separated from their mum and dad in Mumbai. They did not have the money to return by train. This family was Muslim and the woman was Hindu.

Hindus and Muslims are often portrayed fighting but this woman was taking care of these two children. She needed help though. I put out her story (below) and many people instantly reached out to help out, giving money and emergency rations. I felt really good about that story.

What did you learn from this project?

You will not find many stories about women in the documentary. Since both of us were men, women were reluctant to speak to us or men would not allow us to speak to women. So we could not cover the impact this crisis had on women, which we regret. We did not omit it, this highlights the importance of gender diversity. It was a learning for me and I will keep this in mind for the next time we go out in the field.

Calling all Telegram users: join our journalism news channel to receive an audio update every Monday morning, and our journalism jobs channel to find out the latest opportunities

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).

Excerpt from:
Documenting India's migrant crisis with smartphones and bicycles - Journalism.co.uk