homelands

In March 2019, we asked a group of teenage migrants at Save the Children’s CivicoZero center in Catania to draw and narrate their idea of home.

Below are their art and words.

Ibrahim, 17, from The Gambia.

“My name is Ibraheem.

In this first drawing, I drew water because the Gambia faces the sea and the sea is very important to us.

In my second drawing, I drew these houses. These are the traditional style of houses in the Gambia.

I drew this because it helps me remember my home.”

Sara, 18, from The Gambia.

“My name is Sara.

This is a traditional Gambian house.

This is the sun, this is a tree and these are birds.”

Fortuna, 17, from Eritrea

“Up here is the Eritrean flag.”

Amadou, 17, from The Gambia

Salilu, 18, Senegal

“This is a house and our flag”

Drame, 18, from Senegal

“Up here is a house.

This is the Senegalese flag.

This is our housecat.”

Annah, 19, from Libya

“I’ll tell you about my birth country, Libya.

First of all, there’s the flag. This flag was created in 2011. The one that existed before was green – the colour of hope – but ever since the civil war, it was changed to this: red is for the blood of those who have died, black is for the darkness, the dark sky where you can find the moon and a star, and green is for the hope for a new life.

The typical food in Libya is couscous. It’s a bit complicated to explain how it’s prepared, but it’s pretty easy to make. To make this dish, you’ll need an hour and a half total.

Then, there’s the most populous animal in the Libyan desert, the camel. Before, it was used as a means of transportation between cities, which to a certain extent it remains today.

Then, the typical house in Libya is a sort of tent, in which people can keep all sorts of things. Our tents aren’t like those we find here in Italy; they’re made of extremely fine textile that can only be found in Libya.

Next, there’s the Libyan landscape, the most widespread in Libya being the desert. It stretches from Chad all the way to Tunisia and Algeria. “

Mohammed, 18, from The Gambia

“My name is Mohammed.

My drawing represents my country, the Gambia.

The line down here is the river Gambia.

Up here is a house.

This is our flag. Every one of its colours holds a specific meaning: the red stands for the sun, white stands for peace and unity, the blue stands for the river Gambia and the sea, and the green stands for agriculture.”

Ahmed, 19, from Morocco

“This is our flag.

This is a typical house in Morocco. This is a plate of tajine.

This is the sea, with fish and boats.

This is the sun and the birds flying in the sky.

This is a tree.

This is Morocco. It’s beautiful.”

Mamadou, 16, from Côte d’Ivoire

“My first drawing is of the forest. I’ve tried to broadly represent it; our forests contain many different kinds of trees, like silk-cotton trees, small trees, and coconut trees.

In my second drawing, I drew a traditional house, many of which can be found in my village.

Then I drew the Ivorian flag; its colours are orange, white and green.

Our symbol is the elephant. Mine isn’t very pretty, but here it is.

Then, there’s the food in Côte d’Ivoire; we eat a lot of attiéké (a fermented cassava dish) and fish.”

Favour, 18, from Nigeria

“Hi, I’m from Nigeria. I want to talk about the basics of my country. The flag, typical house, food and animals. It’s beautiful but very populated!

I’ll start with the flag. The Nigerian flag has two colours: white and green; green represents the land’s vegetation and productivity, while white stands for purity and peace.

Secondly, here’s a typical house. Traditional houses in Nigeria often look different but what they have in common is what they are made of: mud, red sand mud. They’re roofed with palm branches. To this day, when you visit villages in Nigeria, you still see them.

Thirdly, I’ll talk about the food in Nigeria. In Nigeria, there are different types of food. Each ethnic group has their own food to represent their culture. The three main recognized ethnic groups (and languages) in Nigeria are Haoussa, Yoruba and Igbo. I’ll therefore explain each and every one of their foods which represents them (I’ll describe the typical dishes that represent each of them).

The Igbo are recognized by their food, which are Akpo and melon soup. They’re delicious!

The Yoruba eat a food called Amala with a soup called Ewedu. The Yoruba also eat what they call Adidi.

The Haoussa eat a particular food made from Maize called Tuwo-Chikafa with a drew spoup. They also eat a lot of meat because they have a lot of cows.

Fourthly, the animals. There are a lot of Animals in Nigeria. The northern parts are dominated by cows, while the eastern parts have goats and monkeys and in the south, fishes. There is a lot of fish in the southern part of the country.

Finally, the landscape.

There is a river in Nigeria called the river Niger. This river comes from two states in Nigeria: Niger state and Benue state. It’s big and wide and lots of people go fishing there.

Nigeria is a beautiful place. It’s a country I’m proud of. So many things don’t work well, but it,s a nice place to visit. I suggest you come to Nigeria and eat our particular food like Ewedu”.

Joy, 18, from Nigeria

“This is a house; it’s yellow, grey and red.

This is our flag; it’s purple in the middle and green on either side.

This is a shooting star. It has two colours: deep blue and sky blue.

This animal is a cow. It’s black.

This food is grati. It contains rice, vegetables and beans inside. The beans are the protein!”

Ibrahim, 17, from The Gambia