“My Number was 453,” – One migrant’s story

More than 30,000 African migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean. Ibrahim Kondeh narrowly escapes becoming one of them. But through luck and courage he makes it across to Italy, although he pays a terrible price on the way. Claudia Romo Edelman and Edie Lush complete the story of this one migrant. “The story of migrants should be told more,” Ibrahim says in this episode.  “People tend to follow what the media tells about migrants and refugees -- seen as people who come in to steal jobs, criminals.  So as a result no one knows what our actual stories are. Positive stories can change the mindset of people.”  Ibrahim encounters frustration and racism in Italy. But he also is helped along the way, particularly by an innovative use of text messaging called U-report. Tanya Accone of Unicef explains that U-report connects Ibrahim and other migrants and refugees with experts who can advise them when they are at their most vulnerable, alone in a new land without language our resources. With the help of U-report Ibrahim navigates the Italian immigration rules and enrolls in high school. “A simple SMS,” says Tanya Accone, “can it change your life? I think Ibrahim would say, yes, it has.”  Fact and actions are offered by one of the creators of U-report, Mathias Devi Nielsen of Unicef. “U report is a tool for all youth to raise their voices battle stereotypes connecting youth to service on a global scale. “ U report currently operates in 65 countries with 8.5 million uses. It is growing rapidly. Mathias invited companies, agencies, NGOs and youth groups to partner with u report to help provide migrants and refugees with answers to their questions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices