Barnabas Muvhuti is one of approximately 180,000 holders of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP). In November 2021, the South African government announced it would not renew the ZEP at the end of 2021, instead giving Zimbabweans who held a ZEP a ‘grace period’ of one year to apply for mainstream permits from the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). The decision caught us unawares and renewed or reinforced our sense of limbo and instability. In this article, Barnabas reflects on the situation and describe the mixed reactions of fellow Zimbabweans.
Reflection
Hadayek El Maadi, Cairo, Egypt
In this deeply personal reflection, author Nyayich Jal Gil, describes her experience as a refugee with a chronic medical condition living in Cairo, Egypt. She comments on the many challenges she and others in her situation have faced acquiring medication and securing support from doctors and NGOs, and how gaps in support affect physical and mental health.
Monterrey, Mexico 2021
In this deeply personal piece, architect and Mexican architectural history researcher Juan Manuel Casas García reflects on internal displacement and migration in Mexico driven largely by narco-violence, as well as migration to and integration within Mexican cities by those originating from outside of Mexico. His observations are rooted in Monterrey’s urban spaces and architecture, as well as his own upbringing in Mexico City and experience living in Monterrey.
Shatila, Beirut, Lebanon
Sara Sakhi and Lyn Hariri write about how the Intisar Foundation’s Drama Therapy program promotes psychological wellbeing for woman refugees in Shatila, and suggest that Drama Therapy has the capacity to unlock resilience and healing—not only for refugee women, but for the locals and practitioners who work with them and share their common sisterhood in a country that so often silences women’s voices.
San Jose, Costa Rica
The arrival of LGBTQ+ Nicaraguan refugees in Costa Rica is not a new development. On the contrary, it has occurred for decades, changing over time due to migrants’ different security, employment, and educational needs—which went unmet in Nicaragua. There are two main categories of Nicaraguan migrants: those who migrate seeking better working conditions or jobs and, more recently, those exiled for political reasons (such as university students exiled for engaging in anti-government protests). Camila Cuevas Barberousse and Michelle Vargas explore these issues in this article.