Invitation: please share your migration story!

In Estonian
На русском

Dear person with migration experience!

Whether you are an Estonian abroad, or a foreigner in Estonia, descendant of a migrant, emigrant or ex-emigrant; whether you have recently left your home country or lived abroad for decades; whether you are a long-term or short-term migrant; whether you live permanently in one country or you are in constant move between different countries; whether you are adult or juvenile – this announcement is for you!

We plan to develop a new methodological tool for Estonian schools, which would support teachers in explaining the topic of migration to pupils. This tool would reflect on topics about why people leave their home country as well as how migrants and/or their descendants feel themselves in the new society, and how they understand their own identity.

Would you be willing to help us? We would like to hear about your personal story regarding your travels, or about how your ancestors’ migration has affected you.

Try to find one precise topic of focus for your writing. In the process of choosing, consider what could be the most engaging and interesting plot from a reader´s perspective. Try out how it is to be a writer and add juicy details to your story!

- Maybe you can talk about an event that is important for you and that influenced you in deciding to leave your home country?
- Or you can talk something about the process of choosing your new homeland, or how did you end-up in your new country?
- Or maybe you have something to tell regarding how you feel in your new homeland? What have been the strange things in there that differ from things at home, what do you miss the most when living abroad?
- Maybe you would like to verbalise the feelings that you have regarding how it is to live abroad when your mother-tongue/cultural background/religion/skin colour etc. is different from the majority.?
- Or would you like to talk about why you have decided to stay forever in your new homeland; or the other way around - why you regret your decision or at least you consider moving back home or to some other country? What stops you in doing that?

We also welcome those stories where the author tries to connect one or more separate topics. In that case it is important that those topics would be closely linked to each other and would convey together some concrete message.

Please write your story in Estonian, English or Russian with a length of around 15-20 sentences, and submit it by 17th of April to: ingi [ät] pagulasabi.ee.

From all received migration stories we will choose the ten best ones. We will have a professional writer who will help with the editing so that the stories would be more easily readable. Therefore, the final stories could have some literary additions. Every story will have supportive illustrations with the help of wonderful children’s books illustrator Marja-Liisa Plats. By autumn 2017, the final version of the project will be freely available in the internet. In addition, 200 Estonian schools will get free A2-size poster-sets that support them in talking about the topic of migration in the classroom or in making an exhibition in the hallway.

Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the project manager Ingi Mihkelsoo via email: ingi [ät] pagulasabi.ee or by phone: +372 525 8702.


This project is being managed by the Estonian Refugee Council and the University of Tartu Centre for Ethics in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Research, and it is being funded by Council of the Gambling Tax.