Between broken roots and the desire to belong

Migration is an act of courage that shatters the certainties of a familiar life. Security, understood as home, language, and loved ones, is put to the test. Those who leave seek a new space, but often fear betraying what they left behind. They find themselves suspended between two worlds. Just as in romantic relationships—where the promise of a bond can generate anxiety, dependence, and the fear of losing oneself—the migrant experiences a form of emotional engagement with the host country. It is an investment, a gamble on an uncertain future.

Shattered identity

Migration shatters identity. It's not just about adopting a different language or habits, but about managing the fracture that opens within: between what you brought with you and what you must build. The path can be:

• Assimilation : fully embracing the new culture, risking erasing one's roots.

• Marginality : remaining on the margins, belonging neither to the past nor the present, balanced between worlds.

• Integration : maintaining and enhancing both affiliations, seeking an authentic balance.

To become cultured is also to remedy a bereavement

Leaving your homeland can feel like mourning. The void is filled with difficulty, requiring time, storytelling, and awareness. Telling your story becomes therapy, both for yourself and for those who welcome you. Storytelling builds a bridge between the inside and the outside.

Adaptation isn't just superficial: it's about acknowledging emotions, processing suffering, and accepting fragmentation with dignity. Those who migrate aren't just seeking opportunities; they're seeking the chance to be heard.

Intercultural dialogue: the path of community

A migrant presence alone isn't enough to create belonging: it's dialogue that builds trust. A dialogue that:

1. Lower the barriers of fear and mistrust.

2. authentic, horizontal relationships

3. It builds imagined communities , made not only of shared spaces, but of intersecting histories, empathy, mutual responsibility.

Transforming fear into rebirth

Even when we think of migration as loss, it can be a vector of rebirth:

• Narrating one's experience restores one's identity.

• Dialogue builds strong bonds and trust.

• Inclusion creates belonging and meaning.

Welcoming someone doesn't mean restoring their lost balance, but offering them the tools to recreate it. And those who leave not only enrich their lives: they transform everything they encounter.

Migration is a delicate and powerful act: a leap into the unknown. Yet, it can be a beginning. When the fracture is not denied but acknowledged, it becomes a bridge. That bridge holds the possibility of regeneration—together, migrants and communities—building bonds, rebuilding social fabrics richer in humanity.

The podcast "The Elephant in the Room – Migration ," available on RaiPlay Sound, offers a fresh perspective on African migration, challenging the dominant narrative that focuses exclusively on arrivals in Europe. It highlights the paradox of globalization: everything can circulate freely except people. The podcast suggests that migration can be a strategic resource, not only for Africa but also for the future of Europe.

You can listen to it here:

🔗 The Elephant in the Room – Migration (RaiPlay Sound)