NORTHERN LIGHTS
AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
Majd Khalifeh // Roel Nollet// 2023 // 26 min
“No one will end up on the street,” says Thorir Hall firmly. He works for the Red Cross. “In Iceland, sleeping on the street is not an option.” It is a nice day today. It is minus four outside. The aid organization has just opened a new emergency shelter in downtown Reykjavik. Last year, some 4,000 refugees applied for asylum in the country. It seems ridiculously little when you compare it to countries like Greece, Lebanon or even Belgium, but for Iceland it is 70 times more than a decade ago. “Finding housing for everyone is now the biggest challenge,” says Thorir. The island is three and a half times the size of Belgium, but there are thirty times fewer people. Journalists Majd Khalifeh and Roel Nollet travel to Iceland to document the surge in refugees.
When the war breaks out in Ukraine, it is immediately clear to Anastasia. “Iceland is a miracle to me,” she says. She has just seen a school of white-beaked dolphins and her son Gleb is visibly impressed. “Nobody understands why I wanted to come here. Why not to Germany or Portugal, they ask? I don't really know myself, but I feel strong here.”
“Many people think this is a frozen country, but it's actually not that bad,” says Kinan. The Syrian refugee has been living here for five years now. “The winters can be harsh, but you see things here that you won't find anywhere else in the world. And the Icelanders are incredibly open and hospitable. “Refugees who don't stand a chance in Belgium or Germany, they sometimes do get a residence permit here.”
“Iceland is an economic miracle,” says Nicole Lee Mosty. She works for the Icelandic Agency for Integration. We've been so deep in debt here, we thought we wouldn't get out for a hundred years. But look: we can do it anyway. We take in people for humanitarian reasons, but the fact that the labor market is so open here helps to convince people that this humanitarian shelter is necessary.” Since Iceland allowed immigrants and refugees to enter its territory, it has experienced an economic growth of four percent per year. To sustain that increase, they need 2,000 extra people per year.
In “Northern Lights, at the end of the tunnel” Roel and Majd meet refugees from Ukraine and the Middle East who are trying to build a new life in Iceland. Not easy if you are on the edge of the North Pole. Or right?
Realised with the support of Fonds Pascal Decroos voor bijzondere journalistiek.
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"NoBODY WILL END UP ON THE STREETS”
/// THORIR HALL /// Red Cross Iceland///
