By: Kim Wilson et al.

This collection of profiles from Ethiopia explores stories that highlight refugee and migrant journeys and their efforts to adapt to new surroundings. The profiles, dubbed Financial Biographies, included in this publication depict the grit and resourcefulness required by refugees and migrants to survive and in some cases thrive as they move and settle.

Ethiopia taught us lessons about how new boundaries do not necessarily mean new kinships. Our respondents in Jijiga, a region in the southeast of Ethiopia, had strong ties to relatives in Somalia and had steadfastly preserved their traditions from that country This was despite the fact that they had been residing in the camps for ten or more years. 

The biographies in this publication are intended to preserve the entire financial story of selected respondents and are meant to supplement our other publications, taking the reader into the depths of individual migrant experiences.

By: Kim Wilson et al. 

This collection of profiles from Tunisia explores stories that highlight refugee and migrant journeys and their efforts to adapt to new surroundings. The profiles, dubbed Financial Biographies, included in this publication depict the grit and resourcefulness required by refugees and migrants to survive and in some cases thrive as they move and settle.

We found there were two kinds of respondents in Tunisia: students who had come from sub-Saharan Africa to study at the university level and migrants who also came from countries like Côte d’Ivoire to work as casual laborers. The migrant stories showed how, in the hands of malign employers, informal labor could tragically turn into forced labor. 

The biographies in this publication are intended to preserve the entire financial story of selected respondents and are meant to supplement our other publications, taking the reader into the depths of individual migrant experiences.

By: Kim Wilson et al.

This collection of profiles from Mexico explores stories that highlight refugee and migrant journeys and their efforts to adapt to new surroundings. The profiles, dubbed Financial Biographies, included in this publication depict the grit and resourcefulness required by refugees and migrants to survive and in some cases thrive as they move and settle.

In Mexico, we interviewed migrants and asylum seekers from Burkina Faso, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Venezuela and learned how native Spanish speakers, surprisingly, did not always do better than those who were learning Spanish as a second language. Haitians were coping well and some had perfected a Mexican accent.

The biographies in this publication are intended to preserve the entire financial story of selected respondents and are meant to supplement our other publications, taking the reader into the depths of individual migrant experiences.

By: Kim Wilson et al.

This collection of profiles from Kenya explores stories that highlight refugee and migrant journeys and their efforts to adapt to new surroundings. The profiles, dubbed Financial Biographies, included in this publication depict the grit and resourcefulness required by refugees and migrants to survive and in some cases thrive as they move and settle.

COVID-19 impacted our research in Kenya. These stories come from refugees initially hailing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi and were gathered by refugees themselves. Researchers trained five refugees in the interview process prior to the start of the pandemic. Given the limitations the pandemic created, these researchers wrote down their own stories, which began an iterative process to develop their biographies. Enumerators then completed five additional interviews to share the stories of fellow refugees. The full collection of these stories can be found in “Refuge? – Refugees’ stories of rebuilding their lives in Kenya.”

By: Kim Wilson et al. 

This collection of profiles from Jordan explores stories that highlight refugee and migrant journeys and their efforts to adapt to new surroundings. The profiles, dubbed Financial Biographies, included in this publication depict the grit and resourcefulness required by refugees and migrants to survive and in some cases thrive as they move and settle.

In Jordan, researchers conducted three rounds of interviews with participants. In most cases, we conducted our interviews in the mother tongues of our research respondents and dispensed with the interrogative style of survey research in favor of a conversational approach. A complete compilation of stories from our Jordan research can be found in “A Hope for Home: A brief compendium of financial journeys of refugees and asylum seekers in Jordan.”

By: Kim Wilson et al. 

This collection of profiles from Ecuador explores stories that highlight refugee and migrant journeys and their efforts to adapt to new surroundings. The profiles, dubbed Financial Biographies, included in this publication depict the grit and resourcefulness required by refugees and migrants to survive and in some cases thrive as they move and settle.

In Quito, we interviewed mainly Venezuelans but also immigrants from Iran, Nepal, Bangladesh and Colombia. The Venezuelans on the whole expressed appreciation for the welcoming hospitality of Ecuadorans. They liked being able to earn a living in US dollars, a relief from the Venezuelan Bolivar, whose value had plummeted over the years. 

By: Kim Wilson et al. 

This collection of profiles from Uganda explores stories that highlight refugee and migrant journeys and their efforts to adapt to new surroundings. The profiles, dubbed Financial Biographies, included in this publication depict the grit and resourcefulness required by refugees and migrants to survive and in some cases thrive as they move and settle.

In Uganda, we interviewed refugees and migrants from Somalia, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda. We saw that those who had chosen to live in the city of Kampala, would overtime, likely experience a progression in their earnings from less than $1 a day to more than $4 a day and, for the enterprising few, far more. Those in the camp often resorted to selling their food rations to survive. 

By: Anargiros Z. Frangos, Jr. under the supervision of Kim Wilson et al. 

This collection of profiles from the United States explores stories that highlight migrant journeys and their efforts to adapt to new surroundings. The profiles, dubbed Financial Biographies, included in this publication depict the grit and resourcefulness required by migrants to survive and in some cases thrive as they move and settle.

In the United States, a Fletcher graduate partnered with a Mexican key-informant to interview fifteen migrants from Puebla, Mexico living in New Rochelle, New York. None of the informants had legal status in the U.S. At the time of the initial interviews they had been in the U.S. for as long as 14 years and for as little as one month. 

By: Marisol Hernandez, Heather Odell, Shane Sullivan, and Rosemary Ventura under the supervision of Kim Wilson

This collection of profiles from Colombia explores stories that highlight refugee and migrant journeys and their efforts to adapt to new surroundings. The profiles, dubbed Financial Biographies, included in this volume depict the grit and resourcefulness required by refugees and migrants to survive and in some cases thrive as they move and settle.

In 2022, in the cities of Cartagena and Medellín, our team of researchers examined the financial lives of Venezuelan households living and working both in downtown and more fringe geographies. We held in-person interviews with both Venezuelan migrants and local Colombians. Our goal was to understand  Venezuelan’s  financial journeys — how they were able, or not, to adapt or integrate into their new economic surroundings. In particular we wanted to understand how Mercy Corps, our sponsor, might structure its services to meet key financial gaps. Besides our interviews, we conducted transect walks, held informal conversations with landlords, bodega owners, as well as street vendors.

By: Kim Wilson et. al.

This collection of profiles, Volume II, Financial Biographies of People Coping with New Surroundings, takes up where Volume I, Financial Biographies of Long-Distance Journeyers, left off. In Volume I, we traced refugees’ and migrants’ journeys on the move, viewing their passages through an economic lens. In Volume II, we examine the lives of migrants and refugees who are managing new environments, be they displaced for long periods, in limbo waiting for the chance to move onward, or settling into their final destinations. 

Drawing on research undertaken in 2019 and 2020 of over 400 in-depth interviews, our profiles include material from Tijuana, Mexico; Tunis, Tunisia; Quito, Ecuador; Jijiga, Ethiopia; Kampala and Bidi Bidi Camp, Uganda; as well as Nairobi, Kenya and Amman, Jordan. In Ethiopia, respondents had been near Jijiga for between 10 and 20 years. Most respondents had been coping in their new surroundings for between two and four years. These biographies explore stories of adaptation, adjustment, and in some cases, integration.

By Kim Wilson et. al. 

This new edition of profiles builds upon Volume II, Financial Biographies of People Coping with New Surroundings, adding interviews from Colombia and the United States. The volume takes up where Volume I, Financial Biographies of Long-Distance Journeyers, left off. In Volume I, we traced refugees’ and migrants’ journeys on the move, viewing their passages through an economic lens. In Volume II, we examine the lives of migrants and refugees who are managing new environments, be they are displaced for long periods, in limbo waiting for the chance to move onward, or settling into their final destinations. 

In this updated edition, we draw on the primary research undertaken in 2019 and 2020 and bring new insights from research in 2021 and 2022. Our profiles include material from Tijuana, Mexico; Tunis, Tunisia; Quito, Ecuador; Jijiga, Ethiopia; Kampala and Bidi Bidi Camp, Uganda; as well as Nairobi, Kenya; Amman, Jordan; New Rochelle, United States; and Medellín, Colombia. In Ethiopia, respondents had been near Jijiga for between 10 and 20 years. Most respondents had been coping in their new surroundings for between two and four years. These biographies explore stories of adaptation, adjustment, and in some cases, integration.

By Marisol Hernandez, Heather Odell, Shane Sullivan, and Rosemary Ventura under the supervision of Kim Wilson

By: Kim Wilson et al.

This collection of financial biographies traces the ways in which extra-continental refugees and migrants finance their journeys and manage money along the way. It also highlights the importance of friendships, both old and new, in making a journey possible. Additionally, communication tools like mobile phones, WhatsApp, or Google Translate leverage friendships and kinships to help piece together successful long-distance travel.

By: Dr. Holly A. Ritchie with support from Julie Zollmann

This briefing note aims to offer deeper insights into the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic in urban refugee communities in Kenya over 2020–2021, drawing on both recent research and an online symposium organized in July 2021 (sponsored by Tufts University).