Little Pieces in an Enormous Puzzle
It is a question I’ve been asking myself for as long as I can remember and it’s what ultimately drew me to Al Jazeera - a network that consistently places marginalised voices at the heart of its reporting and boldly speaks truth to power – in the first place. As I travelled back to Doha, I reflected on my privilege as a storyteller and hoped that this film would, in some way, make a positive difference to the lives of the men we spoke to. Six months after the documentary aired, one of the migrant workers we interviewed, messaged me over Facebook. He thanked us for telling his story and said that his participation in the film helped his application to obtain a residence permit in Greece. He was finally allowed to work legally and travel back to Pakistan to see his wife and child. And then, a year later, Golden Dawn was found guilty of running a criminal organisation and its leaders were jailed. It was Greece’s highest-profile political trial in decades, and Nick, our photographer, was jubilant. I immediately messaged him to ask how he was feeling. “When [the verdict] was announced, we burst into tears. We really did,” he said. “I have a feeling that we might have helped a bit… I mean all of us. Journalists. These little pieces in this enormous puzzle,” Nick said. I certainly hope so.
me there for three days,” he explained. Nick later told us how the attack had left Lateef with long term health conditions, including a stutter and frequent headaches. He was no longer able to work regularly. A few days after our meeting, five to six men went to Lateef’s home and tried to attack him. Had it not been for the fence he had booby-trapped with electric wire and the protection of his dogs, Lateef fears he would have ended up in hospital yet again. Reflecting on Lateef’s story, I asked myself: “Why does the world have to be so unfair?”
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