The interactive web-documentary “Demal te niew” (Go and come back in Wolof) mixes different media and languages and it is aimed at overturning the European perspective on migration. "Demal te niew" adopts an original standpoint: it focuses on the stories of return migrants from Italy to Senegal.

Italy is the second most popular destination for migrants from Senegal. More than 6000 Senegalese reached Italy in 2014, each with a different story to tell. What binds them together is the common dream of a better future and the hope of saving enough to one day be able to go back and invest in their country. But there are a few migrants that can do so.

“Demal te niew” covers the lives of three successful entrepreneurial returnees, who have resettled in Senegal after a long  stay in Italy. A team from different fields explores the reasons that brought them home, the ties they still have with Italy, the projects they undertake and their aspirations for the future.

The main characters include Ndary, who has created an ice-cream business in Saly in collaboration with his former Italian employer. Karou, who is starting up a firm producing drip-irrigation systems with recycled plastic in Thiès. Mohamed, who after 12 years as an irregular migrant in Italy has opened a cooperative in Dakar with his Italian partners and created jobs for 45 young Senegalese.

Journalists and international aid-worker interviewed these men and a photographer took photos in their workplace and in family context. SoBigData carried out a data study: by analysing data on Orange mobile phone traffic we found out something new about  Senegalese migration towards different countries. The combination of these elements will allow the public to position the three stories within the bigger framework of contemporary international migration.

This project was possible  thanks to a grant from the European Journalism Centre. It was published in L’Espresso (the main Italian national weekly magazine on politics and economics) in December 2016, on International Migrants Day.

You can see the webdoc on l'Espresso (in italian) here and an english version here.