A child, 13 years of age, leaves home. He/she treks across the African desert, experiences horrific events unheard of for a 13 year old, and arrives in Libya. Ah Libya, the next step on their journey to a new life.

He/she is then beaten, traumatized, and taken advantage of in more ways than one; all before boarding a boat full of 300 others just like him/her… and the boat is meant for 20. A great deal of time passes… imagine 3 days without sufficient water and no leg room. They arrive to the coast of Italy. A new life begins.

This is an [extremely] condensed version of an African migrant’s journey in search of the “new life” they are told waits for them on the other side of the Mediterranean.

Ramzi Harrabi (@ramziharrabi) is an artist, intercultural mediator, and mentor for these kids that arrive in Italy. Based in Siracusa, Sicily (a beautiful, old Sicilian city), Ramzi seeks to empower these children, helping them see that they are just like everyone else, in search of a beautiful life. He lives life like an artist staring fiercely at a blank canvas, anything goes.

Ramzi guides individuals on their path to discovering their life’s work. Take a step back and put your life into perspective… we’re all the same.

For more information on Ramzi’s story, here is a beautiful guest post of his for the University of Oxford Law’s blog. The uprooted exhibit mentioned in the episode is covered in length by Elyse Resnick here.

Enjoy TheExperiment and this free flow of ideas (: