From Route to Rhyme: Teenagers Speak on Mixed Movement in Poetry

Heavy is the most common word used to describe mixed movement in this year’s recent poetry competition. Heaviness describes feet, heavy with hope, heavy stories, and heaviness in every step towards an unknown future.

This year, UNHCR in Senegal, in collaboration with its partners Green Village Foundation (GVF) and Comité International pour l'Aide d'Urgence et le Développement (CIAUD), hosted a poetry competition aimed at raising awareness about mixed movement. GVF plays a vital role in bridging UNHCR and refugee communities, facilitating access to essential services such as healthcare, education, and livelihood opportunities. CIAUD, the implementing partner for the Route-Based Approach project, is central to managing mixed movements by monitoring key transit points, delivering protection-focused interventions, and collecting data on vulnerable populations.

Together, the partners invited high school students to submit original poems reflecting the theme: “Solidarity on migratory routes.”

UNHCR defines mixed movements as flows of people traveling together, irregularly along the same routes and using the same means of transport, but for different reasons. These groups may include refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, victims of trafficking, unaccompanied or separated children, and economic migrants. Each person may have distinct needs and legal statuses, requiring tailored protection and assistance responses.

Most of the communities involved in mixed movements are youth, with a median age of 25.5 years. In the flood of periodic data, statistics, policies, legal reforms, and authorities responsible for managing this situation, it is easy to overlook the humanity behind the figures. Along these routes, young people carry hope and uncertainty, dreams and sorrows, courage and youth. Many are forcibly displaced survivors of dire situations: some flee recruitment into extremist groups, deadly military coups, heightened ethnic tensions, and religious persecution. They seek safety, dignity, and a chance to rebuild their lives in peace, far from the places they have called home.

In the past three years, the number of people involved in mixed movements has surged and grown more complex. This includes increasing numbers of vulnerable forcibly displaced groups, highlighting the importance of UNHCR’s presence along these routes. UNHCR's core mandate remains protection and identification of refugees and asylum-seekers, ensuring those fleeing persecution, conflict, or serious human rights violations are recognized and receive international protection. UNHCR works to distinguish persons in need of asylum from other communities along these routes, safeguarding their rights and ensuring access to legal and humanitarian support.

This year’s poems personify this demographic. In one of the top three poems, Gael Koyakaya draws parallels between himself and those forced to flee, reminding us that with the slightest change of circumstances, he too could be on this journey, tapping into courage often reserved for navigating teenage years:

“O you who pass by, remember their courage

Their journey is also a reflection of their age”

13-year-old Gael Koyakaya, a third-year student at CEM Castor de Keur Massar, emerged as the top winner of this year’s poetry competition. Driven by ambitious dreams in STEM, he hopes to one day become a doctor, an accountant, or work in finance. For now, Gael balances his studies with helping his parents by selling water sachets every afternoon after school.

Several forums, workshops, and seminars have been held in Senegal and beyond to understand why an increasing number of pirogues dock on the European coast. Behind the boldness of boarding these vessels often lies necessity—a need to flee civil turmoil, broken dreams due to unrest, and overwhelming dissatisfaction with limited opportunities caused by upheaval. What drives people to take this often-described deadliest migration route is the opportunities they have been robbed of after displacement. People on the move, including asylum seekers and refugees, face an impossible emptiness, but see this voyage as a chance at hope, despite uncertainty ahead.

16-year-old Clement Abiali, a first-year student at Lycée de Ouakam in Dakar, won second place in the poetry competition. While he dreams of becoming a pilot or professional footballer, Clement remains committed to helping his family regularly doing laundry, cleaning, and washing dishes while his sisters are at the market.

Clement captures this hunger for peace, dignity, and opportunity succinctly:

“We move forward, step by step, often without knowing

Fleeing war, emptiness, departures”

The West Atlantic Route to the Canary Islands is described as the most dangerous migration routes. Boats often depart under the cover of night to avoid detection, navigating through rough Atlantic waters with little regard for weather conditions. These vessels are typically wooden fishing boats, not designed for long-distance travel, and are often overcrowded with dozens of passengers.

Navigators on these boats usually lack formal maritime training and rely on rudimentary tools or intuition. This leads to frequent disorientation and drifting far off course. Safety equipment such as life jackets and emergency radios are rarely available, leaving passengers extremely vulnerable in case of emergencies.

Although the journey should take around 10 days, it can stretch to three weeks or more, especially when boats lose direction or suffer engine failure. During these extended voyages, passengers face severe shortages of food and water. Many succumb to dehydration, starvation and sometimes drown when boats are overloaded and capsize.

The journey to coastal departure points through the Sahara Desert remains an enigma. Migrants must traverse vast stretches of the Sahara Desert, relying on smugglers who promise safe passage but frequently exploit, abandon, or sell them into trafficking networks. These smugglers may change routes without warning, leave people stranded, or extort additional money mid-journey.

The desert itself presents extreme environmental hazards. Daytime temperatures soar to 38°C or higher, while nights plunge below freezing, creating a brutal cycle of heat exhaustion and hypothermia. The terrain is vast and unmarked, making it easy to get lost, especially when vehicles break down or guides disappear.

Bandits and armed groups operate in remote areas, targeting migrants for robbery or kidnapping. Victims are often held for ransom, with demands sent to families back home. Many travelers suffer from dehydration, sunstroke, or exposure, and those who perish are often left behind without a trace.

The harsh conditions are vividly described in shortlisted poems:

“We face hunger, cold, oblivion”

“Frail shoulders, but strong souls”

The Route Based Approach aims to identify and protect refugees and asylum seekers displaced by conflict, instability, and human rights violations as early as possible along migratory routes, preserving the global asylum system's integrity. Asylum seekers and refugees travel alongside economic migrants, and with growing numbers, UNHCR and other UN agencies are crucial partners. This approach addresses the realities faced by refugees along key routes and countries of origin, asylum, transit, and destination. UNHCR continues to work with states to advance sustainable solutions and strengthen asylum systems while addressing root causes of these movements.