stories.
about.
Voices Without Borders is a platform where every displaced person can voice their stories in their own narrative, sparking a dialogue to create a sense of unity. We are all equal and we can all become displaced. Our mission is to create a space where the journey of a displaced person can be better understood.
Why? We believe that through raising awareness, we can overcome existing stigma around forced migration and ignite solidarity. By inviting displaced people to share their story in their own narrative, we want to celebrate their strength, resilience and courage. We believe that understanding and compassion come with education; our goal is to publish stories as well as deliver interactive workshops that will spark dialogues, encourage reflections and help each other to connect.
Ewa Lelontko is based in Lewisham and works for two organisations: Migration Yorkshire and Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers. She dedicated the last 7 years to community engagement projects in South Africa, India and the UK. Ewa is passionate about supporting those whose voice goes unheard and is especially interested in working on woman-centred projects. Last year, she graduated from the Changemakers in Turbulent Times programme with Plan for Peace, which partially funds our newest project Women Transform Together.
Joss Duncan is based in Lewisham and works as a Volunteer Manager for a London based charity. Since volunteering with Choose Love in Calais back in 2018, he was inspired to set up a project that works with and documents the lives of refugees across the world. Joss is a strong advocate of a community-led approach that tackles injustice and provides the power, decisions and resources to the people that need it most. He is very passionate about sharing people’s stories through the lens of photography and has worked on local projects in South Africa, India, Sri Lanka and Nicaragua as a result.
Alicia Chen has worked as a freelance journalist and writer covering migrant and refugee issues since 2016. Her journalism journey began when she had a chance to get on a refugee rescue boat and write down the stories of refugees from there. Since then, she began reporting and documenting the lives of refugees across the Mediterranean, Lebanon, Greece, UK, Cambodia and Taiwan. She is also a contributing writer for Italy-based NPO Migrants of the Mediterranean. Alicia is based in Taipei, Taiwan.
Helen Dixon is our workshop lead on the Women Transform Together project. Helen is a bilingual British-Nicaraguan published writer, artist, translator, facilitator and activist-academic, interested in queer and decolonial/anticolonial feminist politics and social movement practice. She has more than 35 years experience in writing and arts organising, participatory methodologies, creative practices, reflexive/reflective learning and action research for building individual and community self-empowerment. She has facilitated workshop processes and convened courses with collectives and community organisations in Nicaragua and the UK, and at the universities of Sussex and Brighton. She’s currently living in Brighton and writing an experimental fiction novel as part of a PhD. She experienced displacement because of rising state violence in Nicaragua, although this decision was made voluntarily before the 2018 crisis and she has the privilege of a British passport.
