Migrant Narratives

CategoriesInvestigations

Promises of Free Trade, Realities of Bribes: East Africa’s Borders Under Siege

Despite East Africa’s pledge of free movement under the EAC, or the talks of the African Continental Free Trade Area, small scale traders — many of them women — face daily harassment, arbitrary fees, and systemic corruption at border points. Their testimonies reveal how bribes and bureaucratic delays inflate costs, erode livelihoods, and undermine regional […]

CategoriesNarratives

From Barbershops to Boda-Bodas: How East Africa’s Migrants Are Shaping Kenyan Cities

In 2025, Kenya hosts over 824,000 refugees and asylum seekers, according to UNHRC Organization, a growing number of whom are from Burundi and Rwanda. Most don’t arrive on front-page headlines. They walk. They ride. They blend. The East African Community’s free movement protocols were supposed to smooth cross-border movement—but for many, especially the undocumented, the […]