Migrant Children Tell Their Stories at the Mexican Border Médecins Sans Frontières
go to original June 23, 2023

From a shelter in northern Mexico, seven children share their hopes and dreams for the future in the short, animated documentary.

Little Birds is an eight-minute journey that examines the wounds of uprooting, the multiple risks faced by children along the migration route, and the dreams that propel them and lift their spirits despite the indefinite wait in the shelter. On International Refugee Day, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the audiovisual production company ¡Hola! Combo presented Little Birds, a short, animated documentary featuring the stories of seven children who fled their countries and are living at a border shelter, waiting to start new lives in the United States.

Across the world, more people than ever before have been forced from home as refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people. In Mexico, the majority of people seeking safety are from Central American countries like Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala — countries facing gang violence that is so severe, it’s on par with warzones in other countries where MSF works. In addition to violence, poverty and climate disasters are also driving forces behind migration. People on the move across the region include many families with young children.

One in three migrants detained in Mexico is a minor, and half are traveling without their parents — the highest proportion ever recorded, according to UNICEF. The numbers continue to rise: in the first three months of 2023, 34,489 children and teenagers were detained in Mexico.

The animations featured in the Little Birds documentary are based on the children’s drawings and seek to center the voices of those who suffer the impacts of harmful US and Mexican immigration policies. This video is also an example of how MSF tailors our psychosocial activities to the critical needs of children — for whom even the simple act of holding a crayon may allow access to feelings they cannot express in words.

Read the rest at Médecins Sans Frontières

Related: Seattle Pediatrician Opens Library for Refugee Children in Mexico (KOMO)

Related: Mexico Frees 20 Kids Who Worked 12 Hour Days Selling Snacks, Trinkets at Playa Del Carmen Resort (Associated Press)

Related: Migrants at the U.S.-Mexico Border Swelter in Unforgiving Texas and Arizona Heat (NBC News)

Related: Inquiry After Girl’s Death Reports Unsafe Medical Care in U.S. Border Facilities (The Washington Post)

Related: Human Trafficking Directly Linked to Forced Migration, Say Panel Experts (The Catholic Spirit)

  Learn about Doctors Without Borders in Mexico

  Learn about World Vision Mexico