SHADES OF GRAY
"Shades of Gray" is an ongoing project, documenting the consequences of family
disruption, when Nigerian breadwinners leave behind loved ones to embark on irregular
migration to Europe and American continent.
According to UNICEF-UNDP, children left behind by one or both parents or
relations to migrate by road, Mediterranean sea or tourist visas to western countries,
are at risk of suffering the consequences of family disruption, drug abuse, psycho-social problems, violent behavior,
show signs of depression, anxiety, aggression, conduct problems, receiving insufficient care and control, falling
in the hands of incompetent caregivers and family members, even the possibility
of been institutionalized.
According
to statistics from the UnitedNations in 2018, over 602,000 Nigerians attempted the
journey to seek for greener pasture through
the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea, twenty-seven thousand of these Nigerians
lost their lives leaving behind their children
and loved ones. Many were women and girls, trafficked to different parts
of the world, some entered America
and Europe with tourist visas, and became undocumented immigrants, with hope that
they will someday, reunite with their families, in this
time the chances of family reunion is slim, after the announcement of a Trump
and other western country administration policy that is expected to all but shut
down family-based immigration / reunion from Nigeria.
These children in Nigeria, grow up experiencing
prolonged separation from their relations with a glimpse of hope that they will
one day reunite.