SA to Zimbabwe: the price of going home

EACH December, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city, transforms as migrants return from South Africa for Christmas.

- SAANA HANSEN

These "injivas" originally men who worked in South African mines during colonial times, but now including women arrive in vehicles with South African number plates, bringing "Christmas boxes" filled with groceries and other goods.

The festive atmosphere, with music filling restaurants and jumping castles in parks, masks the struggles many face abroad. These migrants often endure economic uncertainties, discrimination, low wages, and difficulties sending money home. Alongside this celebratory homecoming runs a more solemn journey the repatriation of deceased migrants. Coffin-shaped trailers traveling north on the A6 highway from the Beitbridge border post serve as stark reminders that migration's promise comes with profound risks.