Guest post by Tobi Muewissen 

I am a final year student at Manchester School of Art studying illustration with animation, and have been exploring the refugee crisis in my final project.

It was a mug of Rooibos tea that one day triggered a strong sense of familiarity in me. As a very young child my parents travelled around a lot. Many memories have been lost along the way.

Something as insignificant as a sip of a certain tea flooded me with a sense of familiarity. I was totally unaware that when living in South Africa my mum would give me and my sisters rooibos tea, one that is grown in the western cape province. Years later, after trying Rooibos at my grandmother’s house I remember something being so distinct about the taste, it brought a real sense of de ja vu that I couldn’t shake. Strangely enough this particular memory has stayed with me, I can remember everything about trying the tea and the feeling it evoked within me.

Humanitarian and environmental crises among many other things have led to increased levels of migration over the last 10 years. Unfortunately not all migration is a choice and people are forced out of their homes in fear of the safety of their families. I wanted to create something that could reflect a positive feeling of home and community in times when a person may feel isolated and scared in an unfamiliar place. This small publication explores the many recipes that people travel with, to give them a little piece of home wherever they are.

Home Made is a small publication I created about memory and food, using some of the recipes by refugees shared as part of Refugee Week’s ‘Share a dish’ Simple Act.

You can view the publication here.