In the beginning, there was nothing.

Well, not exactly nothing, but there were only very few, and they were almost nowhere. Well, not exactly nowhere, but in very few places. They are now known as “homo erectus”, the upright man.

Fossils of some of their predecessors, dating back to about 2,5 million years ago, were found at a farm called Swartkrans, near Sterkfontein, not far from here. Many people know it as The Cradle of Mankind.

About 2 million years ago, Homo Erectus did something none of his predecessors ever did. Homo Erectus (let’s call him Eric), left Africa to explore other continents, due to changes in the living conditions. Eric migrated, in the course of the next million years, to Georgia, India, Indonesia, China and other places in South East Asia. He brought with him knowledge of making and using complex tools, as well as the ability to control fire. Eric was social, living in family settings and hunting or gathering in groups. Eric was the first real migrant, and he helped populate large parts of the earth.

One of the successors to Eric was the Neanderthal, whom we’ll call Neo. Neo migrated throughout Europa and parts of Asia, and brought with them such skills and practices as sewing clothing, basic verbal communication, advanced hunting techniques, cooking food, creating ornamental objects, burying the dead and decorating graves

Modern humans, scientifically referred to as homo sapiens but we’ll call her Sabina, appeared about 200.000 years ago, in Africa. Southern Africa and Ethiopia are among the first places where people like Sabina were found. Sabina migrated with small groups out of Africa between 125.000 and 60.000 years ago over the Red Sea to the Middle East, Asia and all the way down to Australia. Subsequent waves of migration out of Africa brought mankind throughout Asia, to Europe and the Americas.

About 1600 years ago, Bantu-speaking communities from West Africa reached the coast of modern KwaZulu-Natal and the edges of the Northern Province a hundred years later. They brought with them knowledge of agriculture and herding, to complement the hunting and foraging skills of the Khoisan who were living there at the time. On their way from West Africa, they adopted the custom of dairy farming in East Africa, and brought it with them to the south.

Now to modern times:

David is a 16-year old migrant from Zimbabwe, whom I met not long ago in Musina. He left his friends, his family, his village and everything he is familiar with, to come to South Africa. He has lived in a shelter for unaccompanied minors for several years. A simple building with basic facilities, managed by good people, but obviously financially constrained. David was playing football with a group of boys, others sat in a corner talking, and others still were helping out in the shelter’s garden. They all ended up coming into South Africa without their parents, and the shelter had taken them in to provide them with a roof, a meal, and a friendly face to talk to. Several of them had been trafficked into the country, and had been exploited as cheap labor at farms, shops and restaurants.

A friendly face goes a long way, so I smiled and spoke to some of the boys.

“Who is going to school?”, I asked, and almost all of them raised a hand. Impressed, I picked out one of the boys (and this was David) and asked him: “What’s your favorite subject at school?”. He didn’t immediately respond, so I suggested, teasingly: “Probably math, right?”. He looked at me and nodded, and then added: “Yes, it is. And also physics. I have one more year to complete my school, and then I will go to university. I want to become a civil engineer and work in South Africa”. Another boy told me he’s going to university next year, in order to become a surgeon. A third one wants to become a software programmer. And so forth, and so forth.

Mohamed is a Somali migrant in Pretoria West. He arrived in South Africa five years ago, and decided to start a shop. His business currently employs over 60 people, most of them South Africans.

Olufemi is a Nigerian football coach who works with young boys to promote social cohesion among migrants and local youth. He came to South Africa in 2008.

Brian is a 44-year old migrant from Zimbabwe, who’s been in South Africa since 2003. He did not come to the country as a refugee, but in order to share his knowledge and love for the arts and for farming. He has donated many baobab trees to Bushbuckridge municipality, led cleaning campaigns at the Injaka Dam, and founded a company that employs six South Africans. He is registering an NGO to help migrant children and is publishing a book on Human Trafficking.

My final example is Abdulhakim, a medical doctor from South Africa who’s been in South Africa for one year. His has been volunteering community counselling services in Cape Town.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Migration is as old as mankind. It’s been going on for more than 2 million years, and it won’t stop now. And we shouldn’t want it to stop. Not now, and not in the future. Migration has helped mankind conquer and populate the earth. It has made it possible for ideas to spread; for innovations to be shared; for us to learn about practices in other parts of the world; for societies to trade with other peoples; for people to build a better future for themselves and to contribute to the development of their new home country.

Politicians and policy makers treat migration primarily as a problem that needs to be managed. There is much that they can learn from their constituents. Throughout the ages, people have resorted to migration as a solution to conditions or hardship and distress, or as an avenue towards improvement for themselves and their children. And throughout the ages, migrants have brought more than a bag with them to their new homes. Migrants bring innovation, skills, knowledge, diversity and fresh perspectives. But above all, they bring with them the willingness and the passionate drive to improve. That is, in essence, what migration is about: The drive to improve!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I’ve spoken to you about the Eric, Neo and Sabina of past migration flows, and the David, Mohamed, Olufemi, Brian and Abdulhakim of modern migration. They are the reality of migration. The government, the media, civil society, we all have a responsibility in telling the success-side of the migration story, and not just the story of the conflicts, looting and violence.

Migration is a story of hope. It is seldom without problems, and it sometimes, unfortunately, encounters conflict. Let’s keep in mind though, that all of us, ultimately, were migrants.

I thank you for your attention.

Richard Ots – Chief of Mission for IOM South Africa